Luna flinched as she finished telling Princess Celestia her story about Bungee. Not because she had withheld potentially important information from her sister. But because a piece of shrapnel was unceremoniously pulled from her shoulder.
The Royal Guard field medic let the piece of metal fall with a shrill chime as it hit the floor before engulfing the weeping wound in healing magic. Progress was slow, but slowly the open flesh on the alicorn’s shoulder began to knit, mending in a soft orange glow of the unicorn’s focused magic.
Having felt her flinch, Bungee shuffled up tighter against Luna’s chest. Looking up he gave her chin a lick, drawing a smile from the princess. Lowering her head to nuzzle the dog’s soft fur she wrapped her foreleg around him a little tighter.
“Good boy,” she whispered softly, realising nopony had actually commended him for his actions. It was obvious he had saved her from that explosion, but in the chaos that followed nopony thought to thank the hero.
Looking from the small scar that would form a grim reminder of the explosion, the medic quickly masked the mark with a simple spell then nodded to the stark-white princess standing nearby. She had healed her own injuries – merely a few scrapes and bruises. The pegasus guard was sitting nearby, another medic binding his broken wing with a magical splint. Luna however had her alicorn resilience to thank for not being killed. She had been the closest to the explosion and had absorbed the brunt of the blast.
Though even Celestia couldn’t deny were it not for Bungee’s strange actions she may well have been killed.
Still, she could not shake a very bad feeling.
“So,” Celestia began to recap, watching absently as several gold-clad guardsponies were sweeping the area and carrying away debris. “Mare Do Well suggested this dog might be dangerous. He almost killed a Diamond Dog and attacked you. While I would normally reserve judgement on the words of a vigilante, I have yet to see evidence to rebuke her theory.”
Letting go of the German Shepherd, Luna leapt to her hooves, putting herself between her rescuer and her sister. “Bungee did not attack me!” She protested loudly, turning a few passing guards’ heads. “He was pulling me away! He saved me from the explosion!”
Lifting a hoof to interject, the pegasus with the broken wing added, “I will admit, highness. It did look more like he was pulling her away.”
Celestia rounded on the guard, but not with anger like he had expected. Still, the guard flinched as his wing pulled against the splint and the medic tsked, telling him to sit still. Celestia – in the meantime – was looking at the injured pegasus a little curiously.
She was still suspicious of Bungee, regardless of his actions. His intentions were hard to read, being a dog after all. “And how would he have known there was going to be an explosion?” she asked.
Frowning, the private rubbed his chin inquisitively. “Dogs have keen senses, princess. We’ve used them for search and rescue plenty of times. There’s something about them; I dunno, we don’t’ fully understand it, but they can hear and smell things – even sense things – we can’t. I’ve seen dogs find ponies I considered lost for eternity.”
Celestia would have to take the guard’s word for that. Turning her head she saw the NCO in charge of the team investigating Luna’s bedroom step out of the greyish haze curtaining the room beyond the threshold. The earth-pony guard was trotting on three legs, inspecting something clamped to his forehoof.
“Sergeant Buckshot? Any idea what the cause of the explosion was?”
The sergeant’s eye-patch shifted as he frowned, curiously shifting the cigar stub lodged in his mouth from one corner to the other. “Hay if I know, your highness,” the cycloptic pony sighed gruffly. “This ain’t like anything I’ve ever seen before.” He held out his hoof to reveal that he’d found among the rubble.
Long and thin, it was quite like the horn of a unicorn only made out of twisted black plastic. It was melted mostly with a tangle of scorched and frayed wires at the base like the horn was ripped out of a pony’s head taking some brain-matter with it.
Only it wasn’t a horn. Luna saw that immediately.
“I’ve seen that before!” Luna announced beckoning Bungee to join her as she trotted closer. “It is some kind of receiver. Similar to the one on Bungee’s camera device, see?” reaching down she flexed the antennae on Bungee’s vest upward so everypony could see.
Sergeant Buckshot held it beside the dog and shrugged. “Looks the same to me.”
Celestia sighed as all suspicions were confirmed. Clearly there were greater sinister forces at work here, and they didn’t have all the pieces of the puzzle. Not yet anyway. “Clearly your would-be assassin is related to Bungee somehow. That settles it...”
Luna felt a tinge of panic grip her chest. Darting down to one side she wrapped two legs around the German Shepherd, hugging him tightly. Bungee had no idea what was going on, but his tail wagged at the attention he was receiving anyway.
“This settles nothing, sister!” Luna protested. “If Bungee was in cohorts with the one trying to harm me, why would he save me?”
“If you will let me finish...” Celestia snapped in a terse tone. Her little sister flinched, but the alicorn of the night didn’t let go of her faithful companion.
Celestia felt a little bit of pride take her. Her sister barely even knew the dog but was ready to protect him at the drop of a pegasus-feather. At the sight of Luna trying to shuffle between her and Bungee, Princess Celestia’s stern expression softened and she smiled with the radiance of the sun.
“I was about to say that,” she continued to say in a gentle manner, reaching out and tenderly scratching Bungee behind the ears. “Bungee is clearly here for a different reason than this new threat. We must get the full picture. But the only one who can answer all our questions is Bungee.”
Sergeant Buckshot’s one eye swivelled between the princesses and the dog before he let out a deep chuckle. “Well it’s not like you can just ask, princess.”
Luna and Celestia shared a knowing look “We can’t.”
But Fluttershy could.
Theoretically.
Assuming she got over the fact there had been an attempt on the princess’ life and assuming she was willing to throw herself into that situation to assist, there was still the issue that Fluttershy wasn’t able to fully connect with Bungee the same way she did with other animals. He still seemed to like her and obey her commands, but there was a certain silence about him. Like when she spoke to him, the dog only half understood, like there was some kind of barrier blocking Fluttershy’s animal-empathy. He only understood certain key words.
But in theory, that barrier could be torn down. It was as Twilight Sparkle had always said when she was under Celestia’s tutelage. For every situation, there is an appropriate spell.
Luna had that spell. They just needed a means to communicate with Bungee. Theoretically, Fluttershy should have been capable.
As mentioned before, assuming she mustered up the courage. Assuming she managed to recollect herself from the quivering butter-coloured mess of fur and feathered cowering in the corner.
“Fluttershy, please,” Twilight Sparkle pleaded her friend. Her other friends were present too to show their support. For whatever good it did. “The princesses don’t have anypony else to turn to.”
“B-but its t-t-too much,” The timid pegasus whispered. “An assassin alien? How could I p-possibly help w-w-with that?”
One of the ponies in Fluttershy’s cottage stepped forward, his heavy metal hooves striking with a noise that caused the poor pegasus to flinch. He was a blur for a moment – gold and white – before he stopped in the centre of the room, looking down at her. The sergeant was one of a dozen Royal Guard to accompany the princesses on their rushed visit to Ponyville. One of Celestia’s elite personal guard – they were the elite.
When Bungee looked at the sergeant and the pegasi under his command, the dog was reminded of Navy SEALs.
“You can help very easily, ma’am,” the sergeant interjected standing beside the attentive looking German Shepherd. “You’re the Element of Kindness! You talk to animals! This dog knows the answers to all out problems. We just need you to have a chat with him and get us some intel we can use to track down the assassin and take him out.”
“Bu-but I can’t read Bungee like other animals,” Fluttershy squeaked feebly, cringing away from the buff looking stallion. “He understands, but he never answers.”
The sergeant stomped a hoof irritably. Bungee noted the expression and the stance. There was irritation in his eyes and disappointment in the way he carried himself, but he stood upright and steadfast. Like he was ready to keep going despite hitting a wall of failure. Like ‘failure’ wasn’t in his vocabulary.
The sergeant really was the pony equivalent of a SEAL.
“Well he’s our only lead. There’s gotta be a way!” the guardspony huffed.
Fluttershy recoiled as the pony’s hoof struck the ground with a bang rivalling that of a start-gun.
“That’s quite enough, Sergeant Ironwing.” Celestia said stepping in.
The sergeant looked up to the princess immediately, before hanging his head dejectedly. “I’m sorry, highness. It’s just a…” he paused, as if unable to come up with a word to describe how he was feeling, before saying, “it’s a frustrating situation.”
The princess considered him for a moment before nodding. It was the Royal Guard’s mission to protect the regal sisters. Both of them. They took their jobs very seriously. And this attempt on Luna’s life was not just a blow to the sisters, but a blow to the guard as well.
Celestia could understand how the stallion felt.
“I understand. Why don’t you check on the other guards?”
The sergeant gave a deep bow, his chin brushing the floor as he backed away towards the door. “Right away.”
While Celestia smiled kindly to her most faithful guard as the stallion opened the door to the cottage and started barking orders at the other armoured stallions waiting outside, Luna stepped in to see if she could reason with the traumatised pegasus.
Lowering her head to the pegasus’ level, she was not once left alone by Bungee. Even the dog moved closer and gave Fluttershy a reassuring nudge with his nose. Fluttershy instantly smiled at the gesture, reaching out and stroking Bungee.
“We had some simple solutions in mind, Fluttershy,” Luna informed in the most gentle and calm voice she could muster. It was a soft, weak voice she recognised from a long time ago. From mere moments after she had been freed from the curse of Nightmare Moon. Bungee looked confused, hardly thinking it possible for that voice to be coming from the princess. “First, a very simple spell that will make Bungee take a short nap. Then another; one I use quite often. As Princess of the Night I watch over Equestria in the darkness, but I also watch over the dreams of my subjects to protect them from nightmares. I can place the dream-walker spell on you and you can enter Bungee’s dreams. You know the minds of animals best. You are connected to them. Once you are in Bungee’s mind – in his world – you should be able to communicate with ease.”
Fluttershy squeaked, curling into a tighter ball and cowering with her hooves over her face. “But what if it goes wrong?” she babbled out so rapidly it even made Bungee jump back in surprise. “What if I get stuck in a dream land and never wake up? What if Bungee has a nightmare and I have to face horrible monsters? What… what if…?”
They lost her again, all Fluttershy’s friends sighing deeply as she went through at least ten more ridiculous sounding scenarios. There didn’t seem to be any way to convince Fluttershy that nothing would go wrong. After all, it was the princess – and alicorn – casting the spell. They would have understood if maybe Twilight had been doing the casting, but Princess Luna definitely knew what she was doing.
It seemed hopeless all the same. But luckily Rainbow Dash knew exactly what to say.
She darted forward, scooping the other pegasus up by her face and lifting her head high in her forehooves. “Fluttershy, c’mon. Princess Luna needs your help. And think about it. It’s not just the princess’ life that’s in danger. The assassin is going to hurt Bungee too.”
Fluttershy’s eyes widened with sudden clarity. What Rainbow Dash said hit her like a ton of bricks. She suddenly realised all the stakes. The fate of an innocent little doggie hung on the line. And what kind of monster could bring itself to harm a defenceless animal. The thought of it sickened her.
It syphoned off all of Fluttershy’s remaining will and focused it into determined hate.
“That... big... MEANIE!” the pegasus suddenly screamed, successfully freaking everypony out with the transition from meek to scary in five seconds flat. “I’ll do it.”
Realising Fluttershy had unknowingly shown more regard for the life of an animal than her beloved’ princess, the rest of the Elements turned pale. Sergeant Ironwing’s jaw was on the floor with disbelief.
Celestia however gave a chuckle, leaning down to Twilight so didn’t seem to be moving anymore. “It’s interesting to see her priorities, isn’t it?”
Luna didn’t seem to mind either. Her mind was focused on the task at hand. With a nod she lay down, patting the ground beside her. “Bungee, down!” she commanded.
The dog obeyed, dropping to the floor beside her. Rolling onto his side, he kept his head high and attentive, his shoulder pressed up against Luna’s.
“Alright, Bungee,” the princess whispered into his ear. “It’s time to take a nap.”
As if understanding, Bungee lowered his head until his chin rested on the floor between his front legs. With a grin, Princess Luna angled her head forward and gently touched the top of bungee’s head with the tip of her horn. An electric spark jumped into the air and Bungee’s eyes closed.
With a sigh, he was out like a light; falling into a deep sleep.
As Fluttershy stood by their side, Luna continued to explain, “We will be psychically tuned into your conversation with him. Everything you learn, we will learn.
“Remember, Fluttershy. We need to know how my would-be assassin is connected to Bungee, as well as who and what it is.”
Fluttershy didn’t nod. Her nerve seemed to falter a bit as zero-hour approached, but she remained steadfast enough to stand without trembling.
“I’m ready, princess,” she whispered, and Luna angled her horn forward.
The tip touched Fluttershy’s nose. There was a familiar electric spark, and then nothing…
To Fluttershy, it seemed like nothing had happened. She was looking at her hooves, slowly counting the grains in the floorboards beneath her. For the longest time she thought nothing had happened. She blinked a few times.
Still nothing. Not even a bit of fatigue. Did she do something wrong?
“I think-…” the pegasus looked up and stopped, nearly choking on a gasp.
She had intended to tell Luna something had gone wrong. Only much to her surprise, the princess was gone. As were her friends, Princess Celestia and the scary Royal Guard. There was no more cottage, and looking down she saw the comfort of the wooden floor had left her – replaced with dull, emotionless concrete. She was standing in a doorway, looking into what could only be described as a bedroom.
But it was nothing like a pony bedroom. This was featureless, dull and cold.
There was no window, all the light coming from a lightbulb hanging from the bare, peeling ceiling. The concrete walls and floor were unpainted. A wardrobe painted stark white was pushed up against one wall, beside it a similar wooden writing desk with a metal chair. Beside that was a radiator mottled with rust and rot. Along the opposite wall was a bed with a metal frame, starchy white sheets and a dog’s bed laid at its foot.
When she saw what inhabited the room, Fluttershy’s heart stopped.
She recognised Bungee in an instant. His collar and tac-vest were missing. He was sitting happily with his tail hammering the ground as a figure sat on the bed before him – grooming him with a brush.
Raking the brush through Bungee’s fur was a creature unlike anything Fluttershy had ever seen. It was alien, almost like an ape but taller with a more developed spine and fur-less mocha skin. It had no tail, and the only hair visible was on the top of the head, a gold coloured mane cut short at the back with some long bangs along the side and on the fringe falling along the sides of a narrow face with sharp features. Full red lips and pale green eyes, the alien’s deft build was clad in baggy clothes coloured in woodland colours. Blotches of brown and green with some navy thrown in for good measure.
“O-oh, I’m sorry,” Fluttershy began, stumbling backwards out of the room.
The creature ignored her, continuing to groom the dog with a smile on her face. Fluttershy frowned before reaching up and gently knocking on the door frame. She expected to make a sound, but there was none. She stomped her hooves. Still nothing.
It was like she was there, but not quite. Like a ghost walking through whatever dream Bungee was having.
Moving closer, Fluttershy watched the alien’s lips move. It was singing something, softly. The pony had to strain just to hear the feminine voice confirming the creature was female.
“You got a friend in me,” the creature sang. But it was unlike any normal singing voice she had ever heard. It was off-key. Terribly off key. The Cutie-Mark Crusaders had done better in their talent show. But neither Bungee or the alien seemed to care. “You got a friend in me. When the road looks rough ahead and you're miles and miles from your nice warm bed; just remember what your old pal said. Boy, you've got a friend in me.”
Overlooking the off-key singing, Fluttershy paid attention to the lyrics. She looked between Bungee and the alien, and suddenly it hit her.
It was plain as day. The way she was grooming him, stroking him and singing to him. The way Bungee was looking up to her, hanging on every word. The way his whole world brightened at just the sight of her. Fluttershy would have had to be blind not to see it.
“So this is your owner.” Fluttershy whispered with a smile.
And just by looking at her – putting aside the alien features – Fluttershy could already tell she liked Bungee’s owner. She seemed to genuinely care about the dog.
The sound of footsteps caught in Fluttershy’s ears. Looking up she saw a towering figure stand framed in the doorway. It was like Bungee’s owner, only a little different. More broad, square features and a lower waistline. Judging by the near-bald style of the mane and the tone of voice, this one was male.
“Hi, sarge? Can I drag you away from your boyfriend for a moment?” the male said in a teasing tone. Though he said it without smiling.
Bungee’s owner looked up. “Is it important?” she asked.
The male nodded, causing the female to sigh. “Kinda.”
“If this is another one of your attempts to hit on me, corporal; I’ll sic my boyfriend on you.”
That made the male smile, but only a little. “Bungee wouldn’t attack me. He loves me.”
As if to answer him, Bungee gave a low growl. Fluttershy couldn’t honestly tell if it was genuine or playful. Regardless, she caught herself chuckling at the pristine timing.
“Okay, point taken.” The male lifted his hands defensively before pointing down the hall. “Can you help me out in the mess hall, sarge? Lieutenant Rourke was preaching again; got some of the boys a little riled up. I swear; that guy’s gonna cause a riot one of these days. That’s if the brass doesn’t hang him first.”
“I’ll meet you there.”
The male nodded and marched out of sight again. Leaving just the three of them, Bungee’s owner quickly finished grooming the dog and jumped to her feet. “Bungee, come!” The dog followed as she bent over and pointed at the small bed at the foot of her own. “In your bed. Good boy.”
She knelt, stroking the dog as he obeyed her every whim. Lifting his head, he bumped his nose against hers, pausing between pants to give her chin a lick. The female chuckled.
“The world’s going to pot and now we’re losing Lieutenant Rourke,” she sighed. “How come you’re the only dependable man in my life, Bungee?”
The dog didn’t answer, as expected. Telling him to stay, the female rose to her feet and followed the other uniformed alien out of her room. Bungee didn’t move, obediently staying where he lay.
As she found herself alone with Bungee, Fluttershy moved closer. She was obviously invisible to the actors in the dog’s dream, but she had to wonder if she was invisible to Bungee as well. If that was the case, it would make communicating harder than before.
Luckily however, the dog’s ears perked up and his gaze shifted to meet hers as he heard her hooves on the floor.
“Hi.”
Fluttershy blinked at the voice. She had been staring at Bungee that whole time, and she could hardly believe it. He had a voice! Just like the animals Fluttershy spoke to in Equestria. Just like any other pony!
The pegasus was overjoyed. Finally that barrier that locked her out was gone. She could finally see through Bungee. She could read him. She could hear him.
Bungee’s voice was a little raw sounding. Rough and grizzled, but in tone only. His manner of speech seemed bright and cheery. Even his expression held happiness as his eyes seemed to smile and twinkle even in the poor light.
Finally she smiled and answered him.
“Hello, Bungee.” His ears perked up as he understood her, bolstering the pegasus’ confidence. “I’m Fluttershy.”
“I know. You’re the pony with the big garden and all the animals.” Bungee’s cheer seemed to fade as his ears drooped down against his head. “They talked to me for some reason. I don’t know how to answer though.”
Fluttershy gave the dog a reassuring pat on the back before glancing the way Bungee’s alien owner had left. “Who was that?”
Bungee’s cheer returned in an instant, like a switch had been thrown. “That was Samantha! She was my handler. She was my best friend in the whole wide world!” his ears were perked up and his tail batted the edge of his bed.
“She seems nice.”
“Oh, she was!” Bungee panted. “We fought bad guys together. She always took care of me. I loved Samantha! Princess Luna reminds me of what she was like.”
Something about what Bungee was saying was making Fluttershy a little uneasy. It wasn’t his demeanour, the dog was being nothing but nice. It was the way he seemed to be talking about his handler. Finally it hit her. “You keep saying ‘was.’ Where is Samantha now?”
Like before – another invisible switch thrown – Bungee’s cheer vanished. His whole posture drooped alogn with his pointed ears, and his tail stopped wagging. “She... she’s dead.”
Fluttershy gasped at that, reaching out and quickly consoling the dog. “That’s terrible! I’m so sorry, Bungee. What happened?”
“It was a mission. We were stopping a bad man. A bad man called Lieutenant Rourke was going to do something bad. We couldn’t stop him. He killed Samantha, and then he fled to Equestria.” “I followed him. I’m going to kill Lieutenant Rourke.” All the joy and bouncy cheer drained from Bungee’s voice. It only left the rough, grizzled sound of a warrior preparing for battle.
“Bungee, you don’t mean that.”
The dog growled under his breath. “Yes I do! I do mean it! I followed him here. He’s in the Everfree Forest, I caught his scent. I know he’s out there. And I know he was behind the bomb in Princess Luna’s room! He’s doing it again! He’s going to take my best friend away from me again! But I won’t let him!”
“But Bungee, you can’t kill somepony,” Fluttershy reasoned soberly. Despite her tone, her heart was hammering against her chest at a thousand beats per second. It made her feel light headed.
She was losing him, and she could only watch helplessly as the dog began to snarl to himself.
“Rourke isn’t a pony! He’s not even a human anymore! He’s a monster! And I’m going to tear him apart!”
Fluttershy took a step back from Bungee. She hadn’t heard what he had been saying about tearing him apart. She had been too busy looking into Bungee’s eyes. She saw something there. Something frightening. Every time he said the name – the name Rourke sparked something dark in the dog.
Before she could properly define what that darkness was, the world flashed white. Bungee was only partially obscured, like he was centred on an over-exposed picture. The environment seemed to melt away to white.
And then the light faded slowly, replacing the sterile grey walls of Samantha’s room with the cosy wood furnishings of a small Ponyville cottage.
It took a good few moments of blinking for Fluttershy to realise the dream was over. Bungee was sat up, silent as he normally was, watching the pegasus with a cocked head. Fluttershy tore her eyes from the dog and she glanced around the room. From her friends to the princesses and Sergeant Ironwing standing by the door. All of them – as Luna had explained – had been tuned into her conversation with Bungee.
All of them looked unsurprisingly concerned.
Still, Fluttershy instinctively felt the need to stammer out a plea for explanation. “W-what happened?”
The silence continued for a few moments longer before it was pierced by Celestia’s voice, “I asked Luna to end the spell.”
Looking over, the pegasus saw Rainbow Dash delicately hover closer, taking her hoof in her own. “Hey, Flutters? Why don’t we take a step back from the vengeful attack-dog?” the tomboyish pony’s voice cracked as she fought for calm.
Every ounce of the element that made up her being told Dash to protect her friend. Her first instinct was to tackle Bungee to the ground just in case. But her common sense told her a fight with a canine trained to tackle and neutralise larger more dexterous foes was a fight she would lose… lose badly.
The Royal Guard sergeant took a cautious step closer from the door. “I think-…”
He was interrupted immediately by the racket of Luna’s metal hooves on the wooden floor. Reminded of machine gun fire, Bungee lifted his head with his ears perked up – eyes fixed on Luna as she rushed over.
She took her position beside the dog, wrapping a foreleg around the dog’s fluffy neck and hugging him close against her body.
“He’s not dangerous,” Luna announced in Bungee’s defence. “I swear, he is not dangerous. He has the best of intentions in mind.”
“Regardless of Bungee’s intentions;” Celestia said, her tone causing everypony to twitch awkwardly in fear, “this Lieutenant Rourke thinks he can commit murder, come into Equestria, harm my subjects, target my sister and get away with it!? Sergeant, prepare my personal guard to ride immediately. I will see it to personally he is stopped.”
The sergeant liked to think he was a hardened soldier. He was an NCO leading an elite wing of pegasi sworn to protect the princesses. But when he heard Celestia’s harsh tone he winced like a colt being reprimanded by his mother. He’d never seen her angry before. Annoyed from time to time. But never as angry like she was then.
He feared he might catch a preview of what her rage might look like in his darkest nightmares.
As the sergeant stood petrified, Luna eagerly turned to her older sister. The dark coloured alicorn stood to an attention that would normally be expected of a Royal Guard, chin high and a determined expression on her face. Seeing her posture Bungee quickly mimicked her attentive stance.
“What would you have us do, sister?” Luna asked.
“You will stay with Bungee, here in Ponyville under the protection of the Elements of Harmony,” Celestia ordered managing to soften her voice a bit.
Regardless, her voice – or rather the statement it had carried – sucker-punched Luna in the nose.
“Protection!?” she cried as if her honour had been offended. “Sister, I hardly require protection! And Bungee has Lieutenant Rourke’s scent! He will be invaluable in tracking the human!”
Celestia nodded. “And you also heard what he told Fluttershy. He would kill Lieutenant Rourke the moment he lays eyes on him. I’ll have no more bloodshed. And we will certainly not stoop to this human’s level. He will be captured – alive – and will face fair trial.”
Luna scoffed at her sister’s lack of faith that she could control Bungee. Neither of them needed protection, and with Bungee’s help the hunt would certainly go much faster. “But, Celesti-...”
“Those are my orders, Luna.” Princess Celestia nearly shouted. Her voice wavered on ‘orders’ as she caught herself with an uneasy glance to her subjects.
Fluttershy was cowering by Rainbow Dash. The other ponies were looking uneasily at the princess. They had never seen her like this, not even the time Twilight Sparkle had used the want-it-need-it spell had the princess been this angry. And speaking of Twilight; Princess Celestia’s faithful student seemed to be in shock.
Looking away from them she turned to the still-petrified NCO of her personal guard. “Sergeant?”
“Y-yes, your highness?”
“Do you not have something to do?” she asked.
Managing to pull himself together, the gold-clad pegasus gave a quick nod. “O-of course.”
Looking back to her sister, Princess Celestia gave a deep sigh. “Stay here, Luna,” the Princess of the Sun asked pleadingly as she moved to follow the sergeant. “Please…”