//------------------------------// // Chapter 51: Her Sister // Story: The Reader // by GnollReader //------------------------------// Thirty-nine seconds later, the door of the Fat Mare Inn was pushed open and four ponies were tossed onto the street in a groaning pile. Laughter and cheers could be heard as the door was pulled shut again. "What could possibly go wrong you said." groaned one of them. "Just shut it Cloudbreak..." groaned another pony. "What in the name of Equestria? ON YOUR HOOFS RECRUITS!" another voice shouted at them. Recognizing the voice the ponies quickly struggled to disentangle themselves from one another and stood on shaky legs. "NOW WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? EXPLAIN YOURSELFS!" an angry mare hollered at them. --- Purple Haze had just collected a nice bag of bits when the door to the Fat Mare Inn was opened again and a mare in full armor stepped inside. A smile spread her lips as she saw her approach, "Sis, long time no see! I thought you didn't like places like this?" The mare greeted her with a smile, "I don't, but it's good seeing you. I haven't heard from you in weeks! All I heard was you're on some kind of special mission." she embraced Purple Haze in a hug. "What have you been up to?" "You wouldn't believe it if I told you." Purple Haze chuckled, "What brings you here anyway?" "Wait, I didn't know you had a sister." piped up Rainbow Dash from behind them. "Rainbow Dash, meet my sister captain Flying Shield. Sis, this is Rainbow Dash." The two mares shook hoofs, "Nice to meet you Flying Shield. So you're a captain too?" "Night guard and proud of it. Runs in the family." she paused for a second, "Now can you two tell me why I just found four of my recruits outside and beaten into a heap?" Purple Haze gave a chuckle, "Seems like they thought they could get themselves a name in the guard if they picked a fight with the bouncer." "I've been able to catch that much from them. They certainly got some names from me, not the ones they were hoping for though." She looked around the pub, "Now where is this bouncer? I want to meet the stallion that can handle four rookies like that." "Looking for new recruits?" Purple Haze laughed, "I don't think he'd join but I can introduce you two." Flying Shield smiled at her sister, "Just checking out the who is who. So where is he?" "Hey big guy, you got a fan! Come here and say hello!" Rainbow Dash called out into the room. A grunt could be heard from the dark in the corner. "One moment, Scar has to finish chapter. Is very gripping." a deep voice grumbled. "What in the..." Flying Shield started a sentence but was cut off by a book being shut and a huge figure stepping out of the dark. She watched the huge creature approach with heavy steps and stop in front of her. She looked up into his red eyes, "Wow..." she whispered with an open mouth. Scar looked at the guard pony before him, she had the same colors as Purple Haze. Her smell was strangely similar too, were they related? "Guard pony." he nodded a greeting to her before turning to Rainbow Dash, "What is fan?" "It means she likes you." answered Rainbow Dash with a chuckle. The gnoll turned back to Flying Shield with a raised eyebrow, "Pony likes Scar? Is good for pony but Scar does not know it." "What? I don't..." she turned to her sister, "Is he your special mission?" "Sure is,..." answered Purple Haze, "Sis, this is Scar, the gnoll. He's the new bouncer and a good friend." she turned to the gnoll, "Scar, this captain Flying Shield. She's my sister so be nice." The gnoll nodded and turned to Flying Shield, "If shield pony is sister of Purple Haze then it is happy to meet pony." he extended an open paw towards her. She shook it after a quick check of his claws, "Nice to meet you too. So you've been keeping my sister busy?" The gnoll gave her a big smile, "Purple Haze watches over it. Is special pony." Purple Haze nearly choked on her drink while Rainbow Dash gave an amused snort. Flying Shield stared at his teeth for a moment before an idea struck her. She slightly leaned to Purple Haze and whispered to her, "Aside from the fact that you owe me an explanation why he's wearing one of your feathers, I just have to ask. Can I borrow your gnoll for something?" --- The quarters of the night guard recruits were quiet this early in the morning. Many of the recruits were sleeping off a week of training camp, excessive cider consumption, simply enjoying a good sleep or as in four cases sleeping off bruises from a nights brawl. Their sleep was interrupted abruptly though when captain Flying Shield burst through one of the doors. "RISE AND SHINE MAGGOTS!" she shouted through the large room loud enough make the ponies quiver in their beds. Some of them tossed around tiredly under their covers while others tried their best to stand at attention with groggy heads. "Well ain't this pretty. Since all of you seem to be getting so much sleep lately I thought we'd do a special kind of training today." she said with a smirk as the ponies finally stood straight before their beds. "The mission objective is quite simple. You're going to play a game of tag. If you get tagged, you're dead and out of the game. If one of you maggots lasts until noon you may actually make it somewhere in the guard one day. The whole castle is game ground. That's it." The recruits cast her nervous glances, none of them had ever seen her smiling like that. And what did she mean with getting caught and being dead? Where they really going to play tag? Flying Shield turned around and started to head through the door. She stopped in the frame, "Before I forget it, the hunt starts now." she turned and walked through the door, "Alright, go get them big guy." she said to someone outside. Before the ponies could make heads and tails of what was going on something huge with with big teeth and an even bigger hammer entered the quarters through the door. "HAMMER HITS PONIES IS TAG!" a deep voice boomed at them before hurling itself at them. "HE'S COME BACK TO EAT US!" a bruised pony with a red coat screamed in terror. It only added to the panic and chaos which followed.