//------------------------------// // Dra // Story: Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot // by Equimorto //------------------------------// "So did we get her or not?" "We don't know for sure, Sir," said the soldier. "We hit her, but it seems she managed to make it back to safety even with her wounds." "Were they deadly wounds?" "Possibly, Sir. Possibly not. It depends on their doctors' talents." The stallion grumbled and shook his head, then looked instead to the machine close by. "Can we get it running again at least?" "We're working on it, Sir," came the soldier's reply. "That's not an answer. I asked if it can be turned on again. That's a yes or no question. All the time you spend trying to figure out the answer to that question is time wasted when you should have been working on getting it running again if the answer is yes or doing something else of actual value if the answer is no. Do you understand?" "Yes, Sir." "Then please stop standing here and go do something." The soldier almost replied again, then quickly made his way to a nearby group. With him out of the way, the large stallion turned to a pegasus that had been waiting for her chance to speak. "Found anything yet?" "No, Sir," she said. "No signs of any enemies approaching." "That's bad," the stallion muttered. The mare seemingly took offence to that, evident in her slight shift in posture and the look in her eyes even if she stayed quiet. He noticed that, and he explained unprompted, "They're coming here. Whether it's a group or a single pony or whatever, someone is coming. And you are supposed to find them before they're here." The pegasus looked even more bothered by that. "Are you implying we've been doing our jobs poorly, Sir?" she asked. "I'm stating it clearly," he replied. "And if enemy ponies show up here without any warning about them from you and your team, you can bet you will be losing your position when this is all over, and I'll have you put on trial for everything that happens to the ponies here as a result." The mare clearly struggled to keep her mouth shut. "Mud-dweller," she quietly hissed, low enough that the stallion couldn't prove she'd said anything. He stared her down, then dismissed her with a brusque wave of his hoof. "Get back to failing at your job, please." He didn't wait for her to leave, instead he turned around and walked away towards a different group of ponies. Only more bothered by his attitude, the mare grunted and then walked off as well. "Any news?" the stallion asked as he approached the other group. "None, Sir," answered one of the ponies there. "Any orders?" "Same ones as before." The stallion looked rather nervous about the situation, if one took him to be the type to display nervousness through external anger. One of the others took notice of that. "Worried about intrusions, Sir?" he asked, attempting a guess. "Among other things," the stallion replied. "None of this should be taking so long and none of those things we're having to fight against should be there. I'll have some words to share with the ponies that were supposed to spy on this place before we got here."