Canterlot.
The thriving, bustling capital of Equestria. A city as old as the kingdom itself, with much of its beauty staying maintained throughout the ages, especially its royal palace where their monarchs resided and governed their subjects. As one may expect, like any kingdom, its capital reflected its people and values.
And to be honest, they weren't that high. While the city had much beauty on the outside, it was marred by its own residents' snobbish behavior. The majority of its inhabitants being of noble blood, and the majority of that being unicorns. All who looked down upon the lower classes, shunned other non-pony species, and even showed blatant disgust towards the other pony races. Thankfully, their monarchs didn't share this viewpoint, but that was just as much the problem as it was a relief. Whether through ignorance or being too soft on their subjects, such social conflicts were all but ignored, and no steps seemed to ever be made to rectify this problem in the slightest. These days, it seemed that most, if not all of their conflicts were resolved by the Elements of Harmony and their group of friends, even over the littlest of things.
That being said, at least they actually took threats being reported to them seriously, even in the midst of one of the biggest festivals of the year.
"This... is grave news indeed..." Princess Luna muttered aloud upon receiving Twilight's report, and having it clarified by both Fluttershy and Discord. The rest of the Mane 7 had arrived with the latter two, and now everyone who needed to be were informed of the upcoming danger. Though that still left plenty of questions to be asked.
"Do you know where this darkness is now, Discord?" Princess Celestia asked the draconequus in the room.
"Of course not! If I did, I would have already told you!" Discord stated, then noticed a few looks in his direction. "Oh, come on! You're not seriously going to keep holding that thing with Tirek over my head, are you?"
"Yes," Rainbow Dash muttered immediately.
"Eeyup," Applejack chimed in.
"Well, I don't hold it against you anymore..." Fluttershy said helpfully.
"At any rate..." Luna spoke up, moving the conversation along, "We must do something about this at once, less we risk losing Equestria to this darkness."
"And we shall," Celestia assured her sister. "I will warn Shining Armor and Cadence about this immediately, and prepare the Royal Guard."
"What about us?" Pinkie Pie asked, with a little excited bounce in the air. "What can we do? Do you want us to put up posters around Canterlot? Ooo ooo! Or maybe be put on guard duty? Or maybe throw this meanie a 'Go Back to Wherever You Came From' party when he arrives?"
Celestia looked to her with a small smile, always finding Pinkie Pie's enthusiasm a welcoming sight, before she gave a simple order: "Continue attending the festival as usual."
That's usually around the time a record scratch would be heard, and ironically one was heard as a courtesy from Discord the instant it set in for all who listened. Huh, guess they didn't find it as serious as their subjects would think.
"Uh, pardon?" Applejack asked in confusion.
"I'm sorry... Did you say... To attend as usual?" Rarity asked slowly, with clear confusion.
"I mean no disrespect when I say this," Rainbow Dash started with a nervous tone, then proceeded to harden it and demand, "but, are you out of your minds?!"
"Oh, come now Tia," Discord joined in. "That whole trick of yours never works! What makes you think it will this time?"
"Um... I'm confused..." Fluttershy said in her soft, shy tone, said confusion plastered across her face for all to see.
"Princess," Starlight Glimmer spoke up then, acting as the voice of reason (as usual), "shouldn't we warn the rest of Equestria? If this threat is as big as we think it is, everypony needs to know about this, so we can take efforts to prepare for the worst."
Princess Celestia simply held her smile, and looked to the group of ponies before her as if she were a mother about to explain something in detail to children.
"I understand your concern, and you are right to feel that we need to prepare for the worst," she said to them, before dropping the smile to give a more solemn expression. "But letting out this information to the whole of Equestria would be just as counterproductive as you believe it will be helpful."
"Counterproductive?" Starlight echoed that word, as if it were foreign to her, the majority of her friends in the same boat.
"I don't understand," Twilight said with puzzlement. "How is it counterproductive?"
"Because all ponies in Equestria believe that we are in a time of peace," Celestia continued seriously. "And it is only by believing that we are still at peace that they're able to go about their lives, without panicking and fearing that today may be their last. If we were to tell them about this, all of Equestria would go into a panic. And in that panic, nothing would get accomplished. We would all be vulnerable and defenseless, which is when our enemy would strike." Her magenta eyes scanned all those present, particularly Twilight, who's expression had started to scrunch up into a more worrisome one. "We cannot allow that to happen. Under no circumstances must you let anything that has been said here today leave this room, for the sake of Equestria. Do you understand?"
Glances were exchanged, pondering was done, words were taken in... and still Starlight was not convinced it was the best course of action. Smart girl.
Too bad her thoughts on the matter would never be voiced in the throne room, as Twilight immediately acted as spokesman (spokesmare?) for the group, and said in complete obedience, "Yes, Princess Celestia. We won't tell anypony."
Whether or not her friends agreed with this, they didn't seem to voice their concerns aloud, and Celestia seemed content with the choice made by the group... or rather, by her prized student-turned-Princess.
"Very well. Then you are all dismissed," the solar monarch said with an approving nod. "But do not let your guard down. You are still Equestria's protectors, whether everypony knows what you're protecting them from, or not."
No more words were exchanged, as the seven ponies all turned and exited the throne room. All but the only non-pony in the room, who gave Celestia the biggest deadpan expression he could give. Literally; his face was twice its original size now.
"Discord, don't give me that look. You know why it has to be this way," Celestia stated to him.
"Oh, I know why you think it has to be this way. That's why I'm giving you this look," he told her, before suddenly going from Point A to Point B - Point B being behind her on the throne, his face back to normal (if anything counted for him, that is). "Really, Tia, this is quite an amateur way to handle things. Leaving everypony in the dark on the big bad going around, like you've done with just about everything in life. How did that turn out for you?" Then in front of Celestia, little puppets appeared dangling on strings, as Discord made them do a very makeshift play for her as he spoke. "First, there was that problem with your sister - no offense, Lulu..."
"Don't thou dareth call me that," Luna answered back. Discord frowned at her particular vocabulary choice, since it irritated him, but continued nonetheless with his show.
"...then you had your little problem with me, then Chrissy came around and crashed the wedding, then we had Sombra back for a quick spell, then Tirek left us all powerless after tricking me - something I really don't need reminders about - and then you had that ordeal with Starlight before Twilight convinced her to stop." One of the puppets, ironically a Celestia puppet, turned to her, suddenly with his face on it instead of the original, and he made a wry smile. "Notice the pattern? In each and every scenario, you never informed anypony outside of your precious Elements, the royal guards, and the royal family about it."
"I didn't even know that Chrysalis had swapped places with-"
"And each time, it nearly ended in complete disaster for everypony," Discord interrupted, now having the whole show disappear and himself appear pacing in front of the throne, at a short distance. "Honestly, I'm surprised that you're all still here, alive and well, today."
"Discord has a point, Tia," Luna spoke up after the draconequus's little speech. "Every time, we've come so close to being destroyed, and nopony was informed of the danger until it was too late. Maybe we shouldn't hide this from them as well..."
If there was one thing Celestia didn't get an A on in "Being a Good Ruler For Dummies" class, it was having common sense to what was being said just now. As proven when she said in reply, "I know you don't think this is the best course of action..."
"Oh, I know this isn't the best course of action," Discord corrected her immediately.
"...but I won't have Equestria going into a panic over something we barely understand ourselves," continued the white alicorn. "It won't help anypony to start panicking over something that they have no need to be involved in!"
...
"Welp, I'm out! Let me know when you're about to lose!" Discord announced loudly, suddenly with multiple suitcases in paw and claw. "In the meantime, I'm going to be spending my vacation at a convenient distance away! Have fun!"
And with a snap of his paw, and a flash of light, he was gone. Once he was, Luna looked to her sister with a submissive, yet worried expression.
"I do hope you know what you're doing, sister. For all our sakes..."
As one might expect from the exchange in the throne room, nopony throughout all of Canterlot was aware in the slightest of what was going on; everyone was preparing for the festival as if nothing was amiss, because no one knew that anything was. It was ironically more saddening than uplifting to the Mane 7 as they departed from the palace grounds, to see how ignorant they really were to the whole ordeal. And Twilight's compliance to her teacher's orders were not helping to make it feel any less daunting.
"This is crazy!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed aloud, being the first to voice her thoughts on the matter. "Don't tell anypony... How are we supposed to feel alright knowing that there's some crazy darkness out there, and we're not supposed to tell anypony about it?!"
"Shh! Keep your voice down," Twilight warned. "Do you want everypony to hear you?"
"I think that was the reason she was shouting, darling," Rarity remarked bluntly.
"Ya mean ya don't think any of this is just a tad bit wrong, sugarcube?" Applejack inquired of Twilight.
"Of course not! Why would anything be wrong about keeping Equestria safe?" Twilight asked her aloud.
"I don't think it's that..." Fluttershy tried to say helpfully, but she may as well have been ignored by what little good it did. At least on Twilight's end.
"Fluttershy is right," Starlight spoke up on the Pegasus's behalf, straightforward in what she was saying. "This isn't about keeping Equestria safe; it's about failing to let everypony know they're in danger, so they can take the steps needed to keep themselves safe."
"But you heard Celestia: telling everypony will only make things worst!" Twilight countered. "They'll be scared if they find out."
"And they have a right to be scared! But they also have a right to know what's happening," Starlight argued, refusing to be shaken. "You can't keep them in the dark, just because you're scared of how they might react!"
It was clear that this was becoming a heated argument, and Twilight's friends wisely decided not to choose sides just yet. It wouldn't help in the long-run either way.
"Celestia has ruled Equestria for a thousand years! She knows what she's doing. What could you know that she wouldn't?"
"I know from experience that it isn't safe or right to lie."
"We aren't lying to them! We're just... not telling them."
"That's even worst! You saw what happened at my village when I refused to tell anypony about my Cutie Mark, what happened when they discovered the truth behind the charade I was pulling. You all know what happened afterwards..."
"But you actually lied to their faces about everything-"
"And you're doing the same by not saying anything!"
"Uh, can I say something?" Pinkie Pie asked them.
"NO!" the two arguing ponies shouted at once, causing the others to wince a bit from the harshness in their tone.
"You just won't see the truth of the matter, because even now you're still doing whatever you can to gain Celestia's favor," Starlight accused Twilight. "And because of it, you won't even try to make your own decision on the matter!"
"I'm trying to do what's best for Equestria!" the alicorn protested.
"...then tell them the truth."
Starlight's voice had dropped to a softer volume, and it was clear that she was no longer up to continuing the conversation any further. She had said what she needed to say, and now - now she just needed a little time away. So without further ado, Starlight turned away and trotted off down the streets of Canterlot.
"Starlight!" Twilight called to her, and at first she attempted to go after her, only for an orange hoof to stop her.
"Let her go, Twi," Applejack said gently, but firmly. "She needs some time to herself, and it won't do ya any good followin' her."
Twilight didn't like that idea, but she relented to Applejack's advice in the end, and she watched Starlight go. She knew Applejack was right, and that Starlight needed that time to sort things out for herself.
She certainly would be needing the time for reflection as well.
Meanwhile, at the gates to Canterlot...
It wasn't unusual for a crowd of ponies desiring entry into Canterlot for such a momentous occasion would be funneling through the gates; rather, this was as normal as it got when something like the festival was around.
On that note, perhaps its best to clarify what the festival was about: it was announcing the anniversary of Equestria as a country, but not in the way that Hearthswarming Eve did... roughly the same thing. Hearthswarming was more about celebrating the unity of the pony species, but this was an official celebration of Equestria's existence and longevity so far down the line. A day when all could celebrate the joy and wonder of their kingdom having managed to stand for so long, throughout all the years. Highlighting the hardships they had gone through, the trials they endured, and the battles that were fought to protect her from those who would seek to destroy their harmony. This day was to celebrate the fact that, through all the thousands of years it had endured, Equestria was still standing, and the flame of Harmony still burned brightly amongst it all.
Apparently, it was as big a deal as Independence Day is to Americans in our world, or something just as big, because the gates alone were packed. Traffic was at an all-time high, and the guards were even having some trouble keeping things orderly. Not that they need have bothered; it wasn't like they were holding back a mob or anything. Though that hardly made things better for them.
"Where are all these ponies coming from?" a new guard asked some of the older veterans in disbelief (not that anyone would be able to tell the difference; they almost all looked alike).
"Ponyville, Las Pegasus, Appleloosa - you name it, they're coming from there," one of the guards answered the newbie. "On festivities like these, for such a momentous occasion, I'd be surprised if it wasn't this busy."
"There's so many... what are we supposed to do if things get out of hand?" the newbie asked, slightly worried.
"Well for one, don't panic," the older guard said simply. "And secondly, we don't need to worry about that. Our job is to simply make sure everyone stays in line, and that nopony gets hurt..."
Tempt fate, and she will come back to bite you.
For no sooner had he said that, than a figure in the crowd suddenly fell over, and the guards jumped to attention.
"Everypony, stop!" they called out in voices of authority. "You'll crush him!"
Thankfully, the flow of traffic came to a stop, and the guards managed to push through the crowds, and pulled out a single figure from it all: a unicorn stallion, with fur a bright red color, and his mane and tail darker still. He wore a cape that seemed built for travel, with a saddlebag that contained a large book inside, and over his eyes was a pair of sunglasses that he had just been readjusting. But in the brief moment his eyes had shown, they seemed to be a bit orange in color.
"Are you alright, sir?" the guards asked him, to which the stallion gave them a relieved smile.
"Yes, I am. Thank you for that," he said in gratitude.
"All right, everypony move along! This isn't a petting zoo!" another guard barked, and the crowd moved on ahead. The newbie, however, continued chatting with the stallion.
"What happened back there?"
"Oh, I just tripped over myself like a clumsy fool," the unicorn said in self-beratement. "To be honest with you, I'd prefer the open countryside over a crowd like this."
"Really? Where are you from?" the guard asked him curiously.
"Well... I'm a bit of a nomad, so I guess you could say I'm from just about everywhere," the unicorn stated, putting on a smile again. "I've been gathering notes on various topics and creatures other ponies would probably shy away from."
"Like what?" the guard inquired.
"Oh, all kinds of monstrous beasts," the unicorn answered, his smile growing a little more as if in enthusiasm. "Chimeras, Manticores, and even recently... dragons."
"Dragons? You study dragons?"
"Hey, buddy! You're not supposed to commune with citizens while on duty," an older guard suddenly barked at the newbie.
"Yes sir!" the newbie answered right away, with a salute to match... which the unicorn found to be humorous.
"Guess I should move along then," he remarked sheepishly. "It was nice meeting you. Keep up the good work!"
"Thank you," the newbie answered, smiling back as the unicorn merged with the ongoing traffic again. But as he left, and the newbie started to turn away, his hoof struck against something small on the ground, and he picked it up to see that it was a locket of some kind. He looked back to where the unicorn had gone, but couldn't see any sign of him in the moving crowds.
I should try to return this to him later, he thought to himself, before his attention turned back to the locket. It had so happened to open up when he had struck it with his hoof, and while he didn't mean to peep in on the unicorn's private matters, he couldn't help but notice the faces in it with open curiosity... and confusion.
"What kind of creatures are those?"
In the crowd...
The unicorn glanced behind him a few times to see if the guards were noticing, then broke away from the traffic and into a side street, where he got a good distance from it all, taking several alleys and other roads until he was alone, before breathing a huge sigh of relief. Followed immediately by verbal berating.
"You damn fool! You nearly got yourself killed back there, and you're barely even inside! You couldn't have just taken five minutes to get accustomed to things, could you? Stupid, stupid-"
He stopped himself when he heard hooves on the pavement nearby, and he paused where he was as they got closer and closer... Eventually passing him by, along with the mare they belonged to.
Starlight Glimmer, who was also muttering something to herself, and not in a very positive manner. And as the unicorn watched her pass him by, his expression turned from surprised, to confused... to a smirk of sorts.
"Well well well… what do we have here?" he said to himself quietly. "Princess Twilight's student... Guess my blunder may have just been a blessing in disguise."
And then, at a slow and steady pace, he trotted on after her, curious to see where she was going, and for what reason she was upset.
His smirk growing ever wider all the while.
Annnnnnnd, curtain!
I know, it's probably obvious who's who, but to be fair, if you've read my original, then it wouldn't be a surprise either way. Besides, I'm not really trying to trick you into thinking that something isn't what it seems; it's more like waiting for the other characters to catch up to things.
Anyways, thanks for reading. I'll try to get these posted more often. Stay safe, and tell Coronavirus that its flight has been canceled in your area. XD
No seriously, be safe my friends!