//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: By Valor and Arms // Story: Crusader Ponies (Romance of the Six Counties) // by swirlstar //------------------------------// By Valor and Arms Rainbow Dash looked glumly out of the castle window. “Another boring day,” she said to herself, as she gazed out over the shifting sand dunes of the Changeling Desert. When Celestia first broached the idea, Rainbow Dash admittedly had misgivings about ruling a whole county alone. After all, managing a county would probably be more work than managing the Ponyville weather team. But at least, she had thought, she would have a whole land to herself! Land and ponies and total freedom! Awesome! Rainbow Dash turned out to be wrong on both counts. Managing a county turned out to be easier than she had thought. With the local administration already set up on arrival, all she really needed to do was sign forms, meet people, all that. And she had even solved that problem, thanks to Twilight’s advice: her first piece of legislation was to delegate actual authority to some local notary. Now she could have all the freedom she wanted. But no. Turns out that being the countess was definitely not awesome. The county was big, granted, and it was certainly large enough for Rainbow Dash to practice all her various moves and tricks undisturbed, like the Princess said. But it was all sand. Well, alright, maybe not all sand (she remembered the presentation where they mentioned around 30% of the county being shrubland, or whatever) but, as far as she was concerned, it was pretty much useless. Turning sand dunes into sand craters via Sonic Rainboom may have seemed radical at first, but the novelty wore thin after, like, the fiftieth time. She found some relief in training a unit of pegasi hoof-picked for their flying abilities (a sort of compensation for being too far away from the Wonderbolts), but in the end, there just wasn’t much here. And definitely no big, scary ruins where she could pretend to be Daring Do. A knock on the door snapped Rainbow Dash out of her thoughts. “Who’s there? Come in!” A guard entered and gave a salute. “My Countess, important news from the southern frontier.” “Sheesh, didn’t I tell everypony to pass information through Res Publica first?” “You did, but this,” the guard handed over a scroll, “was deemed important enough for your attention by Councillor Publica.” Rainbow Dash began to read. “Fluttershy…bandits…ransacking the land - what’s ‘ransacking’ mean?” “It means causing havoc, my Countess.” Rainbow Dash remained puzzled. “Or desecrating. Or despoiling. Or -” “Urgh! I’m worse than a guard? Argh…forget it, there are bandits in Fluttershy’s county, and I know that’s a bad thing. Draw up the pegasi regiments! We’re heading south!” * Fluttershy, in one of her more daring moments, peered over the battlements to look at the angry mob below. “YOU THERE!” a gruff voice yelled from below. “Eep!” Fluttershy ducked back down again. “Yes, Mister?” “I don’t think she’s answering, Shootaloot.” Fluttershy heard the bandit leader snarl and curse. “Well, answer or no, we’re taking this place.” He cleared his voice. “LISTEN, COUNTESS! Your reign has been disastrous! Our farms are being overrun by badgers and your councilors are doing nothing about it! They said you didn’t…” The bandit leader launched into a diatribe as Fluttershy, cowering behind the parapet, struggled to gain control of her thoughts. Oh Fluttershy, what are you going to do? Those big bad meanies are - STOP STOP. Relax, Fluttershy just relax. Just gain control of the situation. Your animal friends are here to help you, right? The nice squirrels and the cute dormice and the fluffy bunnies, they’re here to help! But those meanies are so big and scary and bad and - QUIT IT. Slow breaths, Fluttershy, slow, deep breaths. Let’s look at the situation again: your friends are coming, right? Rainbow, Applejack, Twilight, Pinkie and Rarity. But will they arrive in time? These baddies are going to attack soon and - NO. Come on, all I have to do is hold out until they come, that’s all. Come on, Fluttershy, you can do this. Be strong, just be strong for your friends, just once, all right? Slow breaths… “…so we’re giving you one last offer: surrender this city now, or -” “Or what?!” a fierce-looking Fluttershy stared at them from the battlements, steely eyes burning with determination. The bandit leader was unfazed. “Or you’ll find out why my name is SHOOTALOOT!” “Eep!” Fluttershy ducked back behind the battlements, courage draining out of her by the gallon. Ok, now. I’ve been strong ‘for once’. Now they’re going to attack and then what should I do and - “Respond. NOW. Or we’re goin’ down the path of war! Ten!” This is terrible. “Nine!” If they do attack I don’t even… “Eight!” think I can hold them off. Then what will they… “Seven!” do to all the animals? I remember Angel Bunny saying how these bandits are… “Six!” all really bad to animals they even… “NOT SO FAST!” eat all sorts of - *whoomp* - huh? Fluttershy gingerly opened her eyes, not really knowing what to expect. “R-Rainbow Dash?” Sure enough, the cyan pegasus was standing in front of her, clad in armor that was clearly reminiscent of the neoclassical style. (Or maybe inspired by that Heart’s Warming Eve play, Fluttershy thought wistfully.) In any case - “Never fear, Fluttershy! For Rainbow Dash, Countess of the Northwest and Guardian of the North, is here to rescue you!” Rainbow Dash proudly puffed out her chest and pointed a hoof at herself in order to drive the point home. “Oh, thank you, Rainbow Dash, thank you so much -” *WHAP* A large rock crushed a merlon not far from where they both were. Fluttershy screamed in terror and clung desperately to Rainbow Dash’s legs, shivering uncontrollably. Rainbow Dash let out an embarrassed laugh. “Uh, oh yeah, I almost forgot about that. Listen, Fluttershy -” she eased her hooves out from the surprisingly strong grip of the yellow pegasus - “you stay here. I’ll get rid of tese bandits for you.” She turned right and saw her ‘Sky Divers’ regiment formed up and ready to go. “Alright, Sky Divers, we’re not letting these bandits take Fluttershy’s city! Lightning Dust, you take the left and punch ‘em from the flank! I’ll lead the right and smash ‘em from the center! Come on, pegasi, let’s move! NOW!” Fluttershy cowered as a mighty gust of wind signaled the departure of the regiment. Almost instantly, terrible sounds started emanating from far below the battlements. A cold chill ran down Fluttershy’s spine as she sought to protect her ears from the sounds of steel and death. It was like being on that hill back during the Changeling Crusade all over again.