Flash Sentry and Tempest Shadow were a block and a half from the convention center when Tempest finally let out a disgusted growl followed by a sigh. The reaction caught the pegasus stallion by surprise and he cocked his head to the side.
“Something not to your liking? I thought your talk with your old friend went pretty well, at least from what I could gleam.”
“Hmm? Oh, yeah that was fine. Vector is the best armor smith I’ve ever seen. That cow can turn a hunk of scrap into a full body suit in less than a day and even make it look good. I... I don’t know if I have a right to call him a friend so much as he just took pity on me when I was at my lowest and saw that I was a loose cannon in need of help and tempering before I got more of our own people or myself killed.
“No, I was thinking back to the meeting with the bureaucrats. I hate the web of lies, the shark infested waters of back stabbing, the… politics of it all. Sure, we had a little bit of it in the Storm Guard, but nothing like this. Those… oily smiles that pretend to care when in reality all they care about is their own end goal. Just like the Storm King.”
“Well, Sour Sweet said wait and see which rats scurry first. You certainly ruffled a few feathers so it won’t take long that’s for sure.” Tempest nodded and smirked causing Flash to smile as well. He did not dare say it, not yet, but he absolutely loved her genuine smile.
“I can be patient when I need to be. That problem will reveal itself in time. For now, we have a suspect to question then an officers’ meet up to begin the new training routine.”
“You should probably also remember to get some lunch in there too.” The captain arched an eyebrow at her companion. Flash quickly waved his hooves back and forth. “Just two officers eating, no overtones or insinuations. Not a date… in the least… nope. Captain.”
Tempest smiled at his fumbling and gestured for the pegasus to follow.
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“What do you mean, ‘he’s not here?’” Tempest Shadow was fuming, well, sparking might have been a better description considering the blue magical sparks shooting from her horn that were threatening to ignite the stack of papers at the reception desk. The desk deputy was cringing in fear and Flash had to gently remind his captain that while she was in charge it would still be highly frowned upon if she started assaulting fellow officers of the law. Tempest growled at her subordinate, but did take a few steps back to pace and gather her fury before returning to the desk. The deputy flinched again when she placed her armored foreleg hooves on the desk hard enough to gouge it.
“It was only an hour ago. I dropped off a suspect in the care of your sheriff or constable or whoever is in charge of this district. Where. Did. My. Prisoner. Go?!”
The deputy gulped and quickly scanned the paperwork he had available. He had to clear his throat to get his voice to drop back to a normal level that did not sound like he caught certain sensitive organs in a vice. “It, it says here that half an hour ago two guards came and signed him out for transfer back to the guard holding station at the palace.”
Tempest gesture for the deputy to show her the documents. He turned the clipboard around and used it like a shield as if it would have really helped had she intended to do him harm. The prisoner had declined to give his name and so when she had booked him she had listed him as ‘Bribery suspect in long coat, male earth pony, blue/grey fur, dark green eyes.’ It was extremely unlikely to impossible that other guards would have come to round up her suspect since she had not informed any of the guard on duty of the arrest.
If Twilight were here she could have probably run the numbers of how likely a chance it was that a concerned citizen had informed the guard and that they had come without orders to collect the suspect in the span of less than an hour.
Right. And I’m secretly the queen of an island nation along the coast of Horseshoe Bay.
Tempest let out a small growl, but focused on what was important. She took a blank sheet of paper and quickly copied all the information that was on the original booking report, including the names of the guards who had made the transfer. Once done Tempest passed the sheet to Flash. “Recognize the names of the guards who signed out my suspect?”
Flash skimmed to the bottom where two names were listed. “Can’t say I’ve met a Grunt Whistle or Rock Muscle, but I also don’t know every guard personally.”
Tempest growled again, turning back to the deputy. “What did they look like?”
“Like… like guards. You know? I’m sorry, ma’am, but most of the guards all look the same to me. They were both stallions and didn’t smile one bit. Barely said more than they had to. Honestly, if they had been coming to rescue me I think I would have run the other way.”
Tempest shoved off the desk, causing the deputy to scramble to keep the stack of paper from falling over. Three things were clear: This young deputy was too scared to hold out on her, the rot that Twilight feared was quite real, and she had no idea how deep it had spread. Without a thank you or apology, Tempest let herself out with Flash Sentry a few steps behind.
“Sooooo, back to the barracks to check for your suspect?”
“I have a reasonable respect for your intelligence, Sentry. Please don’t ruin it with stupid statements like that.”
“I was trying to be optimistic.”
Tempest sighed, taking a moment to rub the bridge of her nose with her eyes squeezed shut. Perhaps she did need a small bite to eat. She could feel a lack of food headache coming on or maybe it was general frustration or something… else. Tempest hoped it was not that. She did not have time to deal with that even if it was about the right time of year. “Sorry, you didn’t deserve that, but you and I both know that he’s in the wind and those names are likely aliases. The princess was worried about corruption in the ranks, but I guess in a small way I had hoped it was just paranoia or at least not as wide spread and organized. To be able to move that fast to clean up the mess means money and connections. Follow what I’m implying?”
Flash nodded, his usual pleasant expression twisting into a sour grimace. “Twilight told me her fears on the matter too, before you arrived. Back when she had first tossed out the idea of promoting me to captain. Plus, there are always the hushed whispers and rumors. Guards love to gossip as much as the cleaning staff.”
Tempest arched a brow and narrowed her eyes, the tiniest little smirk on her face. “First name basis, lieutenant? That’s interesting.”
Flash grinned and… wait, is he blushing? Flash turned his head and tried to look anywhere but at his captain until he regained his composure a few seconds later. “It’s… honestly it’s not that big a deal, we can talk about it later if you like, but we have an officer’s meeting we have get to soon.”
“Yeah, we do, but I’m hungry now. Point us to something we can eat fast.” Flash took the lead and gestured with a wing for Tempest to follow.
----------
Lunch had been ten minutes of ordering and waiting for hay burgers and deep fried onion rings and ten minutes of stuffing their faces as fast as they could shovel it in while still maintaining a small level of dignity by not getting ketchup or marinara on themselves. It was filling and satisfying and Tempest was pleased that her fellow officer could keep up with her pace all while not make a fool of himself with condiment stains. Yet another thing she refused to admit she found attractive about the orange pegasus. Tempest shivered, but not in a bad way. She needed to visit a doctor soon to see how close she was to her cycle given the amount of thoughts that were betraying her daily.
Bellies full and curiosity unconquerable, Tempest and Flash made their way first to the guard holding area where the barracks met an outskirt jut of the palace itself in an underground structure. It had remained intact and the construction crews had long since moved to other areas to rebuild. Unsurprising, there were no prisoners found and no orders or paperwork stating there would be. Tempest would have been furious if she had not already expected annoying disappointment. Her suspect was in the wind with no leads or clues. A problem to address later.
With just enough time to spare for additional curiosity, Tempest had insisted on returning to where the money drop had occurred in the off chance there had been a stray clue, but naturally, no bag of coin remained. Again, unsurprising if albeit equally disappointing since without a bank record the coin was untraceable to who last possessed it.
Despite her already full plate of responsibilities Tempest had full intention of following up on the personal case when there was time, but for now she had to shift focus back to getting her new subordinates properly trained to fight. It was just a happy coincidence that knocking heads around was great stress relief and she was in dire need of that.
Tempest had ordered her lieutenants, all thirteen of them from the three companies, to meet her on the south parade grounds at just past midday. While all the guard needed updates to their training doctrine it would have been too difficult to train all three companies effectively with only her doing the work. That was why the sergeants had been left with the soldiers for a while and the officers were all standing before her… well, most of them were.
Tempest counted again. One was missing, but she still had not learned all their names so she had no idea who. Even Flag Staff, who looked annoyed, was standing before her. There was no way to save face so she just called out her thoughts. “I was told the Canterlot companies of royal guards had thirteen lieutenants. Who are we missing?”
The other officers took a moment to glance around and murmured, shrugged, or just remained focused on their captain. Finally, Flash Sentry brightened up and cleared his throat. “We appear to be missing Lieutenant Flanker, captain.” That response earned a few scoffs and eye rolls. More than zero was an unacceptable level of discipline. Just another issue to address.
“Well, does anyone know where he is or why he is disobeying my order to meet?”
A shadow passed overhead and a stout stallion landed between the twelve other officers and Captain Tempest. When he stood up from his hard landing he removed his blued silver helmet to meet his new captain’s gaze with steady seasoned eyes that were yellow, the pupils vertically slit like a serpent.
“A thousand apologies for my tardiness, captain.”
Tempest held her unimpressed gaze even as her mind took in every detail of the thestral before her from his muted grey umber coat to the lean, delectably tight muscles that flexed under his armor and fur. He folded his leathery wings and bowed his head in respect, black mane falling to one side.
“Explain yourself, lieutenant.”
“While it is not a justifiable excuse, I was never told directly about the officer’s meeting, having only gleamed it from overhearing a set of guards mentioning it as they moved past me on their way to their posts.”
Tempest’s eyes narrowed at Flash Sentry. “I ordered you to pass on time and location of this meeting to ALL the officers, lieutenant.”
“I was only able to inform seven officers directly, captain. The others received notes in their inboxes or were told indirectly by company sergeants. I will take the blame for not following up, but I know I left a note for Lieutenant Flanker in his mail slot.”
“We’ll discuss this more in private you two.” Tempest waved her hoof to dismiss Flanker to fall in with the others. “You are all gathered here today because I am going to break you of your bad habits and piss poor reputation as useless decorative pieces to stand around and look pretty for the princess and her guests. This training session should take about two to three weeks depending on how much I feel you have progressed. Then, you will in turn teach your sergeants who will then begin to reteach the privates and all incoming new recruits. Over time and with practice you may even be good enough to start mixing in your own techniques, but make no mistake I live by an iron clad rule. Learn to do it right, before you learn to do it wrong. Otherwise, you are just as useless as you have always been. Now, spread out and give yourselves room so as to begin following the basic forms of Barreling.
“What is Barreling, you ask? It’s an ancient combat form that was developed originally by zebra scouts warring with one another and to combat dangerous wildlife that thought zebras tasted good. It was later learned and refined by pony and griffon pirates and traders. They learned how to maximize the forms while working with limited deck space and or close quarters combat below deck. You learn to move, to flow, and to drop an enemy fast and hard all without magic or weapons beyond your own four hooves. Now, watch and learn.”
The lieutenants mimicked the forms Tempest showed them for about twenty minutes before she broke them into teams to practice against one another at slower, sparring speed. She had to correct many of them for either not following correctly or trying to put their own twist on it far too early. After another thirty minutes of practice and a small water break Tempest stepped over to the sparring circle and stretched and flexed.
“Obviously, I don’t expect you to learn it all in one day. Like I said, it will take a few weeks if not an entire lunar cycle to get you where I think you won’t hurt yourselves or your subordinates. Regardless, I want each of you to show me what you have learned.” Tempest paused and pointed at a white unicorn with a few brown stripes along his barrel. “You, tell me your name and step in the ring.”
At least he only hesitated for a second.
“I am Lieutenant Hardy Spear, captain.”
“That’s what Cloud Kicker said last night!”
Several of the guards laughed, but it ended the moment Tempest lit her horn and sent out a surge of crackling energy that passed over the gathered guards. It was not meant to hurt them, but the sudden static shock shut them all up instantly. “Stow it! You can all joke and laugh when one of you pathetic excuses for officers can actually land a blow on me!”
Hardy Spear lasted about thirty seconds before tapping out. The same for the next ten contestants. Flag Staff, much to everyone’s surprise, lasted almost a minute, but still never landed a hoof strike against Tempest. Lieutenant Storm Heart, who was the smallest of all the officers, tried utilizing her lithe stature and speed and aaaaaallmost landed a back swing hoof strike that Tempest had to bend over backwards to avoid. She lasted almost two minutes before being forced to tap out.
Tempest flexed her neck and eyed who she had left and pointed at Flanker. “How about it, big guy? You ready?”
“Are you?” Flanker answered without humor or malice.
Tempest arched a brow and then beckoned the thestral forward with a hoof shake. Flanker moved slowly, his hoof placement deliberate with the graceful precision of a dancer instead of a brawny soldier. She had to admit, his body was a thing of masculine beauty to watch move about. Tempest had to dodge quickly to defend herself the moment she had ordered him to attack.
Flanker had false stepped to the left and then launched himself directly at his captain, trying to incapacitate her with a double forehoof smash. Tempest grunted as she met his attack to stop his forward movement. The thestral was a lot stronger than she had anticipated and concluded immediately she had to give her all or else face embarrassment. With a growl and snarl, Tempest pushed Flanker back before he could land a follow up strike.
“You’re stronger than you look.”
Flanker flashed the tiniest smirk. “Comes with training and being what I am. We thestrals are augmented with additional strengths by Mistress Luna such as night vision, stamina to go longer without sleep, and in some cases, an insatiable desire to pleasure another pony.” Flanker dove forward and tried to sweep Tempest’s legs, but she leapt over and somersaulted in midair, landing and kicking back with her hindlegs, forcing her opponent to dodge again.
“Sounds like you speak from experience on all three examples.”
Flanker smirked again. “I was one of the first volunteers to undergo the transformation when Mistress Luna returned from her thousand years of exile. I have had years to adjust to not only my new body, but to the perceptions that others concluded about me and my kind based on hearsay and rumor alone. Something I’m sure you can relate to.” Flanker lunged again and Tempest backflipped, catching his jaw with her hindleg hoofguard. The thestral shook off the sting of the strike and nodded his approval. “I have and will continue to serve my mistress and Equestria until my body no longer draws breath.”
He was hard to throw off his game. Most of the others hadn’t required talking to in order to stumble them, but Flanker was calm, preceptive, and did not look like he was even breathing hard while Tempest was already fatigued from having fought more than ten opponents. It was time to twist the knife, so to speak.
“If you and your fellow thestrals are all so damn strong and fast and all that, how come I didn’t have to subdue any of you after my forces seized the city?”
Finally, his serpent eyes narrowed and his body tensed, muscles bulging with controlled anger. It was both an alluring and frightening sight to behold. Tempest would have backpedaled if not for the fact that she had fought bigger and meaner enemies. Still, she acknowledged silently to herself that she was now on thin ice.
“Only two thestrals were awake and on perimeter duty when your ships moved in to attack. The rest of us were sleeping in preparation for the evening’s planned activities. After you began you attack, Swifty and Sugarcoat returned to our barracks to awaken the rest of us. However, once we were armored and prepared to fight back, you had already petrified three of our princesses, including Mistress Luna. We could not risk you or your minions damaging them so I gave the order to go into hiding so as to assist quietly ferrying those still free out of the city to Ponyville or some of the caves in the mountain until we could be reinforced or successfully retrieve our leaders.”
Flanker swung harder and faster, Tempest had to dodge blows she was certain would either knock her out or worse. However, he was also getting sloppy. She just had to wait for an opening.
“You embarrassed us, conquered our capital, allowed your forces to loot our city, and all in the name of a tyrant who lied and betrayed even those that served him loyally. Personally, I’m not convinced you were properly punished for your crimes, but that was not for me to say.”
Tempest grabbed Flanker’s foreleg, twisted it back painfully then wrapped her other leg around his neck, driving his face down into the dirt. He tried to buck and roll, but Tempest held on and tightened her grip around his throat. After nearly another minute of struggling he finally tapped out.
“You’re right, I wasn’t,” Tempest whispered in Flanker’s ear while trying to catch her breath, “but I’m doing my best to make it up to all of you.”
She unwrapped herself and glanced over her gathered officers. Some looked disappointed, while others just mulled about, their expressions unreadable. Tempest dusted herself off, double checking who had not stepped into the ring yet.
“Sentry,” Tempest called out, “you haven’t stepped up yet.”
“You sure you don’t need a break, captain?”
Tempest’s eyes narrowed at him. “I’ve just fought twelve other ponies, lieutenant. You should be chomping at the bit to get a chance to take down a tired opponent and the first thing you say is to give me an excuse to recover?”
“I was just trying to be fair, ma’am.”
“I don’t need fairness I need officers who learn and lead. Right now only two of you have impressed me with what you have learned. So, get your flank in here and try and hit me, lieutenant or I’ll ask Flanker to come and dance with me again because at least with him I had some fun.” Some of the officers snickered and whistled. Tempest ignored them because the egging on served the purpose she was after.
Flash stepped up and immediately went on the offensive. Tempest blocked each strike with ease and disappointment. When she had been watching his drills, Flash had shown promise that he had been paying attention and even doing well in the one on one spars as if he had seen or used the forms before. But now he was embarrassed and flustered. She needed to break him and most of the others of such petty distractions.
Tempest kicked out Flash’s forelegs and then caught him in his exposed underbelly. She could have kicked him harder, even caused some serious damage like she had done to Flag Staff the other day, but instead just shoved him back off balance as he tumbled to the dirt. “Come on, Sentry! I know you are better than this!”
Flash scrambled back to his legs, stomping his frustrations to the dirt. However, before he could charge again, Flanker placed a wing upon Flash’s withers. “Hold a moment, captain, I think I see a problem.”
Tempest did not want to admit the small breather was helpful, but also did not want to disagree if another spotted a flaw and a helpful teaching moment. She nodded and stepped back to the other side of the circle, taking a moment to brush the dust away and run a hoof through her mane. Flanker leaned close to Flash Sentry and whispered several things in his ear. The orange pegasus’s eyes widened for a second, probably only noticed by Tempest as she observed them, before he nodded and took a deep breath, recentering himself.
“Apologies, captain, I’m ready now.”
Tempest nodded. “Then show me.”
Whatever Flanker had said brought Flash back into focus and he came at his captain with the caution and experience a veteran such as himself should have had. Twice he nearly landed a solid hit using his pegasus speed, but even fatigued Tempest was faster and more experienced in the technique. It took nearly five minutes of continuous scrapping, but eventually, Tempest got under his defense and caused him to stumble, placing a foreleg on his throat forcing him to tap out.
After a moment to recover, Tempest helped Flash back to his hooves and then gave them all a nod of approval. It was not great, but not a bad first day. “Hit the showers, fillies and colts. We do this again tomorrow. Dismissed.”