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// Actionable Intel 
// Story: Into That Wild Blue Yonder 
// by CptBrony 
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The young man felt a poking on his shoulder and roused awake. Colm stood over him, prodding at his face and telling him to get his lazy hind to work.

“I’m tired, it’s yer turn to take guard position,” Colm said. The young man sat up. Sleeping on the floor; even with a thick carpet; was hardly a pleasant experience.

“Just a sec,” he said. The young man threw his torso forward and received a dozen fabulous cracks from his back in response. “Therrrrrre we go.”

“Ha, nice,” Colm said. “Wish Ah could get one that nice.”

“I’d say years of practice, but I might just be physically better than you,” the young man said.

“Bah, ya got nothin’ on me,” Colm said.

“Yeah, yeah, hung, whatever,” the young man said, earning another chuckle from his friend. “I trust you guys weren’t too loud for guards outside?”

“No, we were-“ Colm caught himself just too late. When he saw the young man’s smirk, he rolled his eyes. “No, it was totally silent and uneventful ya perv.”

“I’M the perv? This from the guy who sat next to her as she slept?” the young man said. Colm opened his mouth to respond but the young man went first. “Don’t even try. I wasn’t quite asleep yet then you finished.”

“Eavesdropper!” Colm said accusingly.

“Maybe if you two learned to talk a little quieter,” the young man said. Colm blushed. “Relax, Romeo, your secret is safe with me.”

“Yer ridiculous,” Colm said.

“What’s ridiculous is sleeping on the floor,” the young man said. “I’ll take watch now. YOU, I suppose, can sleep with your princess.”

“Hardy har,” Colm said. “I’ll take yer spot, thank you.”

“Suit yourself,” the young man said. Colm took the young man’s spot and legitimately fell asleep in a matter of minutes.

The young man waited for just a little while, maybe half an hour, then picked up Colm and moved him to the bed. It would be funny to see what happened when they woke up later; or heinously awkward; and the young man didn’t want Colm to get stiff and pained from sleeping on the floor anyhow. He’d take the rap for it when the time came, so Colm would be fine. Probably.

With that settled, the young man took to his watch and did little exercises to stay awake and ready, prepared for but unaware of any threats that may be lurking within the city.








Yafid sharpened his new blade and his talons. His plan was ready for action; he just had to get everything perfect for when he struck.

The plan was simple, but it had to go perfectly, or it would end in certain imprisonment and possible death for Yafid. He was going to have to make sure there were no witnesses, but if any saw, he just had to make sure that they could be intimidated or easily removed. He would ambush the young man and his pony friend at dawn, kill them both quickly, and promptly accuse them of attempting to kidnap the princess.

For the plan to work, he would have to make sure he could eliminate the guards just outside the princess’s chambers; an easy feat; but without them falling to the ground. That part would be harder. He had been watching their patrol pattern, and he knew exactly when to strike now. If he killed them and dropped the bodies in the princess’s chambers, it would be easy to say the human and pony did it and ran off.

He would have to get in, kill them both, and then drug the princess and move the bodies as quickly as possible. He would take the bodies away; he was strong enough to carry both; and dump them somewhere nearby. Following that, he would take the drugged princess and carry her to the spot, then claim when the guards came that he stopped the human and pony from kidnapping the princess. It would be a cinch.

So long as the young man was asleep or just barely awake, that was. Yafid believed he could take the human now, even if it would be difficult, while he was ready to battle, but only a fool entered a battle with minimal chances of success. It didn’t matter how much blood got everywhere, he would just claim it belonged to the murdered guards. The human’s blood was red, too, as if it even could be another color.

The sun would be coming up in a couple of hours, so now was the time to leave. There were some enemies of the state in town, but they were of secondary importance to the main goal. Yafid would dispose of them later when the king asked him to and rewarded him.

Into the black night sky, Yafid flew with a burning in his heart and revenge in sight. It was time to end the young man’s life.