TWD - Sneak Peek: The Second in Command, and His Filly Half · 1:58am Aug 20th, 2023
”Did you know that—every year—exactly 3099 ponies report suffering from natural Glowtrot exposure?”
Night Light made his bewilderment known. “How do you know that, Tight?”
The lieutenant merely shrugged his withers. “Sis said so.”
This post covers a pair of side characters who will take the stage in my upcoming story: The White Duchess. Want to know more about this series? Check out my elevator pitch!
While many of the young guards shuttled out to their western deployment are quite green in the hoof, there is an existing chain of command. The ponies that make up this chain aren’t the most decorated guardsponies, nor are they veterans in their outstanding fields, but they hold a level of camaraderie and devotion to duty that Princess Celestia clearly wanted to capitalize on. Perhaps even borrowing from their princess, some of these officers are a little older than the others, and in spite of their shared command, wield a bit of parental authority.
Lieutenant Tight Line is only a hair bit older, but he defects his authority to the foals he grew up with.
Set to become the second in command of the Western Guard, Tight Line is all too eager to serve with his foalhood friend, the newly appointed Captain Marked Cross. The two are close-knit—wound tight like brothers—but there is a clear line crossed between the two. It isn’t something the two antagonize each other over, but it is a worry Tight Line is usually burdened by: Cross is beyond what the Royal Guard could want in a captain; Tight Line is lacking in quite a few areas most would consider necessary. The signs could be seen all the way back in their days of competitive archery. After all, who would have expected a podunk earth pony to have a better shot than Canterlot’s finest unicorn sharpshooter?
With Tight’s new position as a head of the Western Halihoof Expeditionary Force, his fancy cutie mark bow tricks are moot. The guards need good leaders, and while Tight is fast at friends and stringing up arrows, he’s not so fast in the head. He needs a plan, and a way to get up-to-date on what it means to be a lieutenant, fast. The day the Sunshine Line starts down the tracks, Tight Line is already writing letters to the wisest pony he knows.
That is, of course, a filly just barely past ten-years-old: Tight’s little sister, Fine Line.
Fine Line is the living embodiment of knowledge. She is quick and witty for her age, and from her safe position in the lofty towers of Canterlot, her power grows by the day. That safety comes at a cost, however: she can’t join her big brother on his grand adventure! At least, not in pony. Tight Line and Fine Line quickly adopt an informant and intelligence role: with Tight’s hooves on the ground, and Fine muzzle deep in encyclopedias and restricted books, the two are able to reliably act as a mobile conjoined library and museum. The two are set to become an integral part of the Western Guard’s information gathering on the long and well-buried history of the Halihoof region. It’s not the most professional allowance, but a new approach could be exactly what the White Duchess and the Western Guard need to convince Halihoof to join Equestria.
Tight Line isn’t stupid, but he knows his sister got most of the brains, and he’ll be damned if he doesn’t make sure she achieves her dream. Even though that dream is to fulfill the role of a bureaucratic powerhouse, Tight couldn’t be happier to give Fine all the details she would ever want about life beyond Canterlot, and in the grand scheme of things, beyond ‘prim and proper’ Equestria. She’ll grow into a proper lady, but while she’s a filly, she’s bound to see the world through her brother’s eyes. And at the same time, her brother will learn what it’s like to accept the thrilling call of adventure, and leave the finer things to his Fine Line.
Ponies of an orchard, pegasi of a feather, unicorns who cast together. They’re everything to each other, and they’ll leave their mark on Night Light and Twilight Velvet, the Western Guard, and the very culture of Halihoof.
Tight Line and Fine Line
The strongest spells in all of Equestria aren’t means to an end, just promises of commitment. Tight Line promises to be a good big brother, and at the same time, Fine Line promises to be a good little sister.
Fine Line my beloved.
I love them both. Really stoked for this story to come!
That is interesting dynamic there, would wait to see more!