“No matter what threat, domestic or foreign, we swear to uphold justice and protect the innocent no matter what. fights so you don’t have to. We are the Equestrian Sentinels.”
“Man, those guys are so cool,” Spike said as he watched the colorful cube of images and lights. He sat on his small bed and continued to flick through the other channels that the TV had to offer.
“Spike,” Twilight called out as she entered the room. “I didn’t get you that thing just so you can lay around all day and watch TV. Now come on we’re going to be late for the picnic,”
“Oh, do I have to?” the little dragon groaned as he lay down in his bed. “Why don’t you just ask Starlight to help you?”
“Because Starlight isn’t my number 1 assistant,” the young princess laughed. “Now come on or we’re going to be late,”
“Oh fine,” the purple dragon spoke with withheld enthusiasm as he shut of the television and followed Twilight out of the room.
Sunlight shinning, cool wind blowing, a pony couldn’t ask for a better Friday afternoon; it truly was perfect for a picnic, especially one among friends. Ponyville was vibrant and bustling with life as it always was, however, there were a few advances which were made that have improved the flow of traffic through the town. Thanks to a steady economy and some encouragement from princess Twilight Sparkle, technology has advanced over the years in Equeastria. It started off small with improved digital watches and cameras; eventually television sets were made and even radio towers which, along with several news channels, kept citizens up to date on the latest events in Equeastria.
Since it’s improvements, Ponyville was thriving more than ever and several electronic signs lined the streets of the town carrying advertisements; promotions; and other images which promoted consumer products. Twilight and Spike walked through the market district of Ponyville as they made their way to the outskirts of town.
“Can you believe how far ponies have come?” Spike asked with wide eyes as he rode on Twilight’s back. “And its all because of you.”
“It’s not really anything special,” Twilight said through a modest smile.
“Don’t act so modest Twilight, if you hadn’t encouraged so many scientists and researchers who knows where we’d all be right now,” Spike jumped up on Twilight’s back and placed his claw above his eyes as he attempted to peer into the distance. “Uh Twilight, what’s that?”
Twilight placed a hoof above her eyes as Spike had done, she could see a large dust cloud approaching the town though she couldn’t make out anymore than that. “It…..it kind of looks like a-”
“STAAAAAMPEEEEDE!” Rainbow Dash’s hoarse voice screeched at the top of her lungs to alert the population. Hearing her words, everypony began to enter a state of panic as they all rushed into their homes to avoid the danger, some even leaving behind their belongings such as saddle bags and baskets of fruit.
Twilight galloped over to her friend at the speed of a bullet. “Rainbow Dash, what’s going on?”
“Stampede. Big buffalos. Coming to Ponyville. Fast!” she said through several gasps as she stared out over the horizon at the approaching cloud.
“Where’s Applejack? Isn’t she usually the one who rounds up stampedes?” Twilight questioned as she spread her wings and joined her friend in the air.
“She’s already at the picnic spot with the others and there’s no way she’ll make it in time,” a worried look now formed on the pegasus’ face. “What are we gonna do?”
“I might be able to redirect their path if-”
“Wait!” Rainbow interjected as she placed a hoof over her friend’s mouth, silencing her. “What’s that?”
Twilight’s eyes squinted as she tried to make out what the sky blue pegasus was gesturing to. Far off into the distance, approaching Ponyville at a much faster rate was a triplet of large wooden wagons being pulled by earth ponies wearing unusual attire. The speed in which the earth ponies galloped was incredible, neither Rainbow nor Twilight could see their hooves hit the ground with how fast they were going; the stampede paled in comparison in speed as the three wagons rapidly approached the town limit.
The wagons came to a safe, albeit, abrupt and jerking stop as the earth ponies dug their hooves into the ground to slow their speed. It was then that Twilight could make out the wagons better and see the bizarre imagery painted on them. The wagons were black with several strange markings of silver and white; they all had the same insignia of several creature’s paw/hoof/claw prints with a silver unicorn silhouette in the background. Twilight watched as several couples of unicorns, earth ponies, and griffins poured out of the wagons in quick haste. They all appeared to be wearing strange attire similar to the earth ponies who pulled the wagons, however, one pony appeared to stand out from the rest. A male earth pony who wore dog tag like medals around his neck, a headset, and a heavy duty vest with a radio like device and a holstered knife on his side. He was a light beige with a dark brown mane and green eyes. He appeared to be the one in charge as he shouted orders to the others in a commanding tone.
“Griffin, I want you and Aero to take to the sky. We need that stampede’s ETA immediately!” the earth pony commanded as a griffin and a light green pegasus gave him a salute.
“We’re on it boss!” the two said in unison as they dashed off into the air in the direction of the stampeding buffalo.
“Everyone else, establish a perimeter and set the flash charges, and don’t forget to prepare the nets. We have to contain that herd as quickly as possible or else this whole town will be destroyed!” the beige pony turned his headset on and now began speaking into it. “Talk to me Griffin, what’s the impact time of that herd?”
“Stampede rapidly approaching boss, ETA is 8 minutes out.”
“Holy hell is that is that all?” We may be wrapping this one up earlier than expected. Terra, how are the charges and perimeter looking?”
“Sir,” an orange blonde haired earth pony who resembled Applejack now stood before the commanding pony. “Perimeter has been established and charges are set, nets are prepped and everypony is position.”
“Outstanding work soldier, proceed to your designated area and await for further tasking orders,” Terra gave a salute to the pony and gathered with several other creatures who laid in wait behind several reinforced barricades which blocked off the town entrance.
“Excuse me,” Twilight said after clearing her throat. “What are you all doing?”
“Sorry princess,” the earth pony replied as he joined up with the rest of his group. “That’s on a need to know basis, and you don’t need to know,”
“Wait just a second!” Twilight yelled as she unknowingly knocked her dragon companion off her back as she galloped after the rude pony. “I am Princess Twilight Sparkle, and as the overseer of Ponyville, I demand you explain your business here at once!”
“Uh…Twilight,” Spike tried to speak up as he caught up to his friend. “These guys are-”
“My most sincere apologies your majesty,” the pony said with a bow of his head. “Terra! Bring me the least of IP’s which have been provided for this mission!” The orange pony ran over to Twilight and the beige pony with a clipboard in her mouth. “Hmmm, nope, sorry. No Princess Twilight Sparkle here, guess you really don’t need to know princess,”
“Boss, me and Aero have corralled the herd and are rapidly approaching the town! Time before interception, 2 minutes and counting!”
The earth pony placed a hoof on his headset earpiece before responding into the device. “Affirmative,” he than placed on a pair of dark shades as he commanded his troops to do the same. “Alright everyone protective lenses on, now!” He then pulled out three pairs of dark tinted shades and offered them to Twilight and Rainbow Dash. “Here your highness, put these on.”
“And why would I do that?” Twilight scoffed as she watched Spike and Rainbow Dash put on the shades. They were grinning and joking with each other, the pegasus even made a remark about how “awesome” the tinted glasses made her look.
“The flash charges emit blinding flashes of light to disorient and render their targets immobile. So if you your fond of your eyesight and wish not to part with one of your most important senses, than I strongly recommend that you put them on.” The earth pony smirked with satisfaction as he watched the princess put on the glasses with an unpleasant expression. He then turned his gaze to the stampede which had appeared before him and his troops. The earth pony waited until the buffalo were only several meters away from the barricades. “Detonating charges!” he screamed as he pushed his hoof on a metallic rectangle which had a single red button on it.
A low pitch hum resonated from the strange devices and continued to rapidly rise. On the reach of it’s crescendo, a bright flash erupted from the same location the humming was coming from. The light made every buffalo in the stampede close their eyes and stop in their tracks, some tripping over others in the process.
“Alright, threat everted, glasses off,” the earth pony said as he and everyone else did the same and removed their shades.
“That. Was. Awesome!” Rainbow yelled as she jumped into the air and did a backflip. “I’ve never seen a stampede stopped like that before!”
“That’s because it’s completely unnecessary,” Twilight mumbled in annoyance.
“Griffin, Aero, outstanding job as always. I expected as much from my two best flyers,” the beige pony was now joined by a griffin and light green pegasus who landed next to him and gave him a salute. “Alright ladies pack it up we’re headin home!”
“Excuse me sir!” Twilight interjected with a waving hoof. “You still haven’t explained your business here.”
“First off the name’s not ‘sir’, you can call me Boss or Flashpoint, take your pick.” Flash made several gestures as he watched several pegasi lift the metallic barriers into the back of the black wagons. “Secondly, I’m sure it’s pretty obvious what we’re doing here. You must not watch very much TV or else you’d know who we are. We’re-”
“The Equeastrian Sentinels!” Spike interrupted with wide eyes filled with excitement. “They fight so we don’t have to! And their soooo cool!”
“Bingo! See? The kid gets it,” Flash laughed. “We’re private contractors who provide more efficient safety for Equeastria.”
“For a price!” Twilight grumbled with anger at the words of the earth pony.
“Money ain’t everything princess, and when my comrades and I are out risking our asses so ponies like you can sleep peacefully through the night; I think it’s only fair that we obtain a bit of incentive for our services.”
“Please, language!” Twilight growled as she watched Flash roll his eyes, obviously in annoyance to her comment.
“Oh right, I forgot. Your too pampered and prissy to take the words of the real world. You know all you stuck up ponies are such a pain in my a-”
“Boss we got a situation!” Flash’s headset crackled to life as a concerned tone spoke up.
“2nd Lieutenant Flashpoint reporting, what do you got?”
“We got a bad case of bug bears south of the Crystal Empire, after that we have several packs of Timberwolves that escaped from the Everfree Forest Preservation.”
“I’m on my way,” Flashpoint muted his headset as he turned away from Twilight and gathered the attention of his comrades. “Alright listen up! We got some bug bears to contain and some Timberwolves after that. Are you all ready to get some?”
“HOO-RAH!” The large group of creatures said as they saluted their Lieutenant. With the stampede stopped and their portable barricades put away, every creature except fro Griffin, Aero, and Terra piled into the wagons.
“Can I leave it up to my two best and fastest flyers to help with the Timberwolves at the preservation?” Flash laughed as he gave the two a playful shove.
“Pfft who you tryin to fool?” Aero asked as he wrapped an arm around Griffin. “The Wonderbolts can’t even keep up with us,”
“What was that!?” Rainbow Dash glared at the griffin and pegasus as she hovered above them. “You think your better flyers than the Wonderbolts?”
“We don’t think we’re better flyers,” Aero flapped his wings so he could return the sky blue pegasus’s glare face to face. “We know we’re better flyers, and with a the training we go through every morning, we’re probably the best flyers in all of Equeastria.”
“You and me. One v one. A race right now!” Rainbow Dash narrowed her anger filled eyes and brought her face closer to the green pegasus.
“Cool it,” Griffin began as he put some distance between the two pegasi. “Aero, we’ve received our orders from the lieutenant, meaning, we’re already on an active mission. If you were to race her right now, you’d not only be disobeying direct orders, but you’d be charged with insubordination and that’s grounds for immediate termination.”
“Yeah your right,” Aero looked past his friend and glared back at Rainbow. “We’ll settle this another day,”
“I’ll be waiting!” Rainbow Dash said as she watched the two creatures fly off into the distance until they were no longer in sight. “Hey, you, Flash…whatever your name is. What do I gotta do to join you guys?” Rainbow was now hovering above Flashpoint and Terra as she questioned him.
“Rainbow?” Twilight gasped. “What are you?-”
“You couldn’t handle being a Sentinel. Trust me kid, your not cut out for this line of work,” Flash gave Terra a look and she nodded in recognition. “But if you really want to try, let me ask you just one question: how well do you fair against blood?”
“Bl-Blood?” Rainbow gasped with a fearful expression on her face as she watched Flashpoint pull a knife from his side vest. He extended his arm, knife still in mouth, and then slowly slide the blade across his hoof; causing red liquid to ooze from his opened wound. Rainbow Dash winced and backed away, a look of fear frozen on her face.
Flash holstered his blade back in his vest and held his hoof up to Terra who quickly pulled out a cloth and bandaged the wound, weaving a tight knot around the earth pony’s hoof.
“If you join up with us, a little bit of blood would be the least of your problems. I’ve seen several ponies put their lives on the line and suffer from worse than a small cut.” The beige earth pony took his dog tags in hoof and stared at them intensely. “Some of us don’t even make it back alive,” after a few moments of silence, Flash cleared his throat and continued. “Come on Terra, your gonna help me and a few others with the bug bears,”
“Sir,” the light orange pony said as she entered the wagon. Flash was about to follow, however, a stubborn alicorn blocked his path.
“And who gives you the authority to do as you please in Equeastria? We didn’t ask for your help!” Twilight growled as she glared at Flash who chuckled softly.
“Look her princess,” Flash attempted to gently brush the alicorn aside but she smacked his hoof away with her wing. “I’m just following the orders of my employer, if you wanna complain, than complain to Celestia. She’s the one who hired us to begin with. Now if you’ll excuse me,” Flash hopped into the large black wagon. “I have some bug bears to deal with. Why don’t you go get a hooficure or do political things or whatever it is you princesses do.” Flashpoint waved shooing Twilight away before he closed the door to the wagon.
Twilight watched as the wagon along with another took off at great speed. Her attention was turned back to someone clearing their throat behind her. She turned around to see the rest of her friends, now along with Rainbow Dash standing behind her with concerned expressions.
“So,” Spike began as he held the picnic basket that Twilight had planned on bringing in his hands. “Does this mean the picnic is cancelled?”