[Canterlot] Colts will be Colts

[Dio]

[colour=#0000cd]“Tough crowd tonight...”[/colour] Shining Armor muttered under his breath. Thankfully, the princess seemed too preoccupied with giving Private Tick the stink eye to notice.

On the one hoof, it was a good sign. According to Celestia, her sister was back to her old self again. Her magic had returned and she was ready to resume her duties as shepherdess of the moon and co-ruler of Equestria. On the other hoof, if this was any indication of what to expect for future encounters, Shining Armor wasn’t looking forward to it.

[colour=#000080]“Tell me, does this shield work on Changelings, too?”[/colour]

[colour=#b22222]"Is THAT what's going on here?! Are you a dirty changeling?! If I find out you're one of those bugs, I'll throw you in a hole so deep you'll never see Celestia's sun again!!" [/colour]

And there was the rub. Armor figured the hammer would be dropped sooner or later, but he wasn’t expecting it would be so soon or so roughly. Accusing Tick of being a changeling? Ouch. Of course, Shining Armor wasn’t too fond of it himself. The medics had told him he’d be all right after that little incident, but it still enraged him to think that he’d been so blind. Granted, it was magic more powerful than anything anypony had ever seen before, but being duped by a changeling saboteur posing as his own wife was simultaneously infuriating and humiliating.

[colour=#0000cd]“Sergeant, Princess,”[/colour] Armor calmly stated, stepping up to the cell. With some effort, he was all business again. They already had enough bad guards; it was time to do what he did best - counterpoint. [colour=#0000cd]“I’m sure we’ll find out whether Private Tick is the real deal in due time. It might be more reasonable to give Tick some time to explain himself. Isn’t that right, private?”[/colour]

[Imagination]

Even the Master Sergeant would've objected to accusing him of being a changeling. That's just harsh. That, and he would've felt foolish if he admitted he had been training a changeling spy for the past couple of months without even knowing it. [colour=#0000ff]"We'll see, then..."[/colour] For now he stands back, seeing his superiors have this well in hoof.

With the DI backing off, and the ranking pony seeming to agree that him being a changeling is ridiculous, he seems much more inclined to speak to the Captain. [colour=#daa520]"I-I ain't no changeling! Alright, alright... M-My cousin is a guard, he let me in! I didn't want him to get in trouble!"[/colour] Of course that was probably going to mean little, as both were probably going to be in some serious trouble, officially and/or otherwise. Reveille stayed his hoof, looking to the Sergeant, then the Captain, and at last the Princess. Who was going to demand action? Obviously Tick was going back with him, but what of the one who caused the breech? This other, as of right now unnamed guard? [colour=#0000ff]"Your orders, Sir? ... Your highness?"[/colour]

[MyLittlePonyTales]

[colour=#000080]Luna shifted her hooves again. She wanted to get out of here, to go back through the portal or whatever and get all of her magic back. The effect was surely a lot more difficult for a princess, considering that they contained all three types of ponies, and thus, all three types of magic. But it was important for her to be here, in order to help sort this out. Besides, it wasn't like she would be able to sleep now, after being somewhat traumatized by her magic being suddenly ripped away from her. Not only that, but the reason she was down here was because the ponies present had been too loud, so trying to sleep before this investigation was over probably wouldn't result in much rest anyway.

She was already a little jittery, so it shouldn't have been a surprise that she jumped back when Sergeant Bonfire slammed against the cell bars. His interrogation methods were certainly... forceful. Well, it was good to know the ponies in charge of the safety of the country and the princesses weren't softies. But SOMEPONY had been slacking off, which had brought her to her current location. Either an older officer was not trained properly, the pony in the cell before her had accomplices that hadn't been caught, or the pony was actually a Changeling that had impersonated a high ranking officer in order to carry out his deed.

Well, if the method for rooting out a traitor was working, she wasn't one to judge. After all, her own methods a thousand years ago would have been quite similar, and even now she could easily slip into her 'Royal Canterlot Voice', provided she could gather her nerves. The threat of Changelings was still very real, and it was of the utmost importance for them to know whether or not there was one in their midst.

“Well, you're the expert.” It sounded as if Luna was replying only to Shining Armor, but it applied to all ponies present. She was still a bit irritated, and though her voice to this 'Private Tick' had been level thus far, the longer she was down here, the more uncomfortable she got. She gave a gruff sigh, trying to calm herself and ease some of her tenseness.

She nodded once to Shining Armor, indicating that he should give the verdict Reveille was requesting, for the time being. She could always overrule him if she didn't agree, but since her return Luna hadn't taken the time to indulge herself in many military matters. Hardly anything utterly disastrous happened at night, so she didn't see much need to acquaint herself with the guard, as of yet.[/colour]

[Corsair]

[colour=#ffa500]Bonfire backed off a bit when addressed by the Captain, but his eyes remained locked on the colt in the cell. If he were calmer, Bonfire might have realized that calling Tick a changeling was a bit silly; there was not much love to absorb as an Army recruit after all. But thinking back to the day of the invasion just made his temper boil in an instant. The Guard and the army units in the city had been overwhelmed by the assault, and were handed an embarrassing defeat at the hooves of the changelings. All their preparations after the threat had become known were for nothing. If it hadn't been for the Captain here, the Canterlot might still be under their control.

However, Bonfire's outburst did seem to have an effect; Tick had admitted that a pony inside the palace had helped him. That admission shifted Bonfire's anger away from the colt and back to the ponies under his command. He'd already grilled the Guards who had been on duty last night, and none of them had given any hint of this. Tick had said that he'd tricked the ponies by changing the clocks. The guards knew better than to leave their post until relieved though, no matter what the clock said. Maybe this 'cousin' had relieved the watch to get Tick inside?

Still focused on the colt in the cell, Bonfire growled out "I need a name, Private. Who helped you slip in here? I need to have a conversation with this cousin of yours..."[/colour]

​

[Dio]

Tick stammered a barely intelligible response. Of course he had an insider. Infiltration might have been possible against an enemy position in the dead of night, but getting your hooves into a bureaucracy as thick and thorough as the Royal Equestrian Army by yourself was a task bordering on impossible. Sometimes even the legitimate requests got filtered out because of it.

“Your orders, sir? Your highness?”

[colour=#000080]“You’re the expert.”[/colour]

But suddenly all eyes were upon Shining Armor. The captain’s eyes darted back and forth, first meeting the Princess, then the drill sergeant, then the terrified private Tick. Raising an eyebrow for a brief moment, the captain finally spoke. [colour=#0000ff]“Seems like you’re in a lot of hot water, private. We might be able to turn down the heat, but only if we know the whole story. So how far down does the rabbit hole go?”[/colour]

[Imagination]

Private Tick didn't want anypony to get in trouble, but if he wanted to avoid that he shouldn't have let himself get caught in the first place. After much hesitation, and nursing a glare from Reveille, he finally gave up a name. [colour=#daa520]"Corporal Stopwatch, Sir. He let me through"[/colour]

Defeated, the Private just shrunk back into the cell, falling quiet again. The Master Sergeant stepped forward, not seeing all that glad the situation was resolved. [colour=#0000ff]"Will you need to hold his sorry flank any longer, or are we done here, Sir?"[/colour] He assumed Tick would be staying, as they'd probably have to follow up on his lead. Though a day or so in the cell was likely going to be a vacation compared to whatever punishment awaited him at the depot. IF he could go back to the depot. It was up to the higher powers to decide this one, but at least the Private cooperated... after some prompting.

If he needed to stay, so be it. It was clear all Reveille wanted to do was get back to the recruits that weren't making his job harder. For the moment, anyway. [colour=#0000ff]"I know this 'Stopwatch'. Didn't stick out, but I remember most of my recruits... Anypony with that name on your watch, Sergeant?"[/colour]

[MyLittlePonyTales]

Every minute that ticked by was a little bit of torture for the princess. Everypony else could feel the emptiness of the lack of magical aura in the area, but for somepony who constantly relied on a connection with the aether, it was quite unnerving. Her mane unnaturally brushed against her shoulders and legs, her lengthy tail skimming across the floor. She felt defenseless without her magic. Sure, she had her horn and her hooves, but nothing that would provide a large impact should there be an attack. Not that that was even likely—warning from one of the guards above would come before the threat could even breach the palace walls. Princess Luna just felt paranoid, and was still quite exhausted due to her restless days.

And as if Changelings and other threats to Equestria weren't enough, now it seemed the Royal Guard couldn't be trusted. It wasn't that they were necessarily traitors, but somewhere along the line somepony hadn't taken their job seriously. It might just these two recruits that had caused trouble, or the problem may have come about further up the chain. It was true that Equestria was usually at peace, and thus the role of the Royal Guard was much more traditional and for show rather than for actual protection. But when there WAS a need to defend the princesses, and more importantly, the ponies of Equestria, the Guard did have to be trained and ready to fight. And if some of them thought that this was just some job where they could slack off and play games, how could they even be trusted to protect their country?

[colour=#000080]”So, Shining Armor, is this the first time something like this has slipped through the cracks—“[/colour] Luna tossed her mane out of her eyes, snorting in irritation at the abnormal problem of hair in her face, [colour=#000080]”—or just the first one that one of the princesses has actually found out about?”[/colour] She raised a brow, her voice remaining level but saturated with annoyance. One small problem frequently meant that there was a larger problem afoot, and such a problem might be directly with Shining Armor, or somepony under him. More than likely it was the latter, being as the Guard was in charge of guarding and protecting his own wife especially, more so than the other ponies in Canterlot. And considering the recent events that had led to her recent but short lived replacement, it was surprising that security was not tighter than usual. And, knowing that the Guard was apparently slacking off, Equestria was not safe—and that thought made Princess Luna even more stressed than she already was.