//------------------------------// // Stakeout // Story: Just an Everyday Princess // by Wages of Sin //------------------------------// Meanwhile, one floor down, four stallions were quietly hiding behind a sofa in the dark parlor. "Why are we doing this?" Dasher asked before yawning. "You heard them!" Blue Blazer whispered harshly, "They're meeting secretly, alone in the middle of the night at a cryptic location. Nothing good ever happens at secret meetings in cryptic locations in the middle of the night. Nothing." "Ok, but why are we here? Behind a couch, hiding in the dark? I mean, I get that we're waiting for the princess, but why hide? She already knows that we know about her-" Dasher was quickly silenced by the sudden placement of Blue Blazer's hoof over his mouth. "Shush! She's coming down!" he said tending up as the others stared at their leader. As he said, soon after he spoke, the princess of magic had reached the bottom of the stairs and was quickly making her way out the front doors. "Follow her!" Blue Blazer whispered. The three other stallions shared a glance, but complied. Soon there were four unicorn stallions shadowing one alicorn princess through the night. "She's stopped!" Blue Blazer called to his stallions as they came up to the final row of trees before the pony-made forest ended encircling a hill bearing only a single mysterious tree. "We can see that sir" Bastion replied, "Now what does that mean for us?" he asked bluntly. Blue Blazer lowered his binoculars and looked to his stallions "We wait until Braeburn shows up." the name was spat with venom, but the others just ignored it. Once the captain had returned to his surveillance, Bastion quietly pulled a pack of cards out of his armor, showing it to Dasher and Stonehoof. After nods from both, Bastion approached the captain, "Sir! Dasher, Stonehoof, and I are going to go scope out better angles." "Good plan! I knew you'd understand how important this is! Ah! There's that creation now..." Blue Blazer said, bringing up the Binoculars to his face once again. When the others left, Blue Blazer's focus on the stallion only increased "...what are you planning?" After almost an hour of on and off watching, (and quite a few rounds of three-way go fish) nothing had happened on the hill, and the three tired stallions made their way back to their captain. "Sir, it's obvious they're just talking, can we go back to the hotel now? She can handle herself..." Dasher pleaded. "No, as soon as we go, he's going to make his move! She won't know what hit her! We've got to be ready to save her!" "Sir, I'm all for protecting her, really, but there is nothing here to protect her from. Mr. Braeburn has so far proven to be a perfectly fine gentleman, and I doubt he's going to do anything now." Not bothering to look away from the pair, Blue Blazer responded “OH, he's going to do something we just have to keep watching! That's why we always have to keep watching!" The others were becoming all to aware of the look in their commander's eyes. "Sir, then how's about this, we go up and sit with them? Maybe she'd feel more-" "No! We can't give away our positions! If he knows that we know about him, he won't do what we need him to do to save her!" "That's it! I'm out of here!" Dasher said throwing his hooves into the air, "You've gone off the deep end! I knew this would happen! The captain's worried himself insane!" and with that, he stood up to leave, turned, and made good on his word. Bastion and Stonehoof watched their comrade go, looked to their commander, saw all they needed, and were off too. "I'll show those deserters what for! I'll save the princess myself!" he readjusted his binoculars to focus even closer in on the pair. "If only I had a way to hear what they were saying from so far away!" the lone captain grumbled a moment before looking up and realizing he could. It took five additional minutes for him to remember the proper spell, and fifteen more to cast it properly, but after almost an hour and a half of staring at the conversation and having no idea what they were saying, now he could listen in on them! ...and still have no idea what they were saying. "...Thanks for this Braeburn. It's quite an honor to have you as my first! I feel like I owe you for making the first one so special..." he could hear the princess say. "If anypony should be honored it should be me!" Braeburn replied, "After tomorrow, I'll be one of only a handful of ponies to have had a princess do this for them!" Twilight broke eye contact with her companion and slouched, voice wavering,”I just hope I don't mess up... I've never done this before and I don't want to ruin it for-" "Calm down Twilight," Braeburn said uncharacteristically firmly, "I know you'll do just fine. You'll be ready tomorrow right?" A firm nod from Twilight, and a reassuring nod from Braeburn finished the conversation, and the princess stood up to leave. "One more thing princess!" Braeburn said, scrambling to his feet. "Please pretend like you know nothing about it, if anypony from town asks you. I want it to be a surprise." "Of course Braeburn. See you tomorrow, it's going to be a big day!" With one final trade of farewells, the pair began to their respective beds for the night. One stallion, though was only beginning his night...