//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Admiration // Story: Forever Is a Long Time // by Hoosier Brony //------------------------------// Rapid Quill grabbed his scrolls, quills, and ink and put them all in a saddle bag. He was very excited about today’s work. He wanted his story to progress some more, and Twilight had cleared her schedule for him. Today, there were no interruptions; the story would flow smoothly. He had even invited Rainbow Dash, when he bumped into her the day before, to help with some fighting details. He had always admired pegasus wings, but didn’t know enough about them to give the detail he wanted for a fight. When he knocked on the library door, he was greeted by Rainbow Dash who invited him in. As he greeted Twilight and Rainbow Dash, he noticed that Rarity was also in the library, browsing some fashion books on the shelf. “Rarity,” he said, “would you like to join us today? I’m writing a new story and asked if Twilight and Rainbow Dash could help. I’d like your opinion as well, if you have the time.” Rarity thought about this, she was a little busy. “I could spare a little time. What’s the story about?” Rapid Quill handed her his first scroll, thanking her as she walked off to read his introduction. He turned to the other two ponies and thanked them for agreeing to help as well. “I want to get into some detail about Justice’s role in Princess Luna’s guard, and show the strength of his leadership and teamwork with his squad. Are you ready?” As the two ponies sat down, excited for the continued story, Rapid Quill began to write: Beaming Justice had worked his way into Princess Luna’s personal trust. Having done more with his team of four ponies than half of Celestia’s personal guard, Justice had made a name for himself in the royal halls. He had also inadvertently caught the eye of the Princess herself. Luna had admired Justice from afar, watching night after night as he and his friends went out to defeat whatever monstrous being decided to threaten the peace of Equestria. She had even gone to the scene of battle herself to witness the grace that the team showed. Justice was just finishing up yet another training session, still helping to train some new recruits with the goal of keeping Equestria safe in mind, when he was suddenly approached by the Princess. “You do well, educating the new recruits on the importance of their job. I’ve also noticed how strong they become after working with you. What is your secret?” she asked. Beaming Justice thought about his answer carefully before giving it. “I guess I just want to ensure that my Princesses will always be well protected in any time of need. You two are the hope for the entire land and must not be hurt. If my teaching can get that point across to the next generation of guards, then I have achieved everything I could hope for.” Princess Luna was pleased with his answer. He was not interested in training up these recruits just for personal gain into his ranks, or to show up the more established trainer guards. His heart and mind was solely in tune with the peace and harmony for Equestria. She had already admired his physical appearance before, but now she felt deep admiration for the spirit inside. “The Grand Galloping Gala is next week, and I find myself without an escort. Surely you can understand how it would be perceived for a Princess to arrive with nopony beside her?” Luna asked, giving Justice a bit of a wink. Justice was bewildered. He had admired Princess Luna, but had attempted to keep his relationship with her strictly professional. He was afraid that his judgment could be clouded if the two of them were to enter into a romantic relationship. Seeing that she was interested in such a relationship had pushed such fears aside. It WOULD look bad if she was alone. Besides, it doesn’t have to mean anything serious. “I would be glad to assist my Princess in her time of need.” “Wait, I can’t believe you are going to have the Princess in a relationship,” Twilight said, her expression showing a little worry. “You are going to be careful, I mean, she is a Princess after all.” “Oh, Twilight,” Rarity said, interrupting Rapid Quill before he could start explaining his idea. “Of course she would fall in love with Beaming Justice. He is a handsome, strong, and brave pony who is working in close relation with her. He’s defended her honor many times and has never once made any advances that could turn her off. And his heart is pure, his goals honorable. Oh, I do say, I wish I had a very special somepony like that.” “Uh, thanks Rarity. If you three don’t mind, I think I’ll continue” Rapid Quill said. The following week had passed slower than any other in Justice’s life. The idea that he of all ponies would be attending the Grand Galloping Gala with Princess Luna filled him with such excitement that he found himself flying faster, throwing harder, and thinking strategy better. His friends had noticed too and, like any close work relationship, had soon figured out what the change stemmed from. “Something’s gotten into you. For the better, but still, something’s different,” Swift Breeze, Justice’s second in command and first recruit, said, staring at him for any signs. “He’s definitely been on his game this week. Did you give him a boost, Aurora?” Steel Hoof, an earth pony and the strongest member of the team, asked the final team member. Aurora was a unicorn who possessed magical abilities Justice could only compare to the Princesses’. “You’re both idiots,” she said, rolling her eyes at the two. As she turned towards Justice, arching an eyebrow, she said, “Obviously he’s in love. So, who is it? Someone we know?” “You three are insane. There is nothing different about me this week. I’m just showing you that you should never be content with where your abilities are currently. You can always work harder to improve.” Justice had a terrible poker face. His blushing face showed through his dark grey fur. “I knew it. You ARE in love!! Wow,” Aurora said, jumping up from her book. Steel and Swift decided that talking romance was just boring and that embarrassing Justice would probably just get them harder exercises, so they wondered off to continue training on their own. “So who is it? Are you going to tell us? At least give me a hint.” Justice had feared that this would happen. How would the rest of the Royal guard see his dating Princess Luna? Would they think he was getting favorable attention? Would they point out his every mistake? Still, whenever he thought about the events about to unfold that very night, he started to get a peaceful, happy feeling throughout his entire body. “This is killing me!” Rainbow Dash shouted, startling Rapid Quill enough to cause the quill to scratch across the scroll. “I mean, come on! You said that you would need me for some awesome action scenes, but this is all lovey-dovey stuff. I NEED some action. You’re starting to bore me.” “Just be patient,” Rapid Quill said, trying his best to keep the pegasus calm. He knew he would need her before this chapter was over, but he needed this part of the story too. “The action is coming up very soon.” As Rainbow Dash flew off into a corner, trying to hide her boredom, Rapid Quill continued: “Fine, but you have to keep it a secret. I can’t let anyone know, but I know I can trust you. Besides, everypony will find out soon enough, I suppose.” Justice leaned in close so that only Aurora could hear. “I’m going to the Grand Galloping Gala tonight with Princess Luna.” “PRINCESS LUNA?!?!” Aurora couldn’t help but shout out her surprise. About that time Swift and Steel found themselves suddenly distracted, crashing into each other rather painfully. “How did this happen? When?” As Justice was explaining about the Princess inviting him, Steel and Swift untangled themselves and came over, just as shocked as Aurora. They knew that Princess Luna had personally selected Justice for her guard, but none of them suspected she might harbor feelings for him. “So you can understand that I can’t have you telling everypony about this. What would the other guards think?” Justice asked, begging his friends to secrecy. “It probably won’t matter anyways after tonight. I’m sure somepony will see that we are together and figure it out. Still, I don’t want a lot of attention.” “Our lips are sealed, boss,” Steel said, laughing to himself at his usually strong and sure leader’s sudden bashful turn. “Just have a good time tonight and don’t do anything I wouldn’t.” With that, the team broke for the day. Justice had to go get ready for his big night, and the other ponies found that concentrating was too difficult. They were excited to hear all about it the next day. Justice had said he’d meet Luna at the exit of her personal tower at the castle. He was not prepared for the beauty that awaited him. Princess Luna appeared wearing a luxurious full length dress that… “Um…” Rapid Quill paused, unsure of what to write next. “I’m not very good with fashion.” “Oh darling, let me,” Rarity said, taking the quill and gently pushing him aside. Princess Luna appeared wearing a luxurious gown. The gown accentuated her lithe frame and included the many phases of the moon across the bottom border. Her ensemble was completed with gleaming crystal shoes and a crown whose gems shone brightly in the moon light, making a wonderful contrast to the dark gown and dark blue fur. Her dark blue mane flowed elegantly with every movement of her head. Rarity stopped, considering. “Yes. That will do just fine,” she said, letting Rapid Quill read what she had written. “Wow, thank you Rarity,” Rapid Quill said, impressed with Rarity’s attention to detail. Beaming Justice was just in awe. He had admired the Princess before, but never had he imagined such beauty as he saw that night. When he took in her entire appearance, he felt his heart flutter so excitedly it seemed to jump out of his chest, fly up to the sky, and shout in the loudest sound possible of his love of this mare. He had never felt this way before, and knew he may never feel the same again. “Are you ready?” Princess Luna said, admiring Justice in his finest dress armor. His athletic build was enhanced by the jet black armor and flowing cape. He had obviously taken the time to improve his appearance to impress her. His black mane was trimmed and straightened. His fetlocks had been trimmed as well, helping add to the sleek, magnificent appearance. The night was as perfect as possible. The two made a couple that no other pony could match. The shock of seeing the Princess with her personal guard was short lived as everypony could tell the genuine love between the two seen in the looks they gave each other through the night. Justice, though not well known by most of the Very Important Ponies, was able to contribute to high level conversation between dignitaries while also being able to stand his ground on the need for personal guard in light of decades of peace for the Princesses. While starting to explain why two separate guards were required, Princess Luna asked Justice to a dance. The two ponies headed to the dance floor, a slow, soft nocturne being played from the small orchestra. They danced slowly staying ever close to the other. Justice realized that the feeling of the Princess dancing with him this close was the best feeling he had ever felt. As the song came to a close, Justice knew that he had to make a move. The two ponies slowly looked into each other’s eyes, their heads leaned in, and right as the lips were about to touch, the grand hall doors burst open suddenly. The music came to a sudden halt as the entire room watched a runner pony approach Princess Luna. He whispered into her ear, causing her eyes to flicker with annoyance and worry. Justice knew there was something wrong, but it was not his place to ask without provocation. Princess Celestia approached Luna and Justice as Luna explained the runner pony’s message. “There is a terrifying Hydra that is attacking the village of Saddleworth. The villagers are attempting to fight back, but half of the town has already been destroyed and many villagers are already missing; feared dead. I apologize, sister, but I believe I must go. A large number of soldiers will need to be raised for this monster.” Justice couldn’t believe it. For years no one had seen a hydra outside of the Everfree Forest, and now there was one attacking a village? He saw an opening to show his Princess the power and teamwork that his small band had that could handle this beast. “I’ll go,” he said, apologizing for interrupting the Princesses. “My three officers and I can handle this situation until help comes. You two should stay here for the Gala.” With that, not waiting for an answer, he turned and headed for the door. He tried to hurry without being too quick as to startle the party crowd, which by this point had already gone back to dancing, not knowing of the tragedy occurring in Saddleworth. As he left the hall, he sent a runner pony to his barracks to raise the others and prepare them for battle. They had trained for this type of moment, and not a single second could be spared. When Justice reached Saddleworth, he couldn’t believe the scene before his eyes. Where once there sat a medium sized village, all he saw was a large pile of rubble. Homes had become nothing more than a collection of roofing and wooden beams; personal possessions lay strew about the town. Unfortunately, Justice also saw that nopony would mind their possessions out in the open, as many of the ponies in town were either missing, hurt in the streets, or dead. All throughout town, ponies lay broken, crying out for help or just in shock of the scene around them. “Justice! We’re here…Oh my,” Swift said, breathlessly looking at what once was a town. His eyes widened, taking in the terror all around. Just then, Aurora and Steel managed to catch up, silently taking in the destroyed town as they wandered through it. Swift turned, screaming with slight hysteria in his voice, “AURORA! You can help them right? You can heal these ponies? We can save some of them tonight, can’t we?” “Swift? SWIFT!” Justice shouted, grabbing the other pegasus and looking straight into his eyes. “We cannot help these ponies if there is still a monster out there. We must destroy what caused this tragedy before anything else.” Justice knew this was hard. He hated not helping the injured ponies either, but there was a more pressing issue. After seeing that understanding replaced the shock in Swift’s eyes, Justice pulled away, looking for the hydra. “We need to spread out and search around here. It couldn’t have gone far, not with this many ponies left here,” Justice heard himself saying. Sometimes being able to read a situation and figuring out just what a monster could want with ponies felt like a curse. “I need you all to keep an eye on your partner. We cannot afford any mistakes here tonight.” With that, the ponies grabbed their spears and shields from Steel’s sturdy shoulders and split into two teams: Swift and Aurora searching through the town, and Justice and Steel, searching the nearby countryside. Justice hated that he had to split the group. The four ponies, though capable, were still too few in numbers. They needed to find this beast and keep it occupied until reinforcements came. They had to do with what they had on hand. Justice flew off, gaining altitude so that he could both search further and keep an eye on Steel. Steel had to check the many ditches, dens, and caves, most of which were too small for something with this destructive power. In town, Swift was following suit, watching the town’s many rubble piles for any sign of movement (other than the still screaming, injured ponies) while also watching Aurora’s back while Aurora used many tracking spells to make sense of what occurred. Suddenly, Aurora’s spell caused a faint glow to appear. Footprints the size of three ponies began to shine on the darkened ground. Swift flew down, helping her follow the prints as they led out of town. Aurora told him to get Justice and Steel, but he knew not to leave her alone. She could just send up a signal to indicate to the other two that they had a trail, but her spell would fade in the meantime. So instead, the two ventured on, constantly tensed at every little sound. They removed their shields from their backs, getting ready for a surprise strike. A set of glowing green eyes flickered open not ten feet to the right and a low, guttural growl began to break the silence. Aurora immediately stopped her tracking spell and shot up an impressive flare that lit the area up as if it were mid-afternoon. The scene before her was enough to make her scream in terror and sorrow. The team had fought enough hydras around the Everfree Forest through the previous years to know when they’ve fed, and this hydra had enjoyed a large meal. The four heads were lounging out on what was once the local postal department, and there were even a few injured ponies lying nearby, still breathing but unconscious. The hydra let out a roar that shook Aurora to the core and blew Swift backwards in the sky. As it took the time to stand up on its two feet, Aurora and Swift took the time to retreat and regroup with the other team. “Surely they had seen the signal and are on their way, right?” Swift asked, flying down to Aurora’s level to hear her over the hydra’s much louder growling. “If not, that roar must’ve reached them, if not Canterlot,” Aurora said. She went through her memory, listing off every spell she’d used in their previous encounters with hydras. Every spell seemed to be useless against this beast, which was about three times bigger than any other they’d seen. Her concentration left her lacking in attentiveness and Aurora found herself turning down an alley and meeting a pile of what was once the local bakery. She looked left and right and realized that the only way out was back the way she came, where the hydra had just appeared. “I have nothing, NOTHING, that can fight that,” she screamed to herself. Her confidence was shaking, as were her legs. She knew that she had to do something, so she took off her shield and spear and held them out in front of her. She had the basic training that Justice had shown her, but she was more of a support role in their adventures, staying back to fight from afar with spells or heal her hurt teammates. She stood no chance. The hydra sensed that this fight would be a simple one and lunged one hungry head out to meet her. She threw her spear and the head caught it in midair, spitting it off to the side. Now, she had nothing. As the head lunged again, Aurora screamed out a desperate plea. Out of the sky, faster than a normal pony could follow, came Swift, plunging straight at the hydra. He threw his shield with all his might at Aurora, knocking her backwards and away from the opening jaws. Swift then landed with a slight skid, sliding into the spot Aurora had just occupied and held his spear aloft. When the hydra went to close its mouth, the spear stuck the top and bottom, preventing the mouth from closing. The hydra, infuriated at this intrusion began to force its mouth closed, allowing the spear to slowly pierce its front lip. The pain it would feel was nothing next to the sense of achievement it would have after teaching these two ponies a lesson. “I could REALLY use some help here,” Swift said, seeing the hydra disregarding the spear and closing its mouth around him. As his panic was growing, suddenly he noticed that the spear was as well. Aurora had recovered from the shield hit and performed a spell that caused the spear to not only grow in length, but width. The hydra found itself incapable of withstanding the pain of the suddenly much larger spear expanding in its mouth and began to pull the head back. Suddenly, the beast screamed in agony and the once attacking head went limp. “I got here as soon as I could, but it looks like you had it under control,” Justice said, wings spread out at full length, his hoof still holding the edge of his spear, which was firmly implanted in the top of the hydra’s head. “Oh yeah,” Rainbow Dash said, “Sorry, but that save was amazing. But what about the other three heads?” She had been excited ever since the hydra fight had begun, but she just couldn’t contain her excitement any more. “Well, that’s where I’m hoping you all might help. Twilight, you’ve seen a hydra in real life and Rainbow Dash, you know all about how well a pegasus can fight. Can you help me write this next part?” “Of course,” Twilight said, “I think you just need to get the hydra on the ground. Hydras have a large amount of difficulty standing up. That could be when they strike.” Rapid Quill continued: The hydra’s other three heads were writhing in pain and roaring in frustration. Justice took this time to size up the beast, noticing that it was much larger than they had ever handled. He ripped his spear out of the motionless head and said, “Steel should be here any second, but I have a plan. Swift, I need you to help lead this thing out of town, away from anywhere it can hide from us. Aurora, I need some way to disorient the beast. When I give the word, I need you to cast a spell to make it dizzy.” “Dizzy? That’s it?!?” Aurora basically screamed. She’d been through a lot with just this one encounter and was still trying to think up some spell to take the beast down, not confuse it. What is he thinking? “Don’t worry, just wait for the signal. I need to go get Steel ready,” Justice said, flying away from the two confused ponies. Swift briefly looked over at Aurora, making sure she was ok. When she nodded, a renewed sense of determination on her face, he flew off, towards the other three heads. He trusted Justice, believing that whatever he was thinking would work. When he reached the three heads, he began taunting them and flying just close enough to draw their attention. Once it began to follow him, leading it out of the town was simple. Swift looked ahead, noticing Justice and Steel off in a field, working on the next phase of the plan. Justice had just wrapped a clothing line taken from the destroyed town around a large pole. Handing the pole off to Steel, Justice began wrapping the other end around another. Standing the pole up on the ground, Steel reared up on his back legs and stomped down as hard as he could. The pole went down into the ground so far that only the clothesline stayed up. Steel then ran over to Justice’s location, stomping the other pole down, creating a trip line stretching across the field. Swift, seeing what the intended plan called for, flew in the direction of the trip line, bringing the hydra ever closer. Aurora, running to catch up, was trying to remember the confusion spell, but she was having trouble remembering just how to cast it. “Now, Aurora!” Justice called, noticing that the hydra was pulling ever closer to the trip line. “Aurora, NOW!” Aurora powered up her spell, her horn glowing bright red. She aimed for the hydra, hitting it dead on. But there was a problem. Only one head was affected by the spell. The hydra’s second head suddenly pulled left when the other two went right. The body kept running in a straight line, running right over the trip line, breaking it in half. The ponies were shocked. How else could they confuse the heads? Aurora was very tired; the spell had taken a lot of energy. She slumped onto a pile of rubble, resting up for when she would be called on to help mend her teammates’ injuries. Justice flew over to Swift, helping him lead the hydra around the field. The hydra was in a more enraged state than ever before. One head was dead, another not working correctly. But these ponies would pay. Justice and Swift decided the only thing they could do was try to trick the hydra by getting its heads tangled with each other. With one limp and another messed up, tangling them up shouldn’t be difficult. Besides, Justice was one of the best fliers of all time, and had taught Swift everything he knew. The two pegasi split the two heads between them and flew off in opposite directions. They turned and flew at each other, getting the heads to end up twisted around. The hydra spun around slowly, untangling its necks. Justice decided that no formation would work in this scenario and let Swift know that he just needed to stay careful and try to keep the head preoccupied. “Rainbow Dash, could you help with the flight fight?” Rapid Quill asked. Rainbow Dash jumped up from across the room, flew a quick circle around the library’s interior shouting for joy, and landed hard next to Rapid Quill. “Alright all you egg head ponies, pay attention to this one!” Justice flew towards his assigned head, gaining speed as he grew closer. He shot past the head, grazing the ear. As the hydra turned, he spilled air, diving hard. At the last second, he tilted his primary flight feathers, changing his angle of attack, and shooting right past the open, hungry maw. To the hydra, he might as well have disappeared. Justice flew back up and landed on the top of the head. He stomped down, stunning the hydra for only a second. When it had recovered, the hydra shook its head violently, but Justice had already taken wing again and was flying around and around the hydra’s two properly working heads. He flew slower, letting the hydra regain its sense of targeting. Once it had him in its sights, he made sure the head was following him closely. Just when he knew the beast was about to strike, he stopped just next to the other head, which Swift was taking care of with an air show of his own. The hydra struck, too slow to pull back and the two heads collided with a loud thud. “And that, is how a truly awesome pegasus would fight,” Rainbow Dash said, stepping back as the other ponies read her entry. “Wow, thanks Rainbow Dash. I think I’ll take it from here.” Rapid Quill said, watching the blue pegasus trot back to her corner, a proud look on her face. The hydra was stunned, feeling two of the world’s worst headaches. Steel took this time to take careful aim, turn around, and buck with all his might into the hydra’s right leg. The snap was loud and definite; the hydra’s leg was broken. Down it fell, all of its heads pounding into the ground, adding stunning hits to the already affected heads. “Quick, let’s finish this!” Justice said, feeling tired from the whole ordeal. He grabbed his spear and folded his wings. He dove straight down and with much more force than was necessary, drove the spear far down into the skull of the hydra’s head he had stunned previously. At the same time, Swift grabbed Steel’s spear and did much the same, finishing off his head. Steel, not requiring a spear to do damage, calmly walked over to the fourth and last living head of the hydra, and stood on top of the still dizzy head. As it continued to flail about, he rose up and stomped down so hard his back hooves actually popped into the air a little. The hydra’s skull cracked and broke, the brain damaged beyond anything that could be healed. The hydra had been defeated, the four ponies were exhausted, and the town lay in ruins. Justice picked up his exhausted body and flew over to Aurora. Looking into her tired eyes, he asked her, “Can you help heal right now?” “Where are you hurt? I can take care of all three of you, no problem,” she said, her voice letting on that she was more tired than she would say. In reality, she could probably just help set some broken bones or numb some pain, but anything major would be asking too much. “Not us,” Justice said, turning towards the wrecked town, “them. We need to do anything we can to help. Celestia’s guards should be here soon, they can heal the ponies fully.” With that, the tired team jogged back into town, splitting off at every injured cry for help. Swift and Steel knew of battlefield medicine and could stop bleeding, set wounds, and calm nerves. Aurora, knowing she had only limited energy to spend, numbed the worst of the injuries and set only few bones. Those bones would heal immediately and show no signs of damage; those bones set by Swift and Steel would heal, but always be somewhat brittle unless the backup arrived soon enough to help. Justice flew around town, struggling to keep his burning muscles going, looking for the town hospital. Saddleworth was in such disarray that the only way to determine which pile of splinters was once the hospital was to go down and pull enough of the pile aside to find the front sign. When he finally located the destroyed building, he dug through the wreckage, pulling out any supplies they might need. As he flew back, his front hooves full of the needed equipment, he saw in the distance a platoon of golden armored soldiers making their way towards the town. Justice dropped the medical supplies off with Swift and flew out to meet the advancing guards. He landed, too tired to fly at this point, and walked up to Shining Light, the Chief Lieutenant of Celestia’s personal guard. The two ponies had no problems working together, respecting the other’s position in the royal guard, but a bit of competitive nature still existed. Seeing Justice run up, Shining Light stopped his platoon and approached the battle weary pony. “What is the situation? Are all of your soldiers alright? Is the beast still on the attack? What is the state of the town?” Shining Light asked, giving Justice no chance to catch his breath and respond. “The hydra has been defeated, all four heads destroyed. My three officers are fine, but tired. They are currently attempting to help the injured ponies in town. Saddleworth is a complete loss, destroyed by the monster.” “The monster destroyed the town? Before you showed up or during your fight? What of the rest of your platoon?” Shining Light asked with a little sarcasm in his voice. Surely this pony didn’t break protocol and fight with only four ponies. Beaming Justice did not like the tone the other pony was using. Is he implying that we would not only fight the beast in town, but help in its destruction? What does he mean, “rest of my platoon?” He knew that Shining Light couldn’t resist getting a jab in at the only other pony not below him in the royal guard, but still, he had no idea of the struggles this night had presented. Justice led the pony towards the town, knowing that the longer they stayed out here fighting, the better the chance that ponies would not be rescued by the medical team he saw in Shining Light’s ranks. “Saddleworth was destroyed before we arrived. There are injured throughout the town, but I estimate at least three quarters of the population is lost. My THREE officers and I led the beast out of the town and destroyed it in the eastern hills. We must hurry as there are still injured ponies and my team is incapable of helping them in our exhausted state.” As Shining Light turned towards his medical troops, telling them to hurry ahead and help the rescue efforts, he mumbled under his breath, “I’m sure your team would be capable if they weren’t so exhausted.” Justice’s wings flared, causing a slight twinge of pain from the tired flight muscles. “Do you have something you’d like to say? Would you like to see the beast?” he shouted, slamming into Shining Light’s chest. Shining Light just stopped, looking at the other pony angrily. “Do not forget your professionalism in front of my subordinates,” he said, scolding the other pony. Leaning in so that only Justice could hear, he added, “Wouldn’t want it to look like you are protected by Princess Luna, now would we?” He added a bit of a raised eyebrow to that last question. Justice, infuriated by the implication that he was abusing his relationship with the Princess to allow him to act in inappropriate ways, just turned and walked towards the eastern hills. “Let me finish my briefing when we get to the beast,” he said, over his shoulder. He knew that turning his back on a pony at his same level was wrong, but he was afraid of what he might’ve said looking into that smug grin. Justice led the ponies over to the carcass of the monstrous nightmare, smiling a little smug grin of his own when Shining Light and his platoon stood dumbfounded at the size of the hydra. Nopony had seen a monster this large before, and the idea that it was destroyed by no more than four ponies was preposterous. Shining Light knew of the capabilities of Beaming Justice and his officers, but this went beyond even that. A few earth ponies ran off in order to retrieve the three spears still sticking out of the hydra’s heads and mouth. Justice explained how they were able to destroy the monster and then calmly said he was heading into town to check on his team. Leaving Shining Light in an amazed state, Justice trotted off towards town, thinking about the night’s events. How could such a monstrous beast walk through Equestria undetected? Why hadn’t the town been properly prepared for any danger? He had heard that the town was trying to fight back, but all he saw was a small collection of farming equipment strewn about the wreckage. Did they not have proper battle gear? What could be done to fix these issues in the future? Meeting up with his crew in the center of town, Justice heard them talk of the grumbling from the medical team Shining Light sent in as they took apart the battlefield bandages that the group had applied. “I guess we aren’t good enough at medicine to help these ponies,” Swift said, his wings flaring a couple of times. “You would’ve thought we hurt the ponies more than helped them. And there are more than a few ponies that might survive because we had helped them when we did.” “Don’t worry about them,” Justice said, calming his officer down. Once the group was composed, he continued, “You all did a great job tonight. We destroyed a terrible threat and, yes, did help many ponies survive this nightmare. We need to head back to Canterlot and brief the Princess on this situation. Swift, can you fly or do you need some healing from Aurora? Aurora, can you help ease some sore muscles?” He asked this last question while stretching his wings, wincing a little in pain. Aurora admired her leader’s courage in admitting to his subordinates when he was hurt or tired. Many leaders throughout the court guard were too proud to admit when they needed help, but Justice would never talk down to his team. “I’ll see what I can do,” she said, healing the group of its exhaustion. As the four ponies walked away from Saddleworth, or what was once Saddleworth, they relived the night, laughing at Swift’s exclamation when he jumped into the hydra’s mouth to save Aurora, complimenting Steel’s strength to not only break a leg three times wider than his entire body but to be able to break through the beast’s skull, questioning Aurora’s thoughts when only one head was affected by the confusion spell, and reliving the awesome moments of Justice’s flight around its head. Suddenly, Aurora turned to Justice and said, “By the way, you look great tonight in that dress armor, even if it is bloodstained.” Swift and Steel stopped in mid-step, turning towards their leader, who was blushing profusely by this point, and burst out laughing. “Oh yeah, how was the date?” Swift asked, leaning against his leader to stay upright while laughing. Steel couldn’t even form a question of his own, rolling on the ground. “Get off me,” Justice said, shaking the other pegasus, laughing a little himself. “The Grand Galloping Gala was fantastic. The food was excellent, the dignitaries were fancy, and the music was amazing. But the Princess…” he stopped, forming a mental picture of when he saw Luna at the door of her tower, “Words can’t describe how she looked. You might not believe this, but I think I’m really in love here.” Aurora sighed. Lucky Princess. The two male ponies just laughed some more, unable to believe that their fearless, strong leader really did have a mushy side inside. The four ponies continued to walk towards Canterlot, laughing and talking through the night until the sun rose the next morning over the Canterlot skyline. “I think that’s a good place to stop,” Rapid Quill said, wrapping up his scrolls and capping the ink well. “Thank you all for your help with writing this story. I don’t think it would be this good without you.” “Easy, peasy, one-two-threesy,” Rainbow Dash said, grabbing a Daring Doo book and sitting down in the corner. The story today had piqued her adventurous desires, and Daring Doo’s newest book had just arrived. “No problem at all, darling,” Rarity said, excusing herself to head back to the boutique. She had a rather large order of dresses that required her attention immediately. Had she not spent the entire morning at Twilight’s library helping to write the chapter, she wouldn’t have had a problem at all. Not that she would tell anypony that the day’s activities had hindered her. “It was my pleasure,” Twilight said, leaning in with an inquisitive look on her face. “So what’s next? When will you write it? Can we help again?” “I won’t tell you what happens next,” Rapid Quill said, smiling at the slight disappointment on Twilight’s face. “You’ll just have to be surprised. I think I can handle the next section on my own, but if I need some help, I’ll make sure to come over again.” As Rapid Quill left the library he was ecstatic at how far the story had progressed. He was set up well for the next portion, and couldn’t wait to begin. About that time, he heard his stomach rumble rather loudly and thought, “First I’ll need to get something to eat. Writing with those three was hard work.”