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A Chance Encounter [Open Invitation]


PecanPraline

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Eagle kept his wings folded around the unicorn to keep her steady. It was clearly an awkward position for him, but he didn't seem to mind it. "Probably because she feels like you've invaded her privacy, or something like that. I don't know. I'm surprised she hasn't hunted you down in your dreams yet to haunt you or something." He gave a slight laugh, hoping to help keep the atmosphere a little lighter.

It was a short trot to the train station, and they fortunately made it just as the doors were closing. Gilded was the one who got them to wait, shouting "Halt the door! Official business for the Princesses!" which not only got them on board, but a private room in one of the cars as well. The ticket master didn't seem pleased to hear that they didn't have tickets, but he couldn't argue with the badge the Gilded Helm showed him. They drew the curtains closed, and set the injured ponies on the seats, the two guards placing themselves by the window to block the siblings from view. They were hoping to prevent further attacks.

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Sun took advantage of the situation and snuggled up close to Eagle, her face was bright red from both sickness and being content with her closeness to Eagle. Pretty much seen as her literal Knight in Shining Armor. Trax was slumped up against the seat, his pride kept him from being seen as weak, but even he was aware of just how bleak his situation is. "So, what was it before you two became Royal Guards? I was a Scout myself, and quite the expert at the bow and some skills with a sword, got the nickname Ranger by my squadmates. Sun may not act it, but she's got some skill in magic, quite the Unicorn that one." He said in a sick raspy voice, coming off as almost croaky. The poison was fast acting, which meant the end was most likely a slow and painful roll.

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"You should try not to talk much..." Gilded sighed, then shook his head. "Personally, I was born to a noblepony and his gardener. They had been married in secret, because everypony knew his parents wouldn't approve, but they stopped trying to hide it when my brother and I were born. Fortunately, my mother was sweet and charming enough that his parents eventually accepted her. While my brother took after our father, I preferred to work with my mother in the gardens. And then it was a farm, with my cousins. Eagle here was my best friend for that summer, and he convinced me to join the Royal Guard Academy with him. I didn't think much would come of it, but I ended up enjoying it a lot. And I married his little sister along the way."

Eagle Heart rolled his eyes, but he was grinning fondly. "Foster sister, so you're only a foster brother-in-law. As for me, I knew I wanted to protect other ponies from the time I was a foal. It wasn't until Parent's Day at school that I realized the Royal Guard was an option. Star Fall's dad came and talked about how much he enjoyed working under the princesses, and he inspired me. But most of my free time was spent flying around with an eagle friend of mine, instead of studying how to do it. I practically bumbled my way into being accepted at the Academy."

One of his wings was wrapped loosely around Sun Flare's shoulders, allowing her to lean on him. He wasn't letting it show, but he was worried about them both. He kept glancing out the window, willing the train to go faster so that they could make it in time. He had a fondness for them already, and he didn't want to lose them so soon.

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Trax chuckled slightly, "A farmer and a rich kid, you two are like peas in a pod. My Sister and I were orphans from the beginning, the orphanage in Canterlot did well raising us, even though we were never adopted. We enlisted into the Army as soon as we could, lived life pretty smoothly serving our Kingdom, and we did pretty good. After 6 years we decided a change would be good, so we filed away the correct paperwork and left. Pretty much traveled the world, learned some new things, saw some cool sights. Becoming Thieves kinda just happened along the way, we needed money. Most of the time, whatever we stole, we ransomed back. A few times we sold it back to them, some rich folks aren't too knowledgeable about what they have." He then glanced at Gilded, "No offense to present company."

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"None taken. I know that from experience. And I have a sneaking suspicion that you two may have done that to my brother," he chuckled. "Too much stuff, not enough care, I say."

Mercifully, the train pulled into the station at Canterlot shortly after. The two guard ponies got down from their seats and picked up their companions again, then galloped as quickly as they could for the Princess' castle. Once they were near, the guards at the door sent a messenger to find Princess Luna, then proceeded to let the group in.

Once inside, Eagle Heart carefully lowered Sun Flare to the ground, then collapsed beside her, his sides heaving. He was strong and built for speed, but not for such long stretches across two residentials, especially one as big as Canterlot. Gilded let Trax down as well, but he simply sat down as he too struggled to regain his breath. Although he didn't look quite as bad as Eagle. The pegasus eventually pushed himself back into a sitting position, taking a slightly protective stance over Sun Flare to keep any other guards from approaching to shackle her.

"We need a doctor, quickly," He called to one of them, who nodded and ran off.

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Sun's breathing started slow down considerably since they got off the train, the lack of air getting to her lungs caused her to become somewhat delusional. Sun giggled with an exhausted, and embarrassed expression, "Ha haa! I got put to into bed by a handsome Stallion,... winning! Eat it Traxy!" She said sillily. Trax shook his head in shame, "If I start acting like her, hit me, really hard." He told Gilded. Sun reached out to Eagle, her eyes looking obviously dazed, "For future reference, I like the beach, they make great honeymoon spots." She whispered loudly. "Gilded, seriously, as hard as you can." He repeated with a stone face.

 

A guard stepped into a dark room, sharing nervous glances with the batponies inside standing guard. The Royal Guard swallowed, "Pardon me Princess, the two Thieves you requested, they have just arrived. There was an altercation by an unknown shooter, both were hit and are being treated in the infirmary now. Guards Eagle Heart and Gilded Helm are standing guard over them." He reported firmly, starting to gain some confidence, afterall there really was no reason to fear Princess Luna. Her Personal Guard on the otherhoof, were a different story, they just naturally looked intimidating. Batponies were still a new presence around the Castle since Princess Luna's return, with bat wings, fangs, fluffy tipped ears, and not to mention the slit pupils in their eyes. As Luna's personal Guards of the Night, they patrolled the kingdom at night while She attended to pony's dreams. Rumor is there are more of them, but only four are publicly seen. Shadowed Heart, Shade Locke, Ceasar Valentine, and Ally Valentine. Princess Luna rose from sitting on her bed, her batponies had already awoken her prior to the Royal Guards entance, knowing their hearing abilities were supernatural compared to the average pony. Luna nodded her thanks, "Gratitude, inform them I will be visiting shortly." She spoke with authority, but had a hint of tiredness to her voice, it was after all bed time for Her.

 

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Eagle was humoring Sun Flare, trying to keep her from moving around too much and also keep her quiet. "I'll keep that in mind. But you really should be saving your breath, love." He sighed. One of the mares that worked with Heart Breaker, Soft Spot, had brought him and Gilded their armor. The two guard ponies were now presentable to appear before the Princess, but also looked much less friendly in their golden attire. They stood tall, one on either side of the infirmary beds, while doctors were working on the other side of the beds to figure out the poison and halt its progress.

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Trax talked with the nurses, as a Thief, he'd dabbled in the art of poisoning to use as a bargaining chip. He didn't go into much detail, for obvious reasons. "Good news, we've identified the poison used." A nurse reported to the room, Sun giggled loopily, "Hehe good newsies is always followed by bad newsies!" The nurse sighed with reluctance, "Bad news is, we only have enough for one dosage." Trax went grim, "Its not for debate, give it to Sun." He said sternly.  

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The nurse looked at him with doubt, "The poison the shooter used is a rare one, even rarer is the main ingredient in the antidote, the bone marrow of a Chimera. We were lucky enough to have enough for one dose." Without warning, Princess Luna walked in, the nurses bowed to her formally. Trax managed to dip his head for a few seconds, Sun attempted to close her eyes and act like she was dipping her head, but instead fell asleep. Luna glanced between Eagle and Gilded then to the siblings, "I'd say their many crimes have caught up with them." She blushed slightly, "I attempted a joke, was it good?"  Trax nodded his head side to side, "7 out of 10 Princess, I for one don't find it in bad taste. If you were a bar tender and asked me what my poison is, I'd shake my head and say, 'None for me, I'm full'." All the nurses shot him a glare.

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Gilded managed a good-natured chuckle on the Princess and Trax's behalf. He and Eagle both bowed to the Princess, then Eagle spoke up.

"I don't care. I'm not going to let either of them die. Where can we find Chimera marrow?"

Gilded Helm stood up straighter, nodding in agreement with Eagle's words. The pair looked, for a moment, incredibly valiant.

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The nurse looked at Luna, to which the Princess nodded for her to continue, "The last sample was obtained by Captain Stryker, five years ago. The best location would be the very heart of the Everfree." She explained with unsurly, to her, this was sending two valient Guards right into one of the most dangerous places of Equestria. Trax looked at Eagle and Gilded with astonishment, why risk their lives for them, two strangers who just tried to steal from Royalty? Why? He knew himself, the things he's done, the things he left out from his past. He wondered if they would still go to such lengths if they knew everything he wasn't telling them. Trax tensed up, his cold steel blue eyes looking down at his patched up wound, perhaps this was just what he deserved. Luna nodded, "That area is filled with unknown dangers, even my Sister and I would tread carefully upon such grounds." Her horn flashed twice, instantly four batponies teleported in surrounding her at a knee, "My Personal Guard will accompany you as extra security, also, it will do well for them to work closer with the Royal Guard. And vice versa." She added informally. The four batponies stood up and spoke in unison, "Yes Mistress." Luna went red with embarrassment, she forgot to tell them not to say that in public, Celestia will never let her live this down. 

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Gilded and Eagle both nodded respectfully to the four batponies. They were too focused to really be intimidated by them at the moment.

"Is there anything specific that we need to know? Or somepony we could ask as a sort of guide?" Gilded asked, although he wasn't too hopeful. Nopony journeyed into the Everfree Forest for fun, after all. It was very poorly explored.

"If not, we're more than ready to go now. We would only need a moment to grab our saddle bags," Eagle added, stepping up to Gilded's side.

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"The poison in Trax's system is working fast, time is of the essence. We'll get to working on Sun now." The nurse told them. One of the Batponies stepped forward to Gilded and Eagle, "We are ready to leave now, my name is Shadowed Heart." Shadow stood of equal height to Gilded, dark purple coat and a short jet black mane, with burning amber eyes. His bat wings folded to his sides. Shade Locke stood behind him, a unicorn with a long silver mane tied in a ponytail, his dark violet eyes void of emotion. Caesar Valentine stood out from the rest with his spikey blonde mane, his crimson red eyes glowed like rubies, sporting a sly smirk as his usual cocky demeanor. Behind Caesar was his twin sister, Ally Valentine, her looks seemed to defy beauty itself, and went straight to just extremely attractive. Her crimson eyes shined bright, her glossy long dark red hair was pushed to her left side, her purple coat shined with perfection. "Shade has a spell he can use to teleport us back to Princess Luna as soon as we have the Chimera bone. How soon can you be ready?" Shadow asked bring their attention off Ally.

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Neither of the stallions had been overly distracted by her, both of their hearts being distracted by another mare each. "Give us ten minutes, and we can be off," Eagle said. He trotted back over to Sun Flare and gently pressed a kiss to her forehead. Gilded turned to Trax.

"We'll be back soon. You better still be around when we come back," he smiled, but it felt forced with the grim look in his eyes. Then he turned, Eagle at his side once more, and the two gave a final bow to the Princess before running out of the room, headed towards the barracks in the East Wing. Eagle Heart already had a saddle bag with most of what he would need for a journey like this, and he quickly retrieved the rest from the trunk at the foot of his bed. Gilded, though he did not have a bed here, did have a locker. He pulled a saddle bag from its depths, and he was ready in the ten minutes that were promised. They met back up with the batponies, and then they were off.

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Instead of using the train, the six of them stood upon a moving circle of light purple glass, created and reinforced by Shade's magic. However, both Royal Guards could see it wasn't normal magic, but the same green and puplre magic used by Sombra, Black Magic. Caesar threw a hoof around Eagle and Gulds necks, "Not to worry colts, Shade here is an expert, don't mistake his use of black magic and emotionless expression. He's actually a big softy!" He added the last part in a whisper. Ally rolled her eyes before looking at Shadow, "How much?" She asked oddly and simply, Shadow pressed a hoof to his mouth in thought before replying, "50 percent should do it, any more will be at your discretion." Shade, Caesar, and Ally all nodded at once, "Yes Sir."

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"Well, we're ready to go." Eagle and Gilded stepped up onto the circle with only a little hesitation, Eagle giving a respectful nod to Shadow and Gilded grinning after Caesar's description of him. They had already decided to trust the batponies with no suspicions, so they were prepared to find a few things weird and tried not to ask too many questions. Gilded was curious though.

"50 percent of what?" He asked, ears perked up.

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Ally stepped gracefully onto the floating glass, "50 percent of our overall strength. Our species have increased physical prowess, all five senses are supernaturally increased, and we can feed off other living things to recover our stamina and wounds." Caesar flew around gleefully, "We're basically Vampire Bats!"

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"Ah. I see," Gilded looked impressed. "You know, I would hate for our allies to fall. Maybe not for this mission, but in the future, if you need somepony to feed on, I am happy to help. Just so long as you don't take too much." He chuckled, but his tone was sincere. Eagle thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

"Same for me. I'm sure you already have some kind of arrangement in place, but should something happen and you need it, we'll be there. For now, we should get going."

He was anxious. Trax insisting his sister get the antidote was noble, and Eagle didn't want that sort of pony to disappear.

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Shadow chuckled as they suddenly went from zero to sixty in a seconds, flying high then into a steady descent towards the large forest, "Much appreciated, but not needed. The criminals who take lives in the night serve us for such feasts, even then, we never fully drain them." He told them reassuringly. The four batponies stood firm as they zoomed through the air, they had obviously done this many times before.

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Gilded was heavy enough that he kept his hoofing, only a small amount of sliding from the acceleration to give away his surprise. Eagle Heart, on the other hand, went flying backwards and hit Ally straight on, his breath flying from his body with a soft "oof!" He was a pegasus, after all. He was built to be light enough to fly, and the sudden speed was enough of a shock to knock him over. He quickly regained himself, nodding his head and apologizing respectfully to the batpony.

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Ally had reacted fast enough to hold out a hoof, catching him without budging, "No worries, Caesar fell off his first time, so you have that win on him." Caesar frowned and pointed his hoof at her judgingly, "You moved out of the way on purpose!" Ally just shrugged in response, Shadow smirked at them before looking ahead, "Have you either of you been into the Everfree? If so, how far in did you go?"

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"No" "Yes" they both spoke at the same time. Surprisingly though, it was Gilded who had said yes. Eagle looked at him, eyebrow raised.

"You never told me about that."

"Yeah well... It was stupid dare my cousin gave me when we should've been working. There's a pony, a zebra actually, that lives in there. My cousins were saying she was a witch and... Well one thing led to another and suddenly I was being dared to go and take a picture of her. I managed to make it all the way to her tree, and she was surprisingly nice, considering I was practically breaking and entering. I haven't seen her recently, but I visited her a few times while I was still living nearby. It isn't extremely far in, but farther than most ponies go I've been told."

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Shadow raised an eyebrow, "You speak of Zecora?" He than looked at his unicorn comrade, "Shade here favorites her place many times, they have become quite close. Professionally, of course," He smirked slyly, "Or so he has told me." Shade didn't looked back, but anypony could tell he was nervously embarrassed, Caesar was about to lean on him but was bounded down by shadowy vines. Shadow chuckled, "Anyway, I ask because Zecora's house is still considered treeline, the boundry limit. Where we're going, is close to the heart, a place where only the most vicious creatures live. We may be after a Chimera, but it won't be the only thing stalking around. Either of you have experience in fighting Monsters, so to speak?"

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"Yes, I mean Zecora. I consider her a friend, but not quite as close as Shadow," Gilded said, winking at the batpony good-naturedly.

"We were employed during the Changeling Invasion," Eagle spoke up. "And it wasn't the first time something like that had happened, although they were on much smaller scales. But those were much different situations, where we were in our home terf, and in a much bigger group of soldiers. Your strength will be invaluable, but I'm sure this will still be an arduous task."

"The forest itself can even turn against you if you're not careful," Gilded pointed out.

"Exactly."

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