//------------------------------// // V: Out Sick // Story: Teatime on Hearts And Hooves Day // by SirRage //------------------------------// Flash and Dewdrop left the house, headed towards the administration building. As the two walked through the streets, Flash noticed stallions looking at her. Some would just glance at her before going about their business, while others would stop what they were doing and stare. Rarely did they look at her face; their eyes seemed to be fixated on her rump and… other things. When Flash would look at the stallions, they would usually go back to what they were doing, but some just stared back and smiled. Flash slowed her pace and tucked her tail closer to her body. Moving closer to Dewdrop, she asked, “Dewdrop, why in Celestia’s name are all of these stallions looking at me?” Dewdrop pondered the question for a moment, looking at the stallions around them to gauge their reactions. “I think they’re just curious,” she said. “I mean, it’s strange enough you’re not a crystal pony, but it’s a rare sight to see normal mares around here. That, and mares always tend to get a few looks from stallions.” “Isn’t that annoying?” Dewdrop hummed as she pondered the question for a bit. “Yeah, but I suppose you learn to ignore it.” Flash did her best to ignore the wandering eyes for the rest of the walk to the castle, but the thought of all those stallions looking her over still bothered her. When Flash was a few hundred yards away from the building, she stopped and Dewdrop came alongside her. “Alright, so here’s the plan. We’ll get to the checkpoint and I’ll explain I’m here to report my absence. They’ll have me escorted in, I’ll file what ever paperwork I have to, and I’ll leave. That simple.” Dewdrop nodded, and the two ponies approached the guard booth in front of the building. The guard on duty took a few steps to get directly in their path. “Halt! No civilians beyond this point. Please turn around and go about your business.” Flash cleared her throat. “Excuse us sir, we’re here because Flash Sentry, a member of the Royal Guard, was too sick to report in this morning.” The guard eyed both of them for a moment before nodding. “In that case, please proceed to the receptionist in the lobby.” The guard stepped out of the way and snapped back to attention. “Proceed!” Flash and Dewdrop walked into the building. When they were a few steps inside, Flash whispered into Dewdrop’s ear, “Told you this would be easy.” The reception area was very open, with a green crystal floor and a single desk near the other side of the room where a light green crystal pony was working on paperwork. Near the desk was another set of doors and a guard standing at attention. Flash’s hooves clopped louder than she would have liked on the slick surface as the two approached the desk. When they were a few steps from the desk, the receptionist glanced up for a moment before returning to what she was doing. “State your business.” “We’re here to report that Flash Sentry is absent, ma’am,” Flash said in a formal tone. The mare stopped and looked up. “Do you have a doctor’s notice?” Flash shook her head. “No ma’am.” The receptionist paused for a moment and looked Flash over. “Relation?” “Flash’s sister, Flare Warden, ma’am.” The mare glanced over at Dewdrop with an inquisitive look. “And you?” Dewdrop smiled nervously back at her. “Umm… a friend?” She turned to the guard behind her. “Escort Ms. Flare Warden to Sergeant Graphite’s office to take a statement.” She turned back and looked at Dewdrop. “I’m sorry, but this is a family matter, so you will have to wait here until Ms. Flare Warden returns.” Dewdrop nodded and looked over at Flash with a bit of worry in her eyes. Flash gave her a reassuring smile before saying, “I’ll just be a few minutes.” The guard opened the door with his magic and waited. Flash walked over and the pair made their way to one of the offices down the hall, hooves echoing on the hard surface as they went. *Graphite, now where have I heard that name before?* Flash shook off the thought as the two continued. They were near the end of the hallway when the guard stopped, knocked on the door and stood at attention. “Enter!” The door unlocked and swung open by a magical force. Flash turned her gaze from the guard to the Sergeant and froze. Dark coat, unicorn and a face that Flash clearly remembered. Both ponies just stared at one another for a few moments before Flash cleared her throat and walked in. Flash couldn’t seem to keep eye contact with the stallion as she entered the room. The door slammed shut behind her, and Flash heard the deadbolt click. The room was still for a moment, and Flash could hear her own heart being rapidly. The stallion gave Flash a devilish smirk and placed his forehooves on his desk to support his chin. “So… about that name?” Flash chuckled nervously as she approached his desk. “I-It’s Flare Warden.” She sat down at one of the cushions in front of the desk. “Look, I know last night was a bit of a debacle, so… maybe we could just drop it and start over?” “Alright, Ms. Warden. I’m Graphite, Sergeant Graphite.” His smile softened. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Despite his smile, Flash could feel the stallion staring at her features and not even making an attempt to maintain eye contact. Flash blushed slightly and tried to angle her flank away from the stallion’s gaze. “D-do you think we could probably tone down the staring there buddy? You’re making me uncomfortable.” The stallion smirked. “I’m sorry, it’s just so rare to have a mare in here. An out-of-uniform, very, very attractive mare. I mean, just look at how toned and slender your body is,” he said as he continued to examine her form. Flash pointed a hoof to her face and said, “H-hey buddy, eyes up here!” For the first time since she entered his office, he finally made eye contact. “Look, you’re creeping me out.” Flash looked away and rubbed one of her hooves over her foreleg. “I just want to report that my brother, Flash Sentry, was too sick to report this morning. I’ll have someone bring in a doctor’s notice to confirm this later, but that’s all I’m here to report.” She looked back at him. “So if you don’t mind, I’d like to leave now.” Graphite took a long sigh and sat back at his desk. “Well you’re no fun.” Graphite stood up and paused for a moment. ”I need to file this first before you go, so make yourself comfortable while I get this together.” The stallion walked over to a nearby file cabinet. Flash turned away immediately, still feeling uneasy about what had just happened. She continued to look away while the stallion rummaged around in a few other file cabinets. Flash’s attention was snapped back to the desk by the sound of a file and some forms slamming down. “Alright, do you have any other information? Other than he’s sick offsite?” “Umm… no, he’s just really sick and didn’t have the energy to get out of bed.” Flash sighed. ”Look, I’m sure we’ll have a physician’s report to attest to this later today. I don’t have one right now because there just wasn’t enough time.” “Calm down, Ms. Warden. I just have to file the report with as much detail as I can.” Flash relaxed after Graphite spent the next few minutes filling out the form, seeming to have lost interest in her. “Okay. that’s done. One will go out to his commanding officer, and this copy will go into his file…” Graphite opened the folder and paused. Flash tilted her head. “Is there something wrong?” Graphite shook his head slowly while looking at the file. “Not really wrong, just weird.” He pulled out a photo of Flash’s cutie mark and showed it to her. “You two have the same cutie mark. Not to mention the same mane and coat colors.” Flash chuckled nervously and her ears wilted. “W-we’re identical twins, I mean really identical! And you know most twins have very similar cutie marks. Ours just happen to be very… identical.” Flash gave a toothy grin. Graphite raised an eyebrow and looked back at the file. He continued to stare at it for a moment before he gave a soft grunt and closed it. He looked up at Flash, but there was something different in his eyes now. He was calm and professional, like a completely different stallion than he was only moments earlier. Graphite’s horn briefly light up with a small magical pop. Flash’s ears twitched, and she staggered to her hooves and slowly backed away from the stallion. “I-I should probably go now. I mean you have your report, right?” Graphite smirked and picked up the file. “Before you go Ms. Warden, I do have one question.” At that moment, the guard that had escorted Flash into Graphite’s office teleported next to Graphite. ”According to his records, Flash Sentry is an only child.” The unicorn guard’s horn light up as Graphite spoke, “So who are you–?!” Before the guard could act, Flash spread her wings and took to the air with a strong thrust, flinging herself against the closed door. The door shattered and broke off of its hinges, and Flash skidded into the hallway, lifting off from the ground and flying away as swiftly as she could. Her mind raced. Reinforcements were undoubtedly on the way, and she had to get herself and Dewdrop out of the building fast. The unicorns were caught off-guard by the sudden outburst and took off after Flash. The guard leading the way entered the hallway, and his gilded hooves lost traction with all of the debris on the floor, causing him to faceplant into the wall across from the office. Graphite slowed down, grabbing the door frame before glancing down the hallway. By then, Flash was nearly gone. ~~~ Moments earlier, Dewdrop was sitting on a cushion in the visitor area reading a magazine when she heard a high-pitched sound. She looked up to discover that the unicorn guard who had been standing at attention near the hallway was gone. She slowly went back to reading her magazine, but she couldn’t dismiss the nagging notion that something was wrong. There was a crashing sound from down the hall. Dewdrop dropped the magazine, looking around wildly for the source of the noise. A yellow blur crashed into her and pinned to the ground. Dewdrop looked up and saw Flash getting up, muttering under her breath. She quickly grabbed Dewdrop and pulled her back to her hooves. “Dewdrop! We have to go, NOW!” Commotion had already started breaking out in the office. No one seemed to know what the issue was, but Flash had no intention of sticking around long enough for them to find out. “Wh… what is going on?!” “No time to explain!” Flash said as she pulled Dewdrop towards the exit. But before they could escape, Flash gasped, screwed her eyes shut, and bit down hard as a blue glow engulfed her. Flash thrashed in the magical embrace, but was unable to unable break free. “You have to get out of here!” Flash said while gritting her teeth. Dewdrop turned back and saw a dark unicorn panting in the doorway, horn lit up. Without a moment’s hesitation, Dewdrop used her magic to grab a potted plant that was directly behind him and hurled it at the unicorn, striking him in the back of the head. He collapsed to the floor like a rag doll. Flash plummeted to the ground, panting and shaking for a brief moment before scrambling to her hooves and grabbing Dewdrop. Flash had pulled Dewdrop only a few steps before Dewdrop felt a searing hot burst travel from her back all through her body. For a moment, it felt like her entire body was on fire, and then nothing. She let go of Flash’s grip when her body went limp and crashed to the ground. “Dewdrop!” She felt Flash wrap her hooves under her barrel and pick her up. The room was spinning as she rolled onto her back. Dewdrop could hear Flash yelling something, but couldn’t make it out. She blacked out for a moment; when she came to, she saw Flash standing over her, wings flared and shouting at somepony she couldn’t see. She tried to look in the direction Flash was yelling at, but found she could only turn her head slightly. Moments later, she saw Flash’s body crash down next to her as several earth ponies pinned her down. She felt somepony holding her head down by her horn and another putting pressure on her back to keep her pinned, while another restrained her. Dewdrop heard Flash yell, “Hey! Don’t hurt her!” just before a knee came crashing down and pinned Flash’s muzzle to the floor. Not long after that, Dewdrop drifted into a heavy sleep. ~~~ “Dewdrop?” “Uhh… my head. Where…” Dewdrop’s eyes went wide when she saw Flash across from her. Her front hooves were chained to the wall and her wings were strapped to her body with some kind of harness. “Flash!” She tried to get up, but found she too was chained to the floor. She closed her eyes and started to concentrate when she heard Flash yell, “Dewdrop! Don’t!” Dewdrop’s concentration was broken; she opened her eyes and saw a relieved expression on Flash’s face. “That’s not a normal magic suppressor on your horn, it’s a reflection ring. If you try to cast anything too large it’ll knock you out.” Flash chuckled and moved one of her hooves to rattle the chain. “I think we made an impression on the guards earlier, don’t you?” “What happened, Flash? And what happened to your muzzle?” Dewdrop asked in a worried tone as she surveyed the cell they were in. Flash looked the other way to hide the red mark that was still on her muzzle. “Well, after you went down I did the only thing I could do: stand over you and try to defuse the situation. I was hoping they would just take us into custody, given the circumstances. But things got out of hoof pretty quickly after they realized they couldn’t stun me.” She sighed and shook her head. “I still had defensive wards cast on me from my last shift, so I was able to resist most of the attempts to stun me using magic. The paralytic aspect of the spell didn’t work, but they still hurt like hell. “When they saw they couldn’t subdue me using normal methods, they dogpiled on me and restrained me.” Flash brought a hoof to her red cheek. “When I saw the way they were roughing you up, I sort of lost it.” She sighed and lowered her head. “I kept telling them that this was a terrible misunderstanding. As you can see, they clearly listened to me.” “So where are we? Is this the stockades?” Flash looked up at the walls of the cell they were in. “No… they threw us in the dungeon. Which is kind of impressive really, given they only throw the worst of the worst down here.” “Why would they do that?!” “Perhaps they thought we were part of some some botched espionage or assassination attempt on the princess.” Dewdrop deadpanned. “You’re joking, right?” “Dewdrop, we’re chained up in the lower levels of the castle dungeon. We’re the only ones here.” Flash’s voice echoed from the cold, bare walls. “Why else would they go to such extreme measure?” “How long do you think we’re going to be here?” Flash lowered her head before answering, “It won’t be long until the Princess is notified that there are new prisoners here. She could just leave us down here,” she added under her breath. Dewdrop’s eyes went wide and she shook her head. “She wouldn’t!” “Think about it. She didn’t see you when she had the chance, and she didn’t even explain anything to you earlier! If she really wanted to be helpful, she had more than enough opportunities. And I was stupid enough to lend a hoof in it. Why else would we be down here?!” “Yes… why indeed,” said a voice that echoed from the hallway. Both Dewdrop and Flash froze as they heard the echoes of two sets of hoofsteps approaching the cell. The two ponies stopped and looked into the cell. Dewdrop’s eyes went wide when she saw who was standing on the other side of the bars. “Do you have any idea how much trouble you have been causing me the last two days, Dewdrop? The Princess has been riding my flank all day trying to find you after you left the castle. And I’ll be honest dear,” she took a moment to look around at the cell. “This was the last place I thought about looking. But when a report came to my desk about two mares that were locked up down here, and one of them had an Erlenmeyer flask cutie mark, I had my suspicions it was you.” Her face softened and she smiled. “But at any rate, I’m glad you’re not hurt.” She looked over at the guard, who nodded and opened up the cell. “How did you find out?” Check List smirked. “I am the keeper of notes, filer of minutes and the wrangler of expense reports. I know far more about the mundane comings and going that happen in this kingdom than the Princess does.” As the guard was unlocking the restraints, Dewdrop asked, “What about my friend?” “You have an audience with the Princess. Your friend does not.” Check List paused for a moment before continuing, ”But I’m sure you can bring it up after you finish whatever it is you needed to talk about.” Check List glanced back at Flash before the three of them left. “If you want some free advice dear, don’t eat the food.” Flash frowned. “I’m well aware.”