• Published 20th Jan 2013
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The Golden Armor - Comet Burst



Comet and Angel are two guard recruits who learn about life and love in Canterlot Castle.

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At The Gala (part 2)

Shining Armor sat with his head in his hooves, wondering what to do. As if the threat of the attack on the princesses wasn't bad enough, now he had a rogue gryffon to deal with. Apparently, this was some kind of cosmic joke, since all of this was happening before the biggest event of the year. He darkly wondered of the gryffon was in on the plot to attack the princesses since she attacked two key guards, Comet and Black Berry. Comet was supposed to guard Princess Celestia and Black Berry was to be near the royal table where the three princesses would be eating at. Finally, he put his hooves down and said, "No, we will continue as planned. If they are well enough, they can stay at their posts." The pony he was talking to, Paradox, nodded his head.

Angel bounced happily in her new armor she had been fitted for days earlier. It was now all dark purple with the blue eye on the chest, covered her entire back and even came with an awesome looking helmet and a new weapon, claws. With all of it on, shethought she looked rather awesome. As she sqealed with delight in her new garb, she heard the bathroom door open and slam shut. Curious, she spun to see a mass of white feathers and brown fur tackle her. Reacting instinctively, Angel brought her hooves around her assailant, effectively pinning the pony to her. She rolled in the air, flapping her wings to get upright and landed squarely on top of the intruder, bringing her newly forged claws to the neck of the body. A pair of brilliant gold irises looked up at her, along with a black beak contorted into a kind of angry look.

"Valyrie!" Angel shouted, immediately turning off her attack mode and hugging the gryffon underneath her, "Where've you been? I couldn't find you or Comet anywhere!" The bat pony squeezed the gryffon into a tighter hug, effectively wringing out what little breath Valyrie had. Before Valyrie could get a word out, Angel leaped up, giddy as a schoolfilly, and bounced in place. "So, what'cha think of my new armor? Isn't it sooooooo cool?! I got a new chestpiece, a helmet and claws! Look at these!" Valyrie grimaced at the set of purpleish claws thrust into her face by the goofy bat pony she called her friend. Any farther and she would've claimed at least one of her eyes.

"T-that's cool, Angel, but-" the gryffon tried to say before she was cut off by Angel.

"I KNOW!" the bat pony shouted again, "Aren't they amazing?! I can finally fight like you! The armorer said he was asked to make custom weapons by Shining Armor for the Gala to compliment each guard's fighting ability, but I never expected them to be this cool!" To accentuate her point, Angel took up two battle poses, one on her rear legs holding the claws above her head like a ninja pony, and the other standing on all fours, holding a claw up to her mouth like a cat. Valyrie did admit to herself it was rather cool, but she had more pressing matters than asthetic appearances right now.

"Angel, I really need to-" she tried again before Angel invaded her personal space. She reached out with one hoof and lifted one of Valyrie's claws up to her own face before lifting her own claw to examine them side by side.

"Yours are so much more longer and cooler," Angel stated with a hint of sadness in her voice before her happy mood kicked back in, "Still, you've got the coolest set of claws there is, bird claws! I've got claws that look like they're from some cool comic book, like Batmare or Spidercolt."

"Angel, I-"

"Or Superstallion."

"Angel,"

"Or even Green Torch!"

"Angel."

Angel gasped before continuing. "Wait, what about X-Ponies?! Isn't there that one stallion who-"

"ANGEL!" Valyrie shouted, breaking the bat pony's reveling. The large gold eyes she had darted up to meet Valyrie's own and the gryffon took a deep breath. "Angel, there's a serious problem with Comet." she stated seriously. Angel's eyes shrunk and before she could say anything, Valyrie continued, "Angel, he's in deep trouble with some really shady ponies. I saw him get up last night and wander down to the armory and-"

"Wait," Angel interrupted, "Why were you following him around at night? Why did you follow him?"

"I, well, he was acting suspicous!" Valyrie flustered. Angel narrowed her eyes at the gryffon, who clearly wore a nervous face there for a couple seconds before she returned to being serious. "That's not the point, Angel. Comet-"

"Why were you following him?" Angel almost growled, silencing Valyrie. Angel hated to be lied to and she knew Valyrie was hiding something. "What business do you have following my coltfriend?"

Valyrie's chest dropped into nothingness as her heart felt like it stopped for a second. She suddenly had the sneaking suspicion she had just revealed to Comet's marefriend something she should've never found out about. The silence quickly became tense as Angel's eyes narrowed, her slit pupils boring into Valyrie's own round ones. Valyrie tried to take a cautious step backwards, but Angel stepped forward at the same time. "What were you trying to do with him?" Angel snarled, now fully angry. She knew Valyrie was hiding something now, something big involving her and Comet.

"I was, uh, I was trying-" Valyrie stammered before Angel tackled her this time. It wasn't playful in the slightest. Angel quickly pinned Valyrie into submission and glared daggers into her eyes.

"What have you been doing with my coltfriend?!" Angel nearly shouted.

Now scared for her life in a way those black ponies couldn't have scared her, Valyrie began to tremble under the bat pony, who went from cute and adorable to downright terrifying in less than ten seconds. She gulped hard, trying to calm herself and barely managed to speak with a small squeaky voice. "C-Comet and I, we kinda, well..."

"SAY IT!" Angel shouted at her.

"We've kinda, uh, had a thing going on," Valyrie stated, utterly terrified.

Angel was quiet for a few seconds before she spoke again, hissing like a venomous serpent. "What do you mean by 'thing'?"

"We've kinda, well, we've kissed," Valyrie stammered out. A soft throated growl escaped Angel's throat as she began to raise her left front hoof, one of the two with a claw attached to it. Valyrie closed her eyes, bracing for the razor sharp material to connect to her face when Angel spoke again.

"How many times?" she choked out.

"Th-th-th-three!" Valyrie almost shrieked. Angel let loose a cry of frustration and Valyrie could hear the sound of her hoof coming down. As she waited for the pain, she instead heard the hoof collide with the floor and the sound of metal clinking against the stone. Valyrie opened her eyes to see Angel's face, pupils narrow with anger and fangs and teeth bared before a sharp pain struck her right cheek. Valyrie managed to see Angel's hoof pass away from her face as her other shook off the other claw. Valyrie didn't react as she struck her again and again.

"You stupid featherbrain!" Angel shouted in anger, "How dare you do that with my coltfriend!" Angel reared up to hit the gryffon with a fourth shot, but Valyrie's claw shot out and caught it, holding her hoof in place.

Valyrie panted, but she managed to talk. "There, you got three free shots. You hit me any more and I will hit back."

Angel cried out in anger and yelled, "You don't tell me what to do!" As quickly as she could, Angel brought her right hoof across Valyrie's face before a powerful kick was delivered to her stomach. Angel gasped as she lost her breath and realized her armor didn't wrap around underneath her. As she wheezed, a black claw shot up and scratched the pristine helmet the bat pony was wearing, causing her head to whip away. Seizing her momentary advantage, Valyrie pushed with both of her claws and paws to shove Angel from off of her. Angel flew backwards and landed on her back two feet away. The two females scrambled to their hooves/claws and Valyrie tackled Angel this time. Valyrie frantically tried to grab ahold of her hooves, but Angel's armor had spiny points on it, scratching the gryffon as she pressed herself against her friend, or rather, nemesis now.

Angel responded by roaring angrily and spun, attempting to best Valyrie's efforts to subdue her. She managed to deliver two swift strikes to the gryffon, one in the air and one after they hit the floor, before the gryffon clawed the front visor of her helmet. Angel just barely managed to close her eyes in time to feel the claw just barely graze her eyelid, not breaking the skin. If her eye would've been open, she might've gone blind. Angry beyond regular brawling now, Angel viciously headbutted the gryffon and while she was stunned, buried her fangs into the gryffon's neck, getting the disgustingly copper taste of blood on her tongue. Valyrie shouted in pain as she felt the teeth break into her skin and flailed with her claws, finding a weak spot in Angel's armor, her wing joint. As Valyrie's claw broke skin as well, Angel wailed in the exact same way, pulling her teeth out of Valyrie's neck.

With a final push, Valyrie shoved Angel away and brought a claw up to her neck, trying to stem the flow of blood. Angel landed in a heap on the other side of the room, unmoving except for her nursing her wing. Valyrie turned to face a mirror and examined the wound to her neck. It looked like something from that one monster movie, Vlad the Vampire Bat Pony. She had two pinpricks right near the base of her neck and it bled, not gushing but enough to worry her. As she tried to wash the wound clean, she heard a faint sobbing from the other side of the room. Spinning around, she realized it was Angel.

"Why?" she sobbed, "Why do you get to be so lucky? C-Comet has never kissed m-me, even on our dates. What makes you so special?" Angel broke out into louder sobs and Valyrie felt the pit in her stomach grow, threatening to consume her.

"Angel..." she tried to start, but Angel cut her off again.

"Tonight was supposed t-t-to be sp-special," the hurt bat pony cried, "Me and Comet at the Grand Galloping Gala, all alone. I was hoping h-h-he w-would finally..." Valyrie gritted her beak as she heard her friend talk. Why was she so special? Comet had everything he wanted with Angel, so why was Valyrie trying to take him from her? Tears began to form in the gryffon's own eyes as Angel continued. "Th-they say if you kiss the pony you love at the Gala, y-you'll be happy forever. I was hoping C-Comet and I would d-do that t-to-tonight." Angel broke out into full bawling at that point and Valyrie started crying to herself. Angel needed him just as badly as he needed her, so what was Valyrie doing? Trying to live a pipe dream to escape her own homeland? Regret, among other emotions, crashed down upon Vlayrie and she started sobbing louder than Angel.

Angel looked up at the gryffon, who had collapsed on the floor, and heard her speak. "I'm so sorry, Angel!" she shouted, "I'm sorry for trying to take Comet from you! I never wanted to hurt you, but being with him just... It just makes me so happy! I didn't want to lose that and I was a jerk. I'm so sorry!" The gryffon sobbed harder than she had ever done before, buried beneath her own guilt and self loathing. The bat pony, without any reason to, slowly stood up on shaky hooves and wobbled over to the emotionally distraught gryffon and put her hoof around her, laying next to her like Comet had done back on that stormy day. Valyrie flinched at her touch, but Angel persisted, hugging the gryffon close and trying to calm her down.

When Valyrie finally calmed down enough to look at Angel, the bat pony spoke up. "Valyrie, I know what it's like to be so happy you never want to lose it. Comet makes me that happy too, so happy I never want to leave him."

"B-but I'm a monster," the gryffon retorted, nearly crying again, "I'm no better than those pigs back at my home."

Angel gulped, but pressed on, "No, you're better than them, Valyrie. I don't know what your race is like, but I know you're nothing like them."

Valyrie sniffed at that and grumbled, "If you knew what they were like, you wouldn't say that."

Angel sat silently for a couple seconds, but steeled her will and said, "Valyrie, you are my best friend next to Comet and, while I may be angry at what you did, no amount of me hurting you or Comet will change what has happened. My father always told me it's easier to forgive and forget than to carry grudges with you everywhere. You're a good gryffon at heart and I know that, but Comet is my coltfriend. He asked me out."

Valyrie grimaced at that, but she didn't argue. She knew Angel was right. "But, why do you get to be happy and I can't?" Valyrie moaned.

"You can be happy too," Angel childed, "You just need your own dream stallion."

"But you have my dream gryph-er, stallion," Valyrie retorted bitterly.

"Valyrie," Angel spoke softly, "There is more than just one stallion in Equestria. There's one out there, just waiting for you to find him." Valyrie didn't respond to that, but continued to 'hic' for a while. Finally, Angel stood up and adjusted her armor, which had been knocked out of place in a couple areas, allowing Valyrie to stand. When the two of them were standing, Angel locked eyes with Valyrie, her best friend, and held out a hoof with a smile. "Friends?" Angel asked. Valyrie stared at the hoof, unsure of what to do. She was baffled by the ability to forgive this pony possessed, especially after what Valyrie had done, but she tentatively reached out a claw and shook it.

"Friends," she said a little less confidently than she would've liked. As she shook the hoof, Angel jumped to her and wrapped her in a nice hug. Valyrie stood there, unsure of what to do, but eventually smiled. While Valyrie had friends back in the Gryphon Kingdom, Angel was definitely better than them. When the two finally released each other, Angel grinned widely at her, just like her old self. "So, what do you plan of doing with--" Valyrie began, but stopped as she remembered why she had initially come here. "Comet!" she shouted.

Grabbing Angel's hoof, she pulled the bat pony along and said, "There's not much time! Comet's in a huge amount of trouble!"