Declassified #5 - In the Service of the Princess, Chapter 1 · 8:04pm Oct 12th, 2015
The second half of "In the Service of the Princess" is steadily nearing completion, as is the interlude for "Winning Agent". For the time being, here's another declassified blog to tide you all over until the next chapter.
The initially story was to be set shortly after the events of Season 4's "Three's A Crowd", but was set further to after "Inspiration Manifestation". In addition, elements of the story are (and will be) inspired from works such as Metal Gear Rising, The Clone Wars episode "Bounty", and Call of Duty's Black Ops series.
Blue Shift and Black Shift are named after security teams introduced in Half-Life: Blue Shift.
In addition to Flash, the members of the Crystal Guard's Blue Shift are:
--Emerald Ray, crystal pony and leader of the team. He is based off the toy from the Pony Rainbow Collection.
--Amethyst Stone, the crystal pegasus who was with Flash and Cadance in "Three's A Crowd".
--Windlancer, a pegasus who happens to be a Rainbow Dash recolor from the young readers "Welcome to the Crystal Empire".
The book Amethyst Stone reads is a reference to the cheesy vampire romance series Twilight by Stephanie Meyer.
This kernel of wisdom from Forrest Gump.
Since 'Stalker-Mare' is Storm's pet name for Star, 'Snoopy' became Flash's for her. It's also a nod to the dog from Peanuts, which admittedly happens to be my family's guilty pleasure 
"Bazinga!" is the catchphrase of Sheldon from "Big Bang Theory".
“I’d rather eat a durian.”
A nod to Raugos' "Initiation".
Aside from Star Kicker, Lunar Guard's Black Shift includes three other members, who will be properly introduced in the next chapter.
Through his mother's side, Flash and his siblings are direct descendants of the infamous Charger Clan. Over the centuries, views on Luna shifted to suit the opinions of one group or another. Nightshade (mom) holds her in high regard and sees Luna as the check and balance to Celestia, the yang to her yin, the darkness to her light. She also believes Luna's actions against her sister were not meant to harm anypony; she only wanted to their subjects to appreciate the night as much as they did Celestia's day. But her benevolence was overshadowed by envy, which was a catalyst in Luna's transformation into Nightmare Moon.
With The Ballad of a Winning Sentryin the graveyard and thus the story of Cadance-Chrysalis's mission against Luna untold, save for the interlude, it's safe to establish-- you know what, I'll just put spoilers on this one. Team Flash would wear amulets much like Chrysalis' crystal ball from the IDW comics as a means of communication during their mission, and over time were steadily exposed to her influence over the course of the story through them. Flash, Shephard Pie, and Midnight Sun would later be outright mind-controlled in the midst of the Changeling invasion.
I'm not surprised no one caught this one. Watch 19:06 - 20:06
I felt more cozy than a cucumber in a parka.
"Sentry goin' up!", one of the Engineer's lines from Team Fortress 2.
The crystal earbuds are analogous to the earbuds you see Secret Service agents wear, except without the cord. They are an invention of Web of Hope's genius. Give him a round of applause, folks!
Yeah, Flash definitely has a crush on Star. How? Why? Maybe he found her cute. Maybe he's awed by her ingenuity. Maybe it was a case of her tackling him during their respective missions, leading to some weird form of admiration from him. Who knows?
Kappa was to be Ponente's codename, then it was switched. "Ponente" comes from a wind the blows through the Strait of Gibraltar between Spain and Morocco, and is a derivative of the Mistral wind. Ponente aka Diamond Dust shares some characterizations with Metal Gear's fem fatales, primarily Mistral (hue), and The Force Unleashed's Maris Brood.
Flash claims to be third in his class for wingblade combat. Originally he was to simply state being in the top ten, but that felt too direct a use from Attack on Titan. Speaking of weapons, he was originally to use a wakazashi in the story, something to connect to his half-Japaneighse heritage. Needless to say, this was way too OP, too Stu-ish, and too similar to Raiden, and that's what I get for playing too much MGR. So both were cut in favor of the lance, the preferred weapon of Flash's Charger ancestors.
The fight atop the train was to be longer, with Star joining in and slugging Ponente with loads of homing firaga while the latter hid behind an ice dome.
Ponente claims to be from Zebrica, but is not of zebra blood. Yes and yes, and you can blame her killer instincts on the actions of a yet-to-be-named heir to the Zebrican Empire.
Night Glider is indeed Flash, LD, and Fi's cousin. Why she ran away... well, that's for another story. There's also more to Captain Domino than just being the CO of the 12th Precinct. Update: Domino is their father. As for Storm, she doesn't think very highly of Flash. Wait 'til she gets wiff of his crush for her younger sister (Better her finding out than Sparkler).
Cloud used the same snogging tactic earlier in Luminary's Moonlit Rise of a Winning Pony. Dammit, Lum, why you write so well?
Every stallion has a name for his tool. For Flash, it's Little Bradley. Brad for short, and the nickname for his human counterpart.
Music listened to during the writing of this story:
Fighting atop the train (1)
Interior battle
Flash makes a bet with Star
