//------------------------------// // Assault // Story: Shining Dash // by Ianpiersonjdavis //------------------------------// As Flash walked back into the hall, the door slammed behind him, he realized that whatever Twilight wag going through was probably personal and if that were the case, it would make sense that she didn’t want to talk about it. But, didn’t she realize that he was just trying to do his job? Whatever happened could have been influenced by Changeling infiltration. If he was right and someone got hurt because she wouldn’t tell him what was going, it would be on his conscience. Twilight had said that she would talk to Shining Armor about whatever happened, but how long would that take? The absence of a guard outside of the room wasn’t helping his growing sense of paranoia, either. There was no telling how deep the infiltration went if they Changelings they interrogated were telling the truth and their own allies were locking them out of the loop. “Hey!” a feminine voice called out, causing him to jump before Sunset Shimmer revealed herself from behind a corner. ‘She sure has a way of sneaking up on people…’ “Wow, you know I kind of expected someone as pampered as Cadance to be jumpy in the face in an actual crisis-but, you’re supposed to be a guard-I thought you guys were supposed to be trained to be ready for anything?” She teased, slowly approaching him. “So, why were you standing around out here anyway?” she pressed. “I was…thinking.” Flash replied, still waiting for his heart to stop palpitating. “I thought you were another Changeling…I heard there was another attack while the Captain and I were interrogating the ones from last night.” “Yeah, well I took of it.” Sunset replied almost apathetically before looking him in the eyes with an icy gaze. “So, how did it go?” “I’m afraid that’s classified; I am not authorized to speak to anyone about it aside from the Captain and Celestia.” He replied hesitantly, half-expecting a violent response. She kept that cold stare on him for a few moments longer as another thought crept into his head-what if this was a Changeling? Given how little he and some of the others knew about her, it didn’t seem that unlikely that another one could have snuck into the castle and disguised itself as her. Still, Sunset did seem more than capable of taking care of herself when they were dealing with multiple Changelings-then again, what if this one decided not to confront her and she wasn’t even aware of its existence, yet? “Yeah, alright…” Sunset finally chuckled, returning to her casual demeanor. “So you still haven’t answered my question…you said you were thinking about something earlier, but you haven’t told me what…I hope you didn’t hurt yourself too hard?” Flash sighed as he turned away from her. “After I came back from interrogating the Changelings, I ran into Twilight Sparkle and her dragon friend; Spike-she said that there was something she needed to check out and ask me to take him back to her room because he was freaked out about all the Changeling attacks.” He replied, beginning to pace in a circle. “I waited with him and we made small talk until she came back, when she returned Spike noticed that she seemed really stressed out, but she refused to tell me what it was and I was worried that it might be something Changeling related-whether she realizes it or not so I insisted that she tell me for the sake of protecting others, but she still refused and then she freaked out about it.” He continued. “And on top of that, there are guard’s stationed at every guest room-except for this one.” “That is strange,” Sunset conceded. “You’d think Celestia would take extra precaution to protect my replacement-being the teacher’s pet she is, she must be a valuable asset to her.” Flash looked back at Twilight’s door uncertainly. “Maybe she did…and that’s what I’m worried about.” “Well, why don’t we ask her…or Shining Armor.” Sunset suggested. “I wouldn’t mind getting another look at him.” “That would probably be a waste of time, I heard that you and Celestia discovered that Changeling while we were interrogating the ones we’ve already captured.” “So, we should talk to Celestia then.” Sunset concluded as she began walking before him. “If we hurry, we can catch her in the throne room before lunch.” “Wait a minute…” Flash frowned. “If you were with Celestia when this happened, didn’t you stay long enough to find out what action she planned to take?” Sunset looked back at him and smirked. “Maybe…” “Then you have to tell me!” he shouted. “We can’t risk having another Changeling running loose in the castle-just look at all the damage the others have caused!” “The damage they almost caused.” Sunset corrected. “You’re welcome, by the way.” “But, if just one of them can get through-what could happen to one of the princesses?” Flash pressed. Sunset rolled her eyes. “C’mon Flash, I thought you were smarter than this-the reason they’re so desperate to get through our defenses is because of how powerful the Princesses are. Think about it; they are a species that feed on love, Cadance is the Princess of Love, Celestia is the beloved by pretty much everybody in Equestria, and even Luna after her ‘eternal darkness’ temper tantrum have a few citizens warming up to her.” “Yeah, and that’s why we need to stay vigilant-they’re the perfect targets.” Flash countered. “No, Cadance is the perfect target because she’s physically the weakest of the three, but the greatest food source for them, given that little spell of hers-that’s why the best chance they had was when they attacked her in a group.” “Which is why if there’s more than one, we could be in trouble.” He pointed out. “Yeah, I guess you have a point there.” Sunset sighed. “This is so annoying-I wish the rest of them and their Queen would show up already, so we can kill her and be done with this whole mess.” Flash looked at her uncertainly; despite everything she still seemed determined to wipe the Changelings out. “You know, some of the Changeling don’t enjoy doing this-but, they are lead to believe that they have to in order to survive.” He replied, without thinking. “Oh?” Sunset cocked an eyebrow. “And did you come across this information during one of your interrogations?” Flash was about to respond before Sunset cut him off. “Yes, once Celestia got Copper Spatula calmed down, she ordered guards to stand outside every room, but considering how inept you seem to be at even the simplest tasks, I’d imagine he got lost trying to find Twilight’s room.” “You’ve known about this…and you didn’t think that he could have been attacked by a Changeling on his way here?” Flash shouted, breaking into a frantic gallop. “There’s no telling how much damage it could have done by now!” “I think you’re overreacting…” Sunset replied apathetically as Flash crashed into another white Earth Pony guard casually loping towards them. The collision sent the guard’s helmet skittering across the floor, as he was about to get up Flash jumped on him and pressed the upper part of his foreleg against the other stallion’s throat. “Who are you?” Flash demanded. “And where have you been?” “Sentry, have you gone nuts!?” The guard choked, “ANSWER THE QUESTION!” The guard looked up at Flash fearfully; the stallion glaring back at him had a snarl upon his lips with his wings flared aggressively. Right now, the pressure was merely keeping him pinned to the floor-albeit extremely uncomfortably, but if he gave the wrong answer Flash could easily do some serious damage. It was at this moment Steel Vanguard realized that Flash may have finally snapped in part, because of everything they had put him through. “Flash…maybe you want to chill out?” Sunset suggested cautiously as she slowly approached them. “Steel Vanguard…I…I just went for a drink…” Steel replied, shakily. “Flash, what is this about?” “And where are you supposed to be stationed?” Flash pressed, ignoring Sunset. Steel and quite a few of the other guards had made no secret of their contempt for Flash, yet he never resigned, ran or ran to Shining Armor. Some of them knew of the history he’d had with his temper and hoped that if they could get him to lose it in public he would be kicked out of the guard. Unfortunately, whatever anger management training Flash had gone through seemed to have been working, since no matter how hard they tried to get under his skin, he kept his cool and maintained a sense of professionalism about him. He wondered if perhaps all of that stress finally caught up to him with the Changeling situation at hand… “Outside of Twilight Sparkle’s room…by order of Princess Celestia.” Steel choked. As soon as he finished that sentence, his heart sped up as he saw the unbridled rage in Flash’s eyes as he pressed down harder on Steel’s throat. “You left your post…and Princess Celestia’s star student all alone while we are dealing with threat of Changeling infiltration-creatures who feed on love and you thought it would be okay to slack off?” He seethed. Steel Vanguard was terrified; it was actually looking like Flash might kill him. But what could he do? It wouldn’t take much more pressure for Flash to crush his windpipe and if any movement he made was too slow his life would almost certainly end. A spark flew, stinging Flash’s foreleg and causing him jump back in a mix of pain and surprise, allowing Steel a breath of fresh air. Flash looked towards Sunset in time to see the magical aura to fade from her horn. She was regarding him with a scowl. “Sunset!? What are you doing?” “Stopping you from doing something stupid.” The Flash’s expression of shock changed to one of anger. “He abandoned his post! For all we know he’s a Changeling imposter!” Flash shouted, as his wings flared. “If he is and Twilight or anyone else gets hurt because of him-would you be willing to accept the guilt for protecting him?” “I don’t think he is.” Sunset retorted. “Besides, what if he’s innocent and you end up killing him? How would you handle that?” “’Innocent’?” Flash repeated incredulously. “Do you have any idea how much crap guys like him have put me through? Not just in the Guard, but my entire life?” “So it’s personal, then?” Sunset challenged, eyeing the stallion on the floor, still massaging his throat. “Even so, do you really think that justifies murder? I get that you’re upset, but I think the chaos caused by you killing a fellow guard would probably benefit any plans the Changelings do have.” “Sunset….he neglected his duty-we can’t just overlook that!” “Then report him to Celestia or Shining Armor if you think it will continue to be a problem, but something tells me that will no longer be an issue.” Flash looked past Sunset to see Steel slowly getting back onto his hooves as he turned to her with a weary expression. “Thank you…” he uttered hoarsely. “Shut up and get back to work to work.” Sunset replied curtly, never removing her gaze from Flash. As taken as he was by the response, Steel immediately turned around to return to his post-she had probably just saved his life after all. As soon as she was certain Steel was out of earshot, Sunset slowly approached Flash. His anger didn’t seem to have receded much between her intervention and letting the guard return to his business. This Flash Sentry almost seemed like the antithesis of the Flash she had met the other night. “Why do you even care?” Flash pressed. “You told me the only reason you were here is for revenge; against Celestia for some perceived slight and against the Changeling for killing your friend-if anything you should be on my side-you know how dangerous they are and how fatal underestimating them can be.” “Yes, I do.” Sunset conceded. “But, I also know that killing aimlessly just because someone might be a Changeling isn’t helping our cause and will only alienate those who we are trying to protect. And my issues with Celestia are something that we are currently working on…besides, in the former case I’ve been seeking vengeance for the murder of an innocent something you would have been guilty of had I not intervened.” “I wasn’t going to kill him.” Flash insisted. “I needed to make sure he was taking this seriously.” “Really?” She challenged. “Do you know how hard you were pressing down on his throat? Even if you did, I think part of you enjoyed tormenting him like that. Flash averted his gaze. “Flash, don’t turn into me…that’s not a road you want to go down.” Sunset continued, her voice filled with concern. “I haven’t lost my temper like that in a long time…” Flash sighed. “Something in me just…snapped. I mean, I could handle it back when he was just being a jerk to me, but to be slacking off now, when we should be more alert than ever…I don’t want to see another disaster like the last attack.” “Believe me, I get that. But, I might not be around to hold you back the next time you lose control.” “The same could be said for you.” Flash shot back. “Yes…it could.” Sunset agreed. “But, when I lost control I knew who my enemies were and they were actively hostile-there was no assumption on my part. The only evidence you would have had to back up your claim was circumstantial at best and would not have held up in court were you put on trial for your actions.” Flash’s ears flattened as the reality of the aftermath would have been much harsher than he had originally assumed. “And given your history with this guy, the assumption could easily have been made that it was meditated murder on your part and the Changelings were merely an opportunity for you to look as if you had made an honest mistake to cover up the murder of a fellow guard.” She continued. “But, I would never do that!” Flash protested. “No matter what I have always been loyal to the Guard-even if I didn’t particularly like some of them!” “I know,” Sunset replied. “But, a look at your history, your temper, and the fact that the other members of the Guard probably know about the crap you’ve had to put up with, and then there is the fact that there at least two eyewitnesses who saw you leave Twilight’s room looking disgruntled-things wouldn’t be looking to well for you.” “And what do you think I should do if I find someone who might be a Changeling in disguise?” Flash pressed. “Question them, ask them things that only whoever they’re impersonating should know. Observe them to see if they are exhibiting an unusual behavior, see if you can find any physical evidence to prove that they are a Changeling.” “And how would I do that?” Flash asked, in exasperation. “I’ve been working on a spell to reveal them.”