Strawberry Pop Rocks, Part 3 [17] [E]
Stories in Stone
Luna's Royal Guard.
By TDR
Strawberry Pop Rocks
Part 3
Jer'rahd turned his head, eyes shifting around at the others gathered at the gate of the castle with him. Velkorn's herbal bath had added peaches to the list of fruit he wanted nothing to do with. His mane cut and recolor made him look like a completely different pony in the mirror. He had yet to find any of his medals, intentionally, so his dark uniform was rather bare. Even with the medals however he was likely to be out shown by the others. Something he was quite okay with.
Starfall had a uniform similar to his though she evidently knew where her medals were and had pinned the lot of them to her chest. Her uniform looked much better on her as well and did not cover her cutie mark. She had lengthed her tail and mane braiding the former and styling the latter with some sort of corkscrew design that seemed to be popular lately. She also seemed to be wearing make up which was very odd in his eyes.
Bleu had gone home and found jewelry, he expected it was costume from when she worked with the ESO, but he was no judge of that sort of thing. She had also polished her scales to a near mirror finish making her look like a dragonling shaped sapphire if she didn't move.
Velkorn had gone full out as well. Her usually curly mane and tail were straightened and hung with jewels and exotic feathers. She wore a good bit of gold jewelry as well, ear rings, a rather thick necklace and a small circlet of a crown. The dress she wore was a very regal purple trimmed with what looked like rubies. The dress clung tightly to her form and revealed a good bit of it as well. She was decidedly dressed to turn heads. Jer'rahd briefly wondered how Rhede had managed to keep his hooves off her. He was impressed by it and likely would have at least tried to hit on her if he didn't know her. She was a good friend, but that was it. Their personalities clashed a bit too much for anything more. Granted so did hers and Rhede's
Aside from the Princess, Rhede likely was dressed the best. He wore a brand new pressed crimson robe etched with the markings of his ambassadorial station. Some how he had also managed to make a bulky covering like a robe and turn it into something that showed his form with every move he made. It made him look like an exotic dancer. While most would consider that look bad, Jer'rahd was sure that was what Rhede was going for.
He had yet to see Princess Luna and had only briefly seen the others, getting barely as much as a small nod or a wave from any of them as they milled about the gathered crowd looking for something or someone. With the exception of Rhede he figured all of them had a decent reason to be here. He himself was just hoping to hit the bar and leave early.
Princess Celestia and Princess Luna finally appear as the gates open and they welcome the crowd vanishing back inside a moment later. He only briefly saw her dress but it seemed mostly out of black and purple feathers and silk of the same coloration’s draped over her lithe form. His ears perk up suddenly hearing some sort of music filter though the air. A sudden chorus starts from all the ponies around him startling him.
“At the gala!!”
Rhede:
“At the gala, all the mares there,
I'm going to see them all!
All the fillies, I'll befriend them at the gala~”
“At the gala!”
Rhede:
“All the nobles and the famous
They will love me, big and small.
We'll become quite close friends,
Right here at the Gala~”
“All our wet dreams will come true
Right here at the Gala!”
“At the Gala!”
Bleu:
“ At the gala,”
“ It's amazing!”
Bleu:
“I will tell them,”
“That you heard of”
Bleu:
“All my most entertaining tales!”
“ funny, funny”
Bleu:
“storied writers,”
“ and the playwrights”
Bleu:
“They will hear them,”
'We will listen!”
Bleu:
“funny jokes, amusing scenes!”
“ Gimme more!”
Bleu:
“And I'll build a lot of fame
for my sisters memory~”
“All our dreams and our hopes
From now, until here after...
All that we've been wishing for
Will happen at the Gala.
At the Gala!”
Velkorn:
[“At the gala, all the royals...
They will meet the Zebra Queen'!
They will see I, am no savage at the Gala~
“At the Gala!'
Velkorn:
[“I will keep him, my prince charming,
And how focused he will be!
And he'll see me as his lady,
Tonight at the Gala~”]
“This is what we've been waiting for,
To have the best night ever.
Each of us will live our dreams
Tonight at the Gala.
At the Gala!”
Luna:
Been dreading, I've been trying
To avoid all these noble ponies--
The selfish curs, their annoying tricks:
Speaking loops, they make me sick.
Banter on and on, no reasons
They just try to seem important!
These parasprites will stalk me, here at the Gala!”
All we've longed for,
All we've dreamed,
Our happy ever-after...
Finally will all come true
Right here at the Grand Gala.
At the Gala!
Starfall:
“I'm here at the Grand Gala,
most lavish of parties
its the one thing, that I wished for, since I was a filly
A tale to tell my daughter, to let her have big dreams...
to see her eyes all, filled with wonder
listening to my stories~”
Happiness and laughter at the Gala.
At the Gala!
Jer'rahd
“ At the Gala?,”
“At the Gala”
“ Why are we all singing?,”
“It is tradition”
Jer'rahd:
“This makes no sense to me!”
“let it go”
Jer'rahd:
I'm just here, cause the Princess,
had to come with some pony.
“Yes she did.”
Jer'rahd:
“This is giving me a migraine,
tell me there's an open bar please~”
"This will be the best night EVER!"
Jer'rahd / choir:
Into the Gala, we must go;
just to end this pony show,
Into the Gala, end it now,
And have the best night ever!
I hope I'm earning over time,
We're ready and we look divine!
Rhede:
“Into the Gala, meet new mares!”
Bleu:
“Into the Gala, they won't forget!
Velkorn:
[“ Into the Gala, make him mine!”]
Luna:
“Try my best not to strangle my sis.”
Rhede:
“To meet.”
Bleu:
“To Tell.”
Velkorn:
[“To Love”]
Luna:
“To leave”
Starfall:
“To know”
Jer'rahd:
“To Drink”
Into the Gala,
Into the Gala
And we'll have the BEST NIGHT EVER...
At the Gala!
Jer'rahd simply stood there in shock for a moment not even sure how he got where he was after that little dance number. He was currently standing at Princess Luna's side looking down at a very long line of ponies heading up the stairs from the gate. Next to Luna was Princess Celestia in a outfit exactly the same as Luna's feathered mess, only done in white feathers. On her other side was Rhede, looking a bit perturbed to be where he was.
Jer'rahd leans over whispering to the princess between her greeting of the guests.
“Princess, what the heck just happened?”
“Gala flash mob. It happens every year. One of my sisters rather elaborate pranks. The spell to start the musical number usually selects a group of ponies who either have no desire to be here or who most want to be here. Then it magically compels every one into a song within a certain radius” Luna mutters
“Lovely. I heard the others singing, but I could barely make out what most of them said.“Jer'rahd sighs.
“ I am the same the only one I heard fully was yours. Make sure you save me something from the bar, I am likely going to need it after all this.” Luna responds.
“You're lucky. I heard most of Rhede's” Jer'rahd sighs.
============================================
What felt like hours had passed and only Jer'rahd's training at standing at attention for long periods of time managed to keep him on his hooves. Luna and Celestia greeted several hundred ponies often being forced to pause and talk with one or two who wanted some more time with the Princesses.
He nodded greeting to a few at first as they passed, but soon figured out that he and Rhede were being completely ignored and seen as little more than back ground ponies. Luna was barely acknowledged as well most offering little more than a polite greeting before moving on.
Jer'rahd had finally reached a point where he felt he had to move or else fall over when the last few ponies came up the stair, said their greetings, and went inside the massive ballroom.
“Why do you always want me to do this with you Tia?” Luna growls.
“Because with you around sister the guests tend not to stay and gab as long. I'm using that hostile image you have built up to speed things along.” Celestia smiles.
“At least some pony is finding a use for it. General, I suppose you can head into the party we will be needed to preform the announcements and hob nob. Remember what I said about the bar however.”
“Luna cautions.
“Of course Princess.”
Rhede and Jer'rahd both wait until the Princesses started off bickering with each other, before moving away. The massive black and white dresses they wore making them both look more like peacocks than ponies.
Rhede had suddenly grown a rather large smile on his face, that worried Jer'rahd particularly as he heard the strains of 'At the Gala' being hummed by his friend.
“Never again.” Jer'rahd growls smacking Rhede's shoulder with a hoof.
“Come on Jer, it was not THAT bad.” Rhede chuckles.
“You did not hear yourself try to sing....” Jer'rahd corrects.
======================================================
Bleu lifted her head seeing Rhede and Jer'rahd enter the party.... well if you could call it a party. She had spent the last three hours trying to start a conversation with any pony there. A few of them she even recognized from her time with Platinum and they would not even acknowledge her existence. She had finally given up and become more sullen walking over to where Jer'rahd was having been yelled at once, when she tried to fly.
It had not been a pleasant night. They would not even serve her at the bar or the refreshment table. She had tried to keep her spirits up, but there was not even any real music playing just some pathetic pinking on a piano that sounded like a foal was bashing a hammer on the keys.
She had then tried to find the others, but so far had no luck what so ever. Hopefully she could at least meet up with Jer'rahd, the problem was on foot she could not see past many of the ponies and by the time she got to where she had seen him, he was gone. She really hoped the others were faring better here than she was.
===============================================
Velkorn was undergoing much the same treatment as Bleu, being largely ignored.
That was preferable to the times when she was not ignored however.
Every so often some pony would catch her attention to ask her a question, usually a stupid one, and no matter what she responded they laughed. She quite easily could see she was being made fun of, but she put up with it, still hoping to find Rhede.
She had spotted him coming into the ballroom and was moving towards him when she was intercepted by another group of nobles intent on being amused at her expense. By the time she got away from them Rhede had vanished. It would be rather hard to meet up with him and hold his attention if she couldn't even find him. She closed her eyes and exhaled as another laughing group tried to invite her over saying something about her tacky dress. She hoped the others, with the exception of Rhede right now, where doing better than she was.
=================================================
Starfall was almost at the point of freaking out. She had barely stepped hoof into the party when she was suddenly swarmed by every stallion in the place and more than a few females. Most of them wanted some sort of regaling of her abilities and the sonic rain boom.
The others however had turned the charm up to full and were flirting and boasting like no ones business, vieing for her attentions. It was pleasant enough at first, but none of them were willing to take no for an answer and some were at the point that they spoke as if they knew what was best for her.
Starfall was not even remotely interested, but all of them seemed to persist and block her in a small circle. While not claustrophobic like many pegasus were being penned in like this, the group was preventing her from seeing all the Grand Galloping Gala had to offer. She certainly hoped the others were doing better than she was.
================================================
“So the beard then?” Rhede asks.
“It was an all stallion magic collage when I first joined, I used a spell to give myself a beard and wore some bulky robes to hide who I was. Fought the ruling from the inside and managed to get the gender bias rule removed. They still managed to get the last laugh when they found out I was a mare, forcing me to still keep the identity I had joined with as. When I made professor due to a lack of any one else competent in my field I altered the robes, put all the bells on as well and just started wearing the fake beard to completely mess with their dress code for teachers. With no one else able to teach the course they've had to deal with it.”
“I had always wondered why a lovely mare in a strange outfit was named Starswirl the Bearded. It is a rather amusing story.” Rhede chuckles.
“Really the name is just an old title I took that no one used any more.” The blue mare shrugs. “The first Starswirl was a rather potent caster, but there's not much on him past some of his research.............”
Rhede nods as the mare continues on into a brief history lesson of the name she chose, and he couldn't help tune her out. He was not thrilled at this. Velkorn was hunting for him, and she was rather good at hunting, but he could still blend in well enough to avoid her.
What was not easy to deal with was the lack of attractive, unattached mares at the party. Most were either old enough to be his grand mother or like Starswirl here, taken by a hovering date. He excused himself finding this to be a much more depressing party than he hoped for. Perhaps the others were faring better.
============================================================
Luna was about to scream. She and her sister had made it barely ten apples down the hall when they were stopped again. Tia talked with the couple a while as she was ignored, they had barely left the first group before another boring gaggle of nobles solicited her sister for something. More Guard's at towns, exclusive rights to certain things, tax breaks on everything.
It was just as she expected, most of these ponies had almost as much if not more wealth than the royal treasury did and they wanted money for things they could easily pay for to come out of the royal pocket. She hoped the others of her little group were doing better.
==============================================================
Jer'rahd had gone from bored, to annoyed, to pissed, and finally winding up some where between furious and rampage. He had yet to see any of the others, which was not expected to be honest. They all had things they wished to do here, well Starfall wanted to do everything, but still.
He could handle his friends being no where around.
He could handle being ignored by the nobles, in fact he rather enjoyed that.
He was quite peeved that the strongest drink the bar offered was a light wine that he could not even taste the alcohol in, but he could handle that, he just needed a lot of it.
What he could not handle was when a particularly loud noble and his group of 'yes pony' friends started talking behind him as loudly as they could to sound more important. That lit the fuse, and their conversation made it burn down faster.
“Seems the gala has fallen quite far this year, letting any thing in now, did you see the lizard?” A gold furred and silver haired unicorn scoffs. “ She was trying to peddle some dead mare as a singer, as if there's any profit in that.”
“Oh that's barely the half of it, Coin old colt, some how one of the Stripe's got invited as well. Seriously is any one even checking the tickets any more?” A green furred and pink maned unicorn adds.
”I thought the Guard was supposed to have wiped out the loathsome things.” A white furred and royal purple maned earth pony comments. ”Only good stripe is a dead one, nothing but dark magic and cannibalism from the lot of them.”
“I did see it, quite amusing that it had tried to learn pony, the sing song speech was quite funny.” The yellow furred and blue haired unicorn mare titters.
“Oh and the dress it was wearing dear, do not forget that.” the female earth pony with the gold fur and silvery mane adds in.
“Ah yes thank you Natashi, honestly an outfit like that should be burned. Preferably with the wearer still in it.” The other mare smarms back.
The small group continues to giggle to themselves. Jer'rahd exhales steadying his breath and trying to calm down. Velkorn had dealt with worse insults from idiots , and Bleu would only be upset she couldn't fire back. Stay calm, it's just some stupid noble shit heads talking out of their flanks. Hold the line, calm, relax, find the center and hold.
“Quite a few common rabble about, as well, though I do admit that one mare from the Guard does have a decent flank. I do forget her name... what did she do again ? That glowy light show thing?”
“ Surprised they even let one of those things under Princess Luna's command even near the palace. I thought that lot was chained out in a field some where. Savages, violent savages. I heard one of them murdered two ponies in the street the other night, smashed their heads open and THEN stabbed them.”
“Horrific.”
“Probably some blood sacrifice for their leader. Did you all see Princess Luna at the front this year? Poor thing, its no wonder she hides from all these events. Cute I suppose in a creepy gothic horror sort of way. With a leader like that it's no wonder things are in the state they are in.”
“Hard to trust any Royal Guard now a days. You're likely to get yourself killed.”
“Ahh, yes,I hear young Master Jefferies saw first hand what transpired at Dullahan. I am sure, I told this before, but he claims at the leaders command the whole lot of the forty second went positively feral, wiped out anything in their path. Likely that's what really killed that singer not some rouge dragon. Luna is probably covering for her savages again.”
The center could not hold, and neither could the crystal glass of wine. Jer'rahd let the shards drop to the bar top, his magic having taken a far tighter hold on it than the glass could withstand.
“That is quite enough out of all of you.” Jer'rahd growls slowly turns away from the bar to the four nobles and the mares with them.
“Stop making things up you know nothing about. Far to many died out there protecting your worthless flanks for you to go around insulting their memories with your lies.” Jer'rahd snaps.
“How dare a commoner speak with me that way. Who even let you in here boy I shall see to it they are flogged.” The earth pony snorts.
“Dear it appears he is one of the Guard judging by the uniform, an officer of some sort. Likely won a ticket here in a raffle or some such.” The earth pony mare adds.
“Bah it truly has fallen on bad times when filth like him, the stripe, and the lizard are allowed in. It must be the Princesses sister's doing nothing like this would have been allowed if it was just Princess Celestia here.” The Silver unicorn scoffs.
“You really are a bunch of stupid clueless buckers aren’t you? How do your inflated ego's give you enough air to think properly? Or does most of this come out of your plot holes?” Jer'rahd snaps. “ Princess Luna is the only reason you fools are still alive to flaunt your egos.”
“That is enough wastrel ,I shall not stand for you sullying my honor, it has been far to long since I put one your kind in their place.” the gold furred unicorn states.
Jer'rahd raises a brow, ears perking curiously as the noble called Coin pulled off the white sock on his fore hoof and promptly smacks Jer'rahd across the face.
“What the buck...?”Jer'rahd blinks.
“I challenge you to a duel you worthless dung heap. Blade's at dawn, make your peace and prepare your funeral rights.” Coin snaps.
“Are you sure this is wise Coin old colt? Dueling a commoner? And a solider at that?” the other unicorn asks.
“Bah he is little more than some officer, probably some lesser noble's brat who thought to get uppity, I am not the best duelist in Equestria for nothing. He will be dead in moments, not a challenge at all.”
“A duel? To the death? That's what you want?” Jer'rahd snorts his ears flattening to his head.
“Scared? You should be quaking before Lord Coin you mongrel, he has had a hundred and fifteen duels and not yet even taken a scratch.” the earth pony states.
The noble Coin suddenly spits on Jer'rahd the trickle of wine scented saliva splattering directly on his face and Luna's Knight shield. Jer'rahd smirks, His eye starting to glow faintly red as his rage reached a boiling point, it went unnoticed by the guffawing group save the unicorn mare who started backing away.
“Darling what is wrong with his eye?” she questions.
“Scared? Oh that pansy!? You have yet to know fear. I refuse your petty duel...” Jer'rahd bellows the last ”...... Because killing you wouldn’t hurt long enough!!”
He leaps at the noble with a roar, hoof swinging up to impact the arrogant pony's chin sending him toppling to the ground. His friends turn in surprise moving to help the fallen Coin, taking swings at Jer'rahd, there were too many to dodge, but the hits barely phased him as he tripped the earth pony and rolled him back over his shoulder to drop him hard to the ground as well.
Several of their body guards run up from the sides of the hall as the fight starts. Jer'rahd belts another in the gut doubling over the cursing unicorn, dropping him like a bag of flour. He barely had a moment to savor the victory over the three before he was struck on the back with a chair. Jer'rahd kicks back hard , rear hooves slamming into the chair and smashing it into another ponies face.
A glass bottle shatters over his head soaking his mane in wine. For the bodyguards trouble he was grabbed by Jer'rahd's magic and flung into the bar where the burly pony smashes through the stacked champagne glasses.
He was given a moment to breath before a number of other nobles and even more of their personal guards rush over to aid the fallen nobles who were trying to get back onto their hooves.
“Now its a party.” Jer'rahd smirks, loosening the collar of his dress uniform.
=========================================
Bleu had heard the yell and then nearly got trampled as the body guards stampeded over her kicking her across the room scuffing her scales and breaking some of her jewelry.
That was definitely Boss over there and he likely needed a distraction, not like she needed much urging. With no one else around that would have to fall to her. Not like anything else was going on she cared about at this point.
This whole night had been a bust, she might as well have a bit of fun.
If Boss was in a fight he could beat the crap out of those jerks who just kicked her so she needed something else. Looking up as one of the body guards crashed into the concession stand she had been kicked into, she grinned evilly and climbed onto the table grabbing whatever food she could get her claws on.
She took a bite of a few things before ducking behind the unconscious body guard and selected her targets.
Ahh there we go, first target was that horrid piano player. One assault by cake shut up the sad attempt at music.
========================================================
Starfall offered thanks to both goddesses at the start of the fight, as most of the Stallions around her had paused to see what was going on giving her the chance to slip away from them.
A sudden slap on her flank drew her retreat up short. She slowly turns her head back wide eyed at the perpetrator. She was briefly expecting Rhede or even Bleu, but it was one of the stallions that had been flirting with her. He offered a small grin and a wink.
She returned the wink with a hoof to his face.
=============================================
Rhede sighed leaning on the railing of the balcony at the top of the staircase leading down into the ball room. Luna and Celestia were late, and now a riot had started.
He calmly took another sip of his wine, quite annoyed at how disappointing the night had been. The only mare that was worth anything out of this lot was Velkorn, and he couldn't touch her, not without hating himself more than he already did.
He had expected something from his group after the Princesses gave their speech, but Jer had upped the time table and the scale rather quickly.
He took another sip of wine, having already forgone the glass. His eyes narrow as he saw Velkorn get shoved around in the chaos, some pony seemed a little to intent in shoving her and managed to push her hard enough to cause the normally very dexterous zebra to fall back into the punch bowl on the table.
Rhede frowned whipping the bottle across the room and beaning the offending pony in the face with the half full bottle of something that probably was worth more than the jewelry the Princesses were both wearing.
Sighing he pushed himself off the railing heading down the stairs slowly , seeking to help the zebra out of the punch.
=================================================
Give peace a chance, the Princess had said.
They will warm up to you, the Princess had said.
Once they get to know you, you will have a rather entertaining night, the Princess had said.
It will be a interesting exchange of cultures, the Princess had said.
Celestia was full of shit.
Velkorn had had enough of tonight as it was ,she had been treated as a fool and a clown. Talked down to , laughed about and been ignored or mocked by nearly every one she had encountered.
And she still had not even seen Rhede.
Now..... now some stupid pony had ruined her royal dress. The ONLY dress she even owned, it had been a gift to her from Rhede on top of all that.
Some pony was going to pay.
No, screw that!
EVERYONE was going to pay.
She pulled herself out of the punch bowl, grabbing the great glass dish and smashing it over the head of a pony that ran into her again trying to flee a flung pie.
A danish splattered against the side of Velkorn's head as some of the nobles had started to fire back at those they thought were flinging the food, thus starting a massive food fight around the brawl surrounding Jer'rahd.
The mare screamed out something that even those who spoke zebra couldn't understand and leaped on the noble who flung the pastry.
==============================================
A smaller fight had started around Starfall, who was being accosted by the mare friends of some of the nobles she had knocked out. They practically all tackled her at once and she was fending them off the best she could, though they fought dirty with the hair pulling.
=================================
Rhede stopped half way to Velkorn to watch the cat fight with the mares and Starfall. Pulled hair, ripped clothing, and the lot of them covered in some sort of cream filling from the flying pastries. Velkorn could handle herself a bit longer. He really wished he had a crystal to record this.
=================================
Another noble's body guard fell as Jer'rahd's grin grew wider. His uniform was in tatters and he was covered with wine, cuts bruises and blood.
He didn't think much of it was his blood, but he had been pulling punches and his attackers had gotten in a few decent shots. Heck he barely even hit the nobles in truth, their guards were a great deal tougher and he was enjoying the impromptu boxing the one was doing. A hoof caught him across the face staggering him to the side before he cried out tackling the body guard that hit him bringing them both to the ground where all the others jumped on top of them both.
This was the best night ever!
=====================================
Luna rubs her forehead, glad that the nobles finally seemed to have stopped coming to talk to them. It was long past time for the two of them to make a speech and then hopefully she could leave.
The pair of peacocked prime and proper peeved pony princesses, paced promptly to the pointless party.
Pushing open the doors and moving to the small balcony at the top of the stairs the pair froze in place as the chaos below them was in full swing.
The Princesses stared down in shock at the mess and the rampaging ponies.
Jer'rahd had managed to crawl from under the pile and was smashing one of the bodyguard's face into a silver tray full of cheeses.
Bleu had started using the piano as cover, popping up to fling what ever was handy at any pony that was still clean, her ducking and weaving on the piano was oddly accompanied by a jaunty sounding tune that the dragonling was clearly playing with her feet or tail as she darted around the large instrument.
Velkorn was currently swinging one of the tables over her head with two hooves and chasing a few nobles around the dance floor. She was screaming something that Luna did not even think was Zebra, it was decidedly curses though. Very vicious sounding ones too.
Starfall was still in the middle of a large fight of her own, the pegasus wasn't holding her punches like Jer'rahd was, though she couldn't get a good shot and the noble mares just seemed to get more angry at the blows.
Rhede was spectating, and had pulled up a chair and found popcorn from some where. A few other stallions sat in chairs near him watching the cat fight as well.
Most of the guests had run for the exits, just as the Royal Guard had tried to come in. The resulting blockage at the doors trapped every pony where they were. Luna was appalled by the chaos and embarrassed to see her friends in the middle of it all.
A laugh from beside her drew Luna's attention to her sister. The older alicorn was laughing openly at the sheer insanity going on below, at least she was until the apple pie hit her in the snout. Then it was Luna who was laughing at her sister as the filling slid down the white alicorn's face. At least until a slice of carrot cake splattered into her mane.
Both Princesses turned in time to see Bleu yelp and duck back behind the piano at being seen by the pair she had targeted. Luna narrowed her eyes as she lifted a large and mostly undamaged cake from the table. Celestia's magic gripped the still clean dragonling hauling her into the air by the tail and swinging her. The collision of the cake and dragon sent fancy cake exploding over the room covering everything that had not been hit yet with frosting.
================================
The Royal guard had finally made it through the fleeing guests to break up the fights, sort of.
Jer'rahd had gotten a bit too much into the brawl and managed to hit one of the Royal Guards with a shoulder checked body guard. Thus drawing half the squad into the fight as well before they got him settled down. Mostly by the entire unit dog piling him , the added weight of their armor finally managing to keep the gray unicorn pinned.
A few of the guards had joined Rhede and the others in watching the wrestling match with the mares in the cake. Starfall was finally pulling ahead and had two of the mares in choke holds while holding the others back by bludgeoning them with her wings.
Velkorn had smashed the table over one of the Guards that came to stop her. She then realized what she had done and started to try and provide medical aid.
Bleu was buried somewhere under the cake still.
=======================================
Much, much later Luna was pacing before them in the abandoned ball room. She paused occasionally to glare at one of them or another before pacing again.
Starfall and Jer'rahd stood nervously at attention watching her. Rhede had his usual smirk stealing glances over at the nearly unclothed and desert covered Starfall and stifling a chuckle. Velkorn had her head hung low and was fussing over the mess that had become her hair and dress. Bleu was trying not to laugh as she cleaned the cake from her scales.
“I cannot believe you. One night to act civilized and you bring about two fights and a riot.” Luna rants.
“My apologizes Princess Luna, But I could not sit by while my friends were insulted.” Jer'rahd chimes in.
“ Shush you. They were nobles General, it is what they do, you should have had enough experience with them by now to know they are mostly all loud little ankle biter purse rats in pony form. Nothing that comes out of their vapid mouths has any meaning and now you have a duel in the morning because you could not hold your temper.” Luna exclaims.
“I rejected that .” Jer'rahd interjects,.
“ I said shush. You then punched him General, that is the same thing as accepting. We have a law to ban this sort of thing, which no one ever enforces. If you kill him it will cause issues, if he kills you it will cause issues. THINK before you act. Nobles play by their own rules.... Air commander I thought better of you then to engage in this sort of nonsense.”
“I am sorry Princes Luna, but I did not strike the first blow.” Starfall mutters.
“Velkorn I thought better of you as well.”
“I had reached my limit, you drink the punch not swim in it.” Velkorn grumbles.
“Pelt I do not even know what you did, but some how, I know you caused some of this.” Luna rants
“You wound me Princess.” Rhede holds a hoof to his chest as if greatly offended.
“I might …. and Bleu.......gah, I am not even going to try.” Luna snorts.
“What? The whole party was crap till the last part.” Bleu snaps back.”That last bit almost made up for the rest of the night.”
Luna rubs her temples with her hooves as she sits down. “I know that Bleu and that is the issue. Tia loved it! Which is why she is forcing me to attended next years Gala as well. And if I have to suffer though this nonsense again, so are all of you for making me.”
The reactions from them were fairly much the same winces or groans, but acknowledging the punishment despite being annoyed by the idea.
Celestia however was still laughing about the whole situation in the background.
==============================================
[The next day, Canterlot park]
“Are you sure we should be here stud muffin? These guys look like they are ready to flay us.” Bleu mutters.
“Stop calling me that and yes, Jer'rahd managed to get Celestia to stop laughing long enough to get her to sign something he thought of. So he has a plan and I love seeing those.” Rhede comments.
“Yeah, but then she hit him with a peach pie and fell over laughing again. That mare has the strangest sense of humor I have ever seen.” Bleu sighs.
“The eternal life of the Sun's lord, she must try hard to not be bored.” Velkorn adds.
Rhede's ears perk as he looks skyward. “ Okay here we go.”
A group of ponies easily the size of the gathering at the Grand Galloping Gala stood in the dew kissed grassy field just outside of Canterlot Castle. A large circle of clear space in the middle of them held just the one unicorn, Sir Golden Coin. He darted about on his hind legs whipping a rapier about in a warm up. He seemed annoyed, and the black eye he had likely was not helping his mood.
“Perhaps, Lord Coin, the poor colt simply chickened out.” the earth pony noble from the night before mutters though a clenched jaw, bound in a sling.
“He better not have. I want that fool's blood....... what is going on here? I say!” Coin states a loud noise approaches.
The thunder of hooves announced the presence of a company of Guard ponies marching in formation towards the group. They push their way through crowd into the center area of the ring. They then fanned out forming an armored wall between the dueling area and the spectators, pushing the lot of them back away from dueling area a good twenty or thirty more paces before stopping to turn and face the middle. Aside from the armor clanging the whole maneuver was done without a word from the Guard. Most of the Nobles were demanding answers from the guards whose stoic poses and expressionless faces told them nothing. Coin and his second were left in the middle of the ring of Guards.
A low hum quickly grew louder and louder and caused many of the nobles to leave the Guards be, to search for the source. A sudden boom in the air above them and their gazes all turned skyward as a falling form with a nimbus ring of light expanding from around it screamed into view.
Starfall was recognized by the effect of the rainboom, but she looked to be carrying something as she descended.
The pegasus slammed down in the middle of the ring, a large explosion of dirt, grass, and rainbow colored smoke was flung into the air from the impact. Most of the debris showered the guard ponies though the impact knocked a good many spectators off their hooves as well.
Golden Coin and Silver Doubloon were also placed on their rumps, though the earth pony quickly got to his hooves and scampered away to duck past the ring of Guards into the crowd.
Looking into the dust cloud a glowing red and a glowing green dot appeared in the falling shower of dirt. A large form steps out of the raining debris. The bone covered stallion whips his head,skeletal plates of his armor rattling loudly sending a small shower of dirt and grass to the ground around him.
Starfall steps out of the crater shaking her self clean of dust as the bone armored pony approaches Coin.
His glowing gaze lowered glowering at the wide eyed noble.
“You wanted to duel me Coin? So be it. I am here.” the figure growls.
As the bone armored pony pulled his helm off, more than a few of the watchers start speaking in hushed mutters about this being the creature that led the attack on the city the other day. As the armor fell from his form, some pony recognized his cutie mark and the talk and barely hushed whispers grew louder as the figure was confirmed as the Demon of Dullahan.
Jer'rahd smirked glad to have the magic hair coloring out, and a proper haircut, and by proper it looked like he had hacked his mane and tail short with a dagger again.
“Wha, What ?!? YOU'RE General Kaisur?” Coin stammers.
“You expected another pony to be at Princess Luna's side at the Gala? Or did you simply dismiss me as a body guard? Pity. Air Commander, my sword Please.” Jer'rahd orders.
“Sir, you know I cannot lift that thing. I had some of the Guards bring it with them.”Starfall turns whistling.
“Ah yes,I suppose that is true.” Jer'rahd admits.
“What is she doing here?! And the Guards!?!?” Coin demands.
Three earth pony Guards trot up though the circle, a massive black iron blade across all three of their backs. Smith Temper's Wing Blade sign with the hanging bolts and name removed from it. Jer'rahd uses his magic lifting the massive blade easily from the Guard's backs before the trio of Guard's move back behind the circle.
“Ah well, the Guards are here to evacuate every pony in case I get too carried away. And the Air Commander is here, because so far she is the only pony who can consistently stop me once I get going. No sense killing any pony other than the one who started this nonsense hmm Coin old boy....?”.”
He swings the two pony length blade suddenly, the blade burring half its length in the ground between the nobles front hooves.
“Shall we get started then? Or did you need time to find something other than that toothpick to fight with?” Jer'rahd asks.
“I.... I yield I surrender ...” Coin panics.
“Really? Pity. I was all ready to go too. Good choice for you however, considering you would have had to have a closed casket funeral, if there was even enough left to put in anything larger than a jar.”
Jer'rahd leaves the sword where it was, his multicolored gaze shifting over the surrounding crowd before he opts to use a skill he learned from both the Princess and his drill sergeant.
“Listen up ponies!” Jer'rahd bellows loud enough for them to possible hear him in the castle to. “ By royal decree the practice of dueling was annulled several years ago. The law had been ignored for far too long, but not any more.”
Jer'rahd slowly turns looking over every pony gathered before focusing on Coin. “ Any pony caught challenging another to a duel, or engaging in a duel shall immediately be conscripted to the Guard and have their assets seized by the crown for a period of no less than ten years.”
Jer'rahd grins.
“If you are going to be bloodthirsty little ponies, you are going to be MY little bloodthirsty ponies. Further more and on a personal level, I will personally track down and beat any pony with their own limbs for speaking ill of Princess Luna. She is your sovereign, same as Princess Celestia. I would advice against speaking ill of Princess Celestia either. I'm not sure what she'd do, but I expect you'd rather I beat you to death.”
Jer'rahd turns looking to Starfall who nods.
“If you wish to hate and fear some pony for no reason aside from ego or what ever thrill verbally stroking your own tiny dicks gives you, then you can hate and fear Princes Luna's Royal Guard. Because I will be damn sure to give you something to be afraid of. Ponies shouldn't fear their leaders. They should respect them and offer support to them. Ponies should however fear those that protect said leaders, because we WILL hurt, maim and kill any one to protect our charge, no matter wants to test us.”
The ring of Guards suddenly shouts an affirmation to this as one very loud voice.
“Now all of you get the buck out of my sight before I change my mind about killing someone today.” Jer'rahd growls puling the helmet back on and redonning the bone armor. He moves over to Golden Coin yanking the massive sword out of the ground and tapping the pony lightly on the nose with the tip.
“That means you as well Coin.” Jer'rahd snarls stomping on the rapier and shattering the blade of it under his armored hoof.
The sudden stampede away from the ring of guards and the panicked run of Golden Coin brought a wide grin to Jer'rahds face. Rhede and Velkorn clapped their hooves in applause as Bleu cheered.
“That was great boss, put the fear of us into um.” Bleu cackles.
“I was unaware you could act that well. Truly a grand display of shock and awe Jer. Your strategies it seems have gotten better too Or at least less violent.” Rhede grins
“Thanks. Still I was not sure that would work.” Jer'rahd chuckles.
“I think you were hoping it did not Jer'rahd. I think you wanted to kill him and be done with it.” Starfall adds in.
“I did Starfall, that was the first plan, then I got the idea for all this.” He turns to address the Guards.
“Guards thanks for coming out on your off duty hours. As a small token I'll see about slipping something into your next check in time for Hearths Warming. The rest of the days yours, Dismissed.”
A chorus of 'yes sir's was accompanied by a few other comments as well.
“No trouble sir.”
“Anytime sir!”
“Seeing the look on their faces like that sir, I almost wouldn’t even need the extra pay.”
“Totally worth it sir.”
“Of course General.”
“Honestly you cannot pay for this sort of entertainment sir.”
The Guards started wandering back off towards the barracks or home, a few offering a salute to the officers present. Before long the five of them were all that was left in the field along with a rather large blade, a crater and a fancy looking broken rapier. Jer'rahd floats the busted rapier up to eye level and plucks out the Gem in the hilt tossing it to Bleu before tossing the ruined weapon into the crater.
“So, who's up for a few drinks? Starfall still owes me a bar tab.” Jer'rahd grins.
**************************************************************
Twilight sat back letting the spell fade, the smell of baked goods filled the house as she came back to herself. Looking about, Spike was still passed out on the couch and Pinkie was no where to be found. She checked the basement and the kitchen before hearing a creak from upstairs. Heading up she pushes open the window to the balcony looking out to see Pinkie staring out over Ponyville her hair unfluffed and hiding her face.
“Pinkie pie? What are you doing up here. Whats wrong?” Twilight asks
“Oh.. Twilight, sorry, I did not think you would be back for a while yet.” Pinkie sighs.
“That doesn't answer my question Pinkie.”
“I …. can you keep a secret better now Twilight?” Pinkie asks.
“Your never going to let me live that down are you?” Twilight sighs.
“Maybe some day. “
“So what's wrong.”
“Something bad is coming.”
“What?”
“Well you know about my Pinkie sense right?”
“Of course. I don't understand it, but I know about it.”
“Well my back hoof has been itchy.”
“Itchy back hoof, what was that one again. I don't have my notes.”
“It's not one I brought up. Its not one I like to think about, it doesn't happen often... but it does happen.. This time it started not long after we beat Discord and it's been getting stronger.”
“So what does it mean?”
“It's only happened twice that I remember. The first time I had just moved to town and.... Applejack's parents were killed. The next time it happened Granny Pie died.........”
“It.....Some pony is going to die?” Twilight gasps.
“Not just some pony Twilight. Some pony close to me or close to a friend. Some pony close to one of us is going to die. And I have no idea who or when!”
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This really is my Super Ultra Bestest Most Favourite Story EVER on fimfic. I should comment more but I get so caught up wanting to read what's next I always put it off. Even now on the fourth reading and it's taking all my willpower to write this little bit. Damn fine story, TDR. Can't wait to see how CC goes.
I love the fight at the Galla all I could think of was the duelling pianos in “Who Framed Rodger Rabbit”