Luna’s battle cry was a powerful roar of fury as she rushed forward, preparing to unleash a punch directly at Lex.
But he had already returned to his shadow-form several seconds prior, and didn’t so much as glance at her now. Instead he kept his eyes trained on where Celestia was hovering several dozen feet above him, knowing what was about to happen. That trick won’t work a second time!
Sure enough, just as Luna was about to make contact with him, Celestia’s horn lit up with what Lex knew was another attempt to dispel his dark magic and make him substantial again. But this time he was ready for it. In the instant that the elder alicorn’s horn began to glow, Lex rattled off the words to a spell so quickly that it was almost a single long syllable, a shadowy tendril at the edge of his incorporeal body waving with the necessary gesticulations. Immediately, five small points of light – none of them larger than a marble – sprang into existence around him, shooting towards Celestia as though fired out of a high-powered slingshot.
Having just enough time to see what was about to happen but not enough to do anything about it, Celestia didn’t have a chance to finish casting her spell as the tiny projectiles slammed into her, the aura around her horn fading out harmlessly. Letting out a grunt of pain, she started to plummet, only to barely catch herself before she’d fallen more than a dozen feet. For her part, Luna was unable to correct her momentum in time, plunging right through the mass of shadows that was Lex’s body. She tried to make the best of it, grunting as she swung her hoof at one of the gemstones orbiting Lex, but wasn’t able to properly coordinate her attack in her unbalanced state, the swirling jewels easily darting out of the way of her wild swing.
Gnashing her teeth, Luna flapped her wings as she moved away from him and started to circle around, preparing for another pass. Celestia, however, didn’t seem inclined to wait for her sister, lowering her horn and firing a beam of energy – a smaller, unenhanced one – at Lex. But her eyes widened as the mass of shadows that was her enemy didn’t try to dodge glistening ray, instead flying up toward it! At the last possible instant, just before the beam would have struck him, Lex’s immaterial form contorted in mid-air, bending and twisting in ways his physical body never could have, and the ray of magic passed by him without making contact, missing him by less than an inch. Even the strange gemstones that were circling him adjusted their orbits, not letting themselves be struck by the magical attack, which lanced downward and hit the earth harmlessly.
Not letting his opportunity go to waste, Lex was already casting as he moved, bridging the distance between himself and Celestia in less than a second thanks to the speed-enhancing spell he’d used on himself before he’d exited his black crystal dome. Grimacing, she pulled her wings close and fell into a dive, angling her body to try and get away from him, but it was too late. A single wisp of shadow reached out to touch her back as she fell, and that was all it took to unleash the spell that Lex had just cast.
The concussive force that struck Celestia then was heavy enough that it drove the air from her lungs, her eyes going wide with shock and pain as she was knocked out of the sky. Your turn, sneered Lex darkly to himself as he watched her plummet, striking the ground not far from where she’d done the same thing to him not even a minute earlier. She landed hard on her back, going limp as her eyes fluttered closed, and Lex felt a surge of triumph rush through him. She was down! Now all he had to was disable her horn before she regained consciousness and the battle was as good as over!
Luna seemed to have realized the same thing, because she was already racing back toward her fallen sister. “Celestia! Get up! Get up!”
Luna was closer to Celestia’s position than he was, enough so that even with his boosted speed she would have reached the fallen alicorn before Lex did. But I have more than enough magic left to finish this from here! Using his dark magic from this distance was inefficient, but still possible, and Lex narrowed his eyes as he focused on forming black crystals that would strike at the optimum angle to wound Celestia’s horn to sufficiently incapaci-
“All of you give up right now or this guy gets it!”
Fruit Crunch’s voice made Lex glance over at the foals…and stopped cold at what he saw.
Fruit Crunch and his friends were gathered around a fallen member of the Royal Guard, a pegasus stallion who was lying on the ground and twitching uncontrollably. But what was far more noticeable was how the wolf that was Fruit Crunch’s new pet had its jaws locked around the shuddering guard’s throat, making the colt’s threat abundantly clear. The remaining members of the Royal Guard that were still on their hooves, about a dozen stallions, all froze in place, glancing at each other with looks of worry. “Hold on there, son,” started one of the guards with a gulp, “you let him go right this instant, or-”
“Or what?” jeered Fruit Crunch. “Or you’ll surrender right now?” Grinning smugly, he hoof-bumped Feathercap. “I gotta say: Best. Plan. Ever. This way, we-”
“RELEASE HIM AT ONCE!” screamed Lex, his voice loud enough that had he been corporeal he would have tasted blood.
The foals – as well as the Royal Guard – all froze, looking at him with wide eyes. None looked more shocked than Fruit Crunch. “L-Lyden! Let him go!” he squeaked, his face turning pale. When the wolf immediately complied, Fruit Crunch turned back to Lex, cringing. “It was just a bluff,” he whimpered. “We weren’t really going to hurt him.”
But Lex was far from mollified, so angry that his vision nearly swam. “You think that’s an excuse?!” he roared. “You think it’s okay to threaten the lives of helpless ponies just because you don’t mean it?!” After what had just happened with Silhouette, the mere thought of seeing the same thing happening again was enough to leave Lex beyond enraged, his shadow-form churning so heavily it looked like black, flickering fire. Beneath him, black crystals erupted from the ground, punching up through the dirt randomly…and none of them hitting Celestia. But Lex was too beside himself to notice. It’s happening again! First Severance and now them! It’s all happening again! The thought was like a knife in his heart, driving all other thoughts from his mind. “PONY LIVES ARE TO BE CHERISHED!” he screamed. “THEY’RE TO BE PROTECTED AT ALL COSTS! NOTHING IS MORE IMPORTANT, AND THERE’S NO EXCUSE FOR WILLFULLY THREATENING THEM!” Seeing his most important ideals be so casually violated by his supposed allies for the second time in the last few minutes was maddening enough that Lex found himself calling an attack spell to mind, and it was only because the ponies in question were children that he forced himself to stop, knowing that there was no acceptable reason for harming foals, that they couldn’t possibly appreciate just how egregious their behavior was, even if they desperately needed to be taught a le-
A bright flicker of light below him was all the warning Lex had, and it was pure instinct that made him lurch to his left. That, and the magical defenses he’d woven around himself were all that stopped the beam of energy – one of the larger, enhanced ones, fired by a now-recovered Celestia who was climbing to her hooves with her sister’s help – from hitting him. Instead, the beam rocketed upward into the sky, where it hit nothing…
Except for the owl circling high above the battlefield.
The bird didn’t have a chance to so much as open its beak before the attack hit it, and in an instant it was gone, completely vaporized by the blast. Immediately, a tortured scream rang out, and all eyes went to where Feathercap was doubled over in agony. His friends were looking between him and where the bird had been, horrified looks on each of their faces.
And on the ground, Luna’s eyes widened in understanding. “The animals…”
“U-Ulespy,” moaned Feathercap. “He’s gone…I can’t feel him anymore…”
“Just…just hang in there, buddy,” muttered Fruit Crunch helplessly, not knowing what else to say. “We’ll figure something out.” The words were nothing more than platitudes, as he had no idea what to do. Feathercap’s body language suggested that whatever pain he’d felt when Ulespy had been killed was already fading, but Fruit Crunch knew that was the least of their problems at the moment, since-
“ALL ROYAL GUARDS! TARGET THE CHILDREN’S ANIMALS!” came Luna’s sudden yell.
“NO!” screamed Fruit Crunch, looking at Luna in horror. How did she know?!
Each of the Night Mare’s Knights had gained a small number of magical abilities. But those abilities didn’t come from them; rather, they were made possible by their spirit animals, the physical incarnations of their most notable qualities. So long as their spirit animals were by their side, each of them not only gained a special power of their own, but could also use one kind of magic on their entire group. Fiddlesticks, for example, gained great strength as well as the ability to boost the vitality of all of the Knights, allowing them to withstand damage that would have crippled an adult. Straightlace had gained the ability to deflect magic, and could grant protection from physical damage to everypony on their team. Cleansweep could use a poison touch or a healing one. Feathercap had the ability to see through Ulespy’s eyes, and could turn all of them invisible for a short period of time. And Fruit Crunch himself could summon what Lyden had called “the essence of an alpha wolf” into himself; he wasn’t quite sure what that was, but it made him feel faster, stronger, tougher, and a whole lot fiercer. Not to mention he could do the same thing for the rest of the Knights, although Lyden called those “beta wolves.”
But all of those powers were unusable if their spirit animals weren’t there with them. They’d learned that this morning, while discussing what they could do, and none of them had needed to be told that they needed to keep that a secret. But now Princess Luna had somehow figured it out.
Nor were the remaining guards waiting to act on her orders, swooping in on them as a single unit!
Panicking, Fruit Crunch yelled the first thing he could think of. “Scatter!” He immediately rushed to his left, Lyden following him. We can draw them off, Fruit Crunch told himself. They’ll split up to chase us, and when they do we’ll beat them down, just like before.
But the Royal Guard didn’t seem to be inclined to follow that plan. Instead, four of the guards – all unicorns – came to a sudden halt, pointing their horns upward in unison at where Straightlace and Altaer were flying. A second later, they began shooting, filling the air with multicolored lights as they unleashed a fusillade of magic at the eagle. Straightlace immediately moved in, smacking one beam away and almost managing to hit a second, but there was nothing he could do about the remaining shots. One grazed the bird’s wing, and it wobbled in flight…before another shot tore right through the center of it.
“Altaer!” yelled Straightlace, his voice hoarse with pain. But the bird didn’t respond, falling limply toward the earth. Its body shimmered as it plummeted, as though it were a painting that had water splashed on it. Just before it would have hit the ground, its body grew so indistinct that it vanished from sight completely, fading away like a patch of mist being burned off by the morning sun.
But Fruit Crunch had no time to think about what had just happened, turning to look at Fiddlesticks…only to duck as she hurled a guard through the air. But the remaining earth pony stallions weren’t impressed, crowding around the badger trundling by her legs. Screaming in anger, Fiddlesticks tried to knock them back, but there were too many. A second later Nemel had been tossed upward, and two powerful stallions turned around and bucked their legs at the same time, catching the animal between their hooves. The damage was too much, and the badger turned into nothing instantly, Fiddlesticks slumping over with a pained sob as she did.
Cleansweep was next, the pegasus members of the guard surrounding her and tearing her snake away from her as she shrieked and lashed out. She managed to drop two of her attackers with her poison, but not before they’d gotten Venin off of her, throwing the serpent down to the ground and following after it in a crushing stomp. Like Nemel, Venin was defeated instantly, leaving Cleansweep bereft of powers.
Skidding to a halt as he saw his friends lose their companions one by one, Fruit Crunch swallowed. The guards weren’t even bothering to try and round up his friends now that their animals were gone, apparently having figured out that they were just a bunch of ordinary kids without them. Instead, the remaining guards – over a half-dozen of them – turned toward Fruit Crunch. They took a moment to reform their ranks, lining up side-by-side as they stood a short distance from him and Lyden.
“Just give up, kid,” called one of them, a unicorn. “It’s over.”
Fruit Crunch swallowed, and for a moment felt himself waver, realizing that the guard was right. There was no way he could take that many guards by himself, especially now that the magic the other Knights had used to empower him was gone! But Lyden was at his side immediately. Remain steadfast, the wolf urged him softly. To fall in battle alongside your pack is no disgrace. Focus instead on making your enemies pay dearly for their victory.
For a moment, Fruit Crunch wanted to run anyway. This wasn’t like when he’d fought Silhouette. Back then he’d had a plan. He’d had a way to win. He’d had friends right there to help him. But now…
“He’s right,” came Cleansweep’s voice. Her eyes were watery, but the strength in them was undiminished as she landed next to Fruit Crunch. “Whatever happens, we’re going to face it together.”
“Like I said before,” added Straightlace darkly as he touched down on Fruit Crunch’s other side. “The Night Mare’s Knights don’t run, and they don’t give up either.”
“I won’t let you!” growled Fiddlesticks fiercely as she moved alongside her friends. “I won’t let you take away anyone else I care about!”
“We’re not afraid of you,” came Feathercap’s voice as he joined the rest of them, the little guy holding his binoculars like a weapon.
For his part, Fruit Crunch found himself overcome with emotion, filling him with strength that scattered the despair that had threatened to drown him just a moment ago. It was the scared little boy who hadn’t been able to do anything except cry when Spit Polish had beaten him that closed his eyes then. But it was the leader of the Night Mare’s Knights who opened them a second later, and the weight of his gaze was enough to make the guards flinch. “What do you kids think you’re doing?!” yelled one of the guards, his tone making it clear that he was unnerved. “Just make it easy on yourselves!”
Quick glances to his left and right were answered with nods from his friends, and Fruit Crunch smirked as he looked back at the guards. “Trust me, there’s not going to anything easy about this.”
Then, rearing up on his hind legs, he gave a roar of defiance before rushing forward, leading the Night Mare’s Knights on their last charge.
I think technically, since they have legs and hooves, it would be a kick, no?
Could summon?
This battle is like the energizer bunny. It just goes on and on... in 2k word chapters.
9665112
When they use their forehooves, it would be a punch.
And so the tables have turned against the Knights though only through Luna's quick thinking rather than any initiative of their own. Still, their momentary victory made the guards underestimate the Knights once more though whether or not it will be enough to stop them or not remains to be seen. Will this end up being the Knight's own version of the Charge of the Light Brigade?(minus the death of course...I hope) Or will they somehow pull off a victory though even the optimist in me is hardpressed to find one here.
Meanwhile, despite the one mention in this chapter, Severance has been rather absent throughout the whole fight. I get that Lex is maintaining his hold on the scythe but the lack of said scythe is worrying me a bit since Lex did lose sight of the fight at Fruit Punch's bluff here. Whether it was enough for Lex to lose hold of it or not is just as worrisome if not more so, especially since Luna did order the destruction of the Night Mare's gifts to her 'Knights'.
Can't help but notice the symmetry here. Luna's overzealous follower's actions led to the creation of the Night Mare's knights, and now the actions of one of Night Mare's followers(the very one that allowed them to gain their powers no less) seems to have brought about their destruction.
Depending on the spirit follower, you have to be a certain class level to be able to recall the animal, replacement, over a 24 hour period but can only do it once a month for one variation, to ability loss, major quest for other variations?
9665112
I'm going with the idea that, when done with the forelegs, it's a punch. Ponies aren't humans, but they tend to use their fore-hooves in a manner decidedly similar to hands a lot of the time.
D'oh! Typo fixed now.
Compared to fighting Tlerekithres or Xiriel, this is still one of the shorter fights.
Slightly more seriously, this is a consequence of having higher-level characters. Hit points are an ablative resource, which means that fights are essentially contests of trying to deplete someone else's before your own are depleted. Of course, that means that ways around that are going to emerge as more popular methods of attacking, but the game tends to look askance on that, trying to build in failure modes and other limitations to stop such things from being "instant win" buttons that players will spam whenever they get into a fight. (I remember an old article in Dragon magazine talking about trying to stake vampires in combat to take them out without them turning into mist and fleeing back to their coffins. It proposed some rules for it, but with heavy warnings, since if you could just shove a stake into a vampire's heart to take it out instantly in a fight there was no reason you couldn't do that to every other creature with a heart just as easily.)
9665364 Well, it wasn't like we didn't see this coming. Luna was familiar with what Cadance had to do to utilize Lashtada's miracles, and judged that the children didn't have the same reservoirs of power to draw on. Ergo, there had to be some other limitation to it. Essentially, she correctly deduced that old adage of "in order to gain great power, you must first already possess it" (to paraphrase a great expression from Van Richten's Guide to the Lich), and so recognized what was happening when she saw Feathercap's pained reaction to Celestia's accidentally taking out Ulespy.
Likewise, this scene follows up with what I said earlier about the Royal Guard. They tend to work best when they have someone else giving them orders or otherwise coordinating what they're doing. By themselves they don't really have much in the way of initiative. But give them something concrete and obvious, and they can work decently enough, especially if you've gotten it through their heads that they need to do something more sophisticated than "go get 'em."
As for Severance, last we've heard Lex is still keeping his grip on it. But how long can he keep channeling additional magic into his telekinesis? His physical augmentation spell is what's letting him do that, after all, and it won't last forever...
9665375 It does seem rather poetic when you put it that way, doesn't it? Of course, Lex never wanted those children to have a relationship with the Night Mare anyway. Does this mean he's gotten his wish, or is it too early too tell?
9665491 That would be telling, but I won't say that you're asking the wrong questions.
9665617
One common question when dealing with Vampires is, when does a crossbow bolt of increasing size, become a stake? Or do you just need to use the plain wooden shaft with fire hardened tip or hard enough wood?
Straws in a tornado stuck in tree trunks.
9665651 Well, clearly the metal tip is a disqualifier. The real question is, can you take them out with a toothpick-stapler?
Man what a chapter. Fruit Crunch's crime is really Severance and the Night Mare's of course. "Submit or Die as a valid tactic" was probably the first thing Fruit Crunch was taught. It's another line in the ledger the Night Mare has incurred, at least according to Lex's rules.
A mortal creature that has done what Severance has done, murdered someone in cold blood and taught kids to threaten murder, would get quite a cursin' from Lex. Of course, it's really hard to imagine a punishment Lex can actually inflict (Warp Metal still doesn't work on artifacts right? ). There's also the question of is Severance really an independent being responsible for his own actions, or is he basically a homunculus for the Night Mare? (Recalling that fantastic short story by Lisa Smedman in Return of the Archwizards 04, Trial by Ordeal, where a homunculus was found innocent of the crimes its master committed).
If Lex determines the Night Mare is responsible for Severance's actions, would he try to punish or sanction her? A mortal punishing a god would be ludicrous in almost any other story I can think of, but Luna is sort-of a goddess and he certainly seems up to punishing her. We'll have to see how this shakes out, but it seems pretty clear now that Lex's vision of how a society should operate and the Night Mare's are violently incompatible.
At first I was surprised Celestia seemed to feel not even a hint at remorse at vaporizing an owl, but I realized she must have figured out from the lack of a body that the animals are functioning a bit like eidolons, and presumably could be summoned 24 hours later with half their hit points.
And biggest surprise of all, the Guard were actually competent in a fight! A certain company is getting extra sprinkles on their donuts from Joes when they get back to Canterlot.
I find myself curious about the state of Silhouette's soul. Will it just kind of haunt Luna, will it reside on an outer plane with all the unaffiliated pony souls, will it go the moon?
some one needs a good ass whopping.
9667095 Very much so.
Wait, are we talking about the same "someone"?
9666250
I'm hoping that means you liked it.
Lex has made it clear that he doesn't think that foals can fully appreciate the scope of their actions, so he'll almost certainly hold this against Severance and/or the Night Mare rather than Fruit Crunch and company. Even if it doesn't, that just means that those children acted the way children act: with ignorance. That doesn't mean Lex won't yell at them, of course, but I doubt he'll go any further than that, unlike what he'd do to an adult who tried that.
Trust me, Lex has a plan for when (and if) he puts Celestia and Luna out of commission and turns his attention to Severance and no, it doesn't involve warp metal. Lex strikes me as the sort of person who can't help but think of countermeasures even against his allies; he simply can't not consider such things. Of course, that doesn't mean that whatever he has in mind will necessarily work, but that's still much better than having no idea what to do.
I remember that short story, though it was from Realms of Shadow, which wasn't technically part of the Return of the Archwizards trilogy (in fact, I recall that there were quite a few trilogies that got anthology books that were related in theme only). I can't quite recall if the duplicate on trial was a homunculus per se (though I do remember the circumstances of the story otherwise), mostly because there was that sub-plot with the judge who, in order to be dispassionate, had created a homunculus and transferred his emotions to it, mostly to avoid the crushing guilt around his having sentenced his own son to death (something made very poignant when his homunculus committed suicide.)
On a tangential note, Lisa Smedman designed one of my favorite adventures, The Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga.
Luna's status as a goddess is little more than nominal at this point. She's effectively gotten herself the Divine Source mythic quality, and I say "effectively" because I don't want to imply that she's using the actual mythic rules; she isn't. But that's roughly what's going on with her being able to grant spells. Actual divinity is still a long way away for her.
As for Lex and the Night Mare...well, let's see how things end up here before we speculate what will happen there.
To be fair, the scene changed before we got a chance to see Celestia's reaction...but you're right. I made absolutely sure to emphasize how the animals essentially dissolved into nothing when they were killed to emphasize how these weren't normal creatures, and the fact that Celestia would be absolved of any guilt over what happened was in my mind when I wrote that. As for whether or not the animals will return, well...we'll find out soon enough, I suppose.
All it took was a warning, getting their flanks whipped during their first attempt, and specific instructions about what to do, and they were finally able to get their act together! Somehow I suspect this was one of the guards' better showings of themselves. Sprinkles for everypony!
I don't see Luna as having a true divine realm of her own (yet), so at this point I'd say he's gone to where any other pony in Equestria would go when they pass away. At least, hopefully.
9667867
Oh yeah.
And an alternate magic fuel source. Ideally Lex could figure out a way to turn off Severance's ability to move or plane shift, and just treat him like a prisoner/battery. But I have zero idea how to pull that off.
The theme being "cash-grab." They did try to blur the lines with those trilogy-related anthology books so they seemed like they were in two different sets, so completionists for either set needed it.
I might be misremembering it, but I think there was at least a part where the judge/wizard is quoting precedent. It's certainly an interesting idea though. There are a variety of magical bindings, from constructs to simulacrums to animal companions to planar allies, all along a spectrum of "has free will." It's not a simple answer, especially since Lex has no idea the particulars of Severance's binding to the Night Mare.
I might be getting this wrong, but the Solar seemed to talk about Severance as though he were an independent actor, rather than just a tool of the Night Mare, and he'd probably have a pretty good idea.
Sure. But I mean, from Lex's perspective the only real difference between Luna and the Night Mare is that the Night Mare is a lot stronger and on a different plane.
Man I loved that hut. Marched it into battle in Reign of Winter. Lex isn't the only one who can benefit from the powers of a major artifact!
Actually, that brings up a good point. Until yesterday these guards were under the command of Silhouette, who was relieved of command. Sure a sergeant probably stepped in as the highest ranking officer, but a lot of their failings in this battle seem less like individual incompetence or weakness and more a lack of coordination in the first round, which fits really well with a unit that just loss their commanding officer. When Celestia directly gives them orders they can follow they act like an effective unit. I'm not sure if you wrote them that way deliberately, but if so well done!
9667830
<<<<< pretty sure.
9667910
Even Lex doesn't seem to think that's a viable option. Remember, in Chapter 358, he was planning on destroying the weapon rather than capturing it.
Well, to be fair, my understanding is that the novels division of TSR/WotC generated a significant portion of their income, which makes it a shame that Hasbro basically stepped in and told them, "knock that off." That sounds crazy I know, but it's what James Lowder said during a seminar a few Gen Cons back. Naturally, this led to the audience asking why Hasbro would shut down a financially-successful department. The answer was that it wasn't successful enough for them to care about it. Whereas you or I would likely be happy if we made $3 back for every $1 we spent, a multinational conglomerate like Hasbro considers anything less than $100 back for every $1 spent to not be worth their time, and are better off reallocating resources elsewhere (these numbers are for illustrative purposes only). In other words, it's all about return on investment, which matches what Ryan Dancey has said about Hasbro's having "Core" brands (making at least $50 million annually, with a growth path to $100 million) and "non-Core" brands (which didn't hit at least $50 million per year).
The thing to remember here is that Lex doesn't really perceive Severance to be a living entity, which is why he's always referred to Severance as "it" and never "him." Insofar as he's concerned, it's just an artificial intelligence (even if Lex might not know that exact term), and isn't really capable of thinking but rather of running multiple independent computations that allow it to adapt its task-processing functions to its local environment. It's basically similar to how that astral pony of his works, albeit at a much higher level. That means it can't really be held responsible for its actions, because it's not capable of truly comprehending anything.
Of course, Lex might be wrong about that, but ultimately it doesn't matter. To Lex, this isn't a matter of free will, but one of responsibility. At the end of the day, Severance was his responsibility, not just because he brought it into Equestria but because he was supervising it while he was there. To him, Severance's acting out is his fault because he was supposed to be keeping an eye on it, and so its having slain a pony is because he (Lex) didn't perform his job adequately. How much he blames the Night Mare remains to be seen, but I wonder how much he'll really hold this to be her fault.
In terms of overall status, sure. But he cares about that a lot less than what they actually do. That's kind of a big deal for him, and why he hates the alicorns. At least the Night Mare had the right idea about what should be done (i.e. take over, which puts you in a position where you can change things...presumably for the better).
This is a perfect illustration of the importance of having a good understanding of who your characters are and what they can do. While my use of game rules to define and delineate exactly what their abilities are doesn't exactly match what you're saying here, the basic principle is the same: knowing the characters and how they operate mean that you'll have their parameters down-pat, making it easy to figure out how they'll react when you put them into any particular situation. In this case, the Royal Guard (who aren't very self-directed) aren't able to function at their best without very hooves-on management, something which they don't have without their captain unless the princesses tell them precisely what to do.