//------------------------------// // Rule 1: Don't Lose Your Foal // Story: Flurrysitting 101 // by TheGuineaPig45 //------------------------------// “No, Flurry Heart! Please don’t touch that! That’s really expensive! Hey! Put down that spear! Oh no! Please, Flurry! Be calm!” It was one o’clock in the afternoon, and Flurry Heart had decided to stretch out her wings by flying all throughout the castle. Her father, Shining Armor, was following her as best as he could, but it wasn’t easy. Despite being only a baby, Flurry Heart was already a master at using her wings. She was also very curious, meaning that every object in the area was at risk of being touched or picked up by her, no matter how dangerous it was. This led to Flurry Heart flying around the castle with a pointy spear in her hooves. “Flurry Heart, please calm down!” Shining Armor called to his daughter as the two entered one of the castle’s many narrow hallways. “I don’t want you hurting yourself or anypony else!” Giggling, Flurry Heart ignored her father and instead flew straight toward a large group of royal guards, aiming the spear directly at their faces. In surprise, the guards jumped out of her way, causing them to crash into the walls, fall on top of each other, and inadvertently block Shining Armor off from catching his daughter. “Oh no!” Shining Armor gasped as he stared at the pile of guards blocking the hallway. “Guards, I need you to move now! Please! Cadance will kill me if I don’t catch Flurry Heart!” “Sir, I think you need to get a handle on that foal of yours,” one of the guards said to Shining Armor as he slowly attempted to regain his footing. “This is the third time this week she's almost killed us!” “Uh, yeah, sorry about that,” the Prince replied, nervously stomping his hooves on the ground. “She does that sometimes. I promise I‘ll make it up to you when I catch her.” “That’s what you said the last time this happened.” “It's still true,” Shining panted, itching to get back to catching his daughter. “I wouldn't lie to you guys, right?” The guards rolled their eyes and moaned, grumbling about how they “signed up to save Equestria, not be on baby duty.” Even with their annoyance, though, the group of stallions followed orders and made their way back onto their hooves, allowing Shining Armor to finally get past them and proceed through the hallway. “Thanks, guys!” Shining Armor shouted over his shoulder as he dashed away from the group. “I promise, once this is over, Flurry Heart won't attack you ever again!” “Yeah, right,” one of the guards whispered to his fellow co-workers, as he watched the prince slowly faded into the distance. “Ah-ha! I found you!” There Flurry Heart was, sitting on her parents’ bed, still clutching onto the spear she had picked up nearly ten minutes ago. Shining Armor had finally found her, and, much to his relief, she was perfectly okay and hadn’t hurt herself in any fashion. Everything around her seemed to be in perfect condition as well. Everything, except for Shining Armor and Princess Cadance’s bed. The bed had become a wreck. The mattress was riddled with small holes, as if it had been continuously stabbed by a spear (which was probably the case), the blankets covered the entire floor, and the pillows had exploded into a giant mess of feathers and fabric. Shining Armor gasped at the sight of it. “Aww, no, Flurry! What did you do?” he moaned as he found out that the holes were approximately the same size as his hooves. “This room is a mess! How am I going to explain this to your mother?” Expecting a response, Shining looked at his little daughter, who simply just giggled and rolled onto her side. “You’re lucky you’re so adorable,” Shining Armor said, smiling as he used his magic to remove the spear from Flurry’s hooves and put it back where it belonged. “I’m just glad you’re okay. You could’ve really gotten hurt back there, Flurry. I’m going to make sure you don’t get into any more trouble, okay?” Flurry Heart shook her head and spread out her wings, preparing to continue her flight around the castle. Shining, however, had other plans. Climbing onto his bed, he grabbed his daughter and put her into a tight hug, rendering her attempts to escape useless. “Let’s relax a little, okay, Flurry?” Shining Armor said to his foal, stifling a yawn. “Your good old father here is feeling really exhausted after chasing you for so long. He just wants to take a little break before getting back to it, alright?” Flurry Heart just shook her head again. Shining Armor was starting to believe that that was going to be her default response to everything. “I know you want to fly, but I’m really tired. Just let me rest and shut my eyes for a minute, okay? Then we can have some more fun together.” Predictably, Flurry Heart shook her head once more, so Shining Armor just sighed and kissed her on the forehead. “I love you, my little Flurry Heart. I’ll only be out for a second. Promise.” With that, Shining Armor laid down on the bed and closed his eyes, still clutching Flurry Heart in his hooves. Finally, some time to rest, he thought to himself, beginning to fall asleep. Remember, though, Shining, only for a minute now. Only for a minute... Shining Armor woke up to silence. This was something very unusual for him. Being the father of an extremely hyperactive foal, there was always something being picked up by his ears, whether it was screaming, crying, laughter, or a combination of all three. This was the first time he had heard silence in weeks, and suddenly hearing it again made him feel very uncomfortable. As he slowly got up and stretched out his legs, Shining looked around at his bedroom. As he had expected, everything was exactly just it had been before he had closed his eyes: a complete mess. How am I ever going to explain this to Cadance? he thought to himself, sighing. I can clean up all these blankets and pillows, but what am I supposed to do about the bed? Flurry Heart’s made such a mess. Then, Shining Armor noticed that the bedroom wasn’t exactly as he had left it. Amongst the tiny, white feathers from the pillows, there was a new addition to the mess: a large, light pink feather that almost looked like it belonged to— “FLURRY HEART!” Immediately, Shining Armor looked down at his hooves, only to find out that, while he was asleep, the worst possible thing had happened to him. Flurry Heart had vanished. And the spear had gone with her. “Oh no-no-no-no-no! Flurry?!” Shining Armor shouted as he frantically jumped out of bed. “Flurry?! Flurry Heart, are you there?! Please, make noises if you can hear me!” Shining froze and listened for any baby noises. He was once again met with silence. Alright, don’t panic, he thought to himself as he began scanning the entire room for his daughter. Flurry Heart’s has to be in here. I was only out for a minute. She couldn’t have gotten very far. I bet she just shook her head like she always does instead of making sound. There’s no way she could’ve escaped, right? Cadance is not going to be happy about this. “Good afternoon, Shining Armor,” a voice suddenly said, catching the prince off guard. He quickly turned around to see who it was, only to find Flash Sentry “How are you doing today?” “Not that great,” Shining admitted, lifting up the entire bed with his magic. Much to his disappointment, Flurry Heart was not under it. “I think I’ve made a big mistake.” “Sorry to hear that,” Flash replied, taking off his shiny gold helmet. “If it makes you feel any better, I really like what you’ve done with the room.” Shining Armor groaned. “Is something wrong, Flash?” “Well, that depends on your definition of wrong,” Flash began, scratching his head. “You see, the guards here are getting a little tired of almost, you know, getting killed by your baby, so they’re making a plan to quit unless something gets done about—” “Look, Flash, I’m really busy at the moment. Could you please handle that for me?” “Um, sure, I guess I can try," Flash said, nodding his head. “I don’t how successful I’ll be, since I’m just another royal guard like them, but I can try.” Flash then started to walk back through the door, leaving the prince alone in his search for the missing foal. However, right as he was about to exit the room, he turned back around, only to see Shining Armor lifting up a blanket with his magic. “Um, you really don’t look that busy, Shining,” Flash Sentry admitted, walking back over toward the prince. “C’mon, you can clean up this room later. This is really important. If you don't do this, you could lose your entire team of crystal guards!” “I've got much bigger problems to deal with right now," Shining Armor sighed, lifting up another one of the blankets. Flash thought over those words for a moment, then nodded his head. “Oh, I get it,” he said, walking over to a pillow and looking under it. “You’re not cleaning up. You’re looking for something. What is it? Can I help?” “Shouldn't you be guarding the castle's entrance right now?" "Nah. There's four other guards already there. I'm sure they can handle it without me." "Alright, then, Flash. You can help." When he heard this, Flash’s face immediately lit up. “Thank you so much, Shining!” he exclaimed as he immediately ran over to another pillow on the ground. “You do not know how boring being a royal guard can be sometimes. Actually, scratch that, you probably do. I’ve been waiting for the opportunity to do something for hours. Again, thank you so much, Shining Armor. I promise, I won’t let you down.” “I certainly hope not,” Shining Armor replied, looking out into the hallway. “That am I supposed to be looking for here?” Flash Sentry asked, turning over the last pillow in the room. “Um, a wedding ring? A book? A tooth? C’mon, Shining Armor, give me something.” Shining Armor opened his mouth to reply, but was once again interrupted by Flash, who began looking inside the drawers of Cadance’s dresser. “Hey, Shining? Where’s your daughter? Aren’t you supposed to be watching her today while Cadance is at the— Ohhh.” Flash walked over to the unicorn and stared him in the eyes. “You lost her, didn’t you?” “I lost her.” “This is awful,” Shining Armor moaned, pacing around his bedroom. “It’s everything I’ve been fearing. I’m a horrible father.” “Nah, that’s not true,” Flash replied. “I’m sure every parent loses their foal at some point during their lives.” “You don’t understand. I wanted Flurry Heart to start getting to know me as a good and fun father she could always depend on. But after this, she’s going to grow up seeing me as bad and incompetent!” Shining Armor, with tears in his eyes, sighed and sat down on his bed, feeling completely defeated. Flash just frowned. “She's only going to see you like that if you don’t find her,” he said, patting the unicorn on the back. “Sure, you may have messed up, but you do have a chance to make things right now.” Shining Armor blankly stared at Flash for a second, then nodded. “You’re right,” he agreed, getting up off of the bed. “I can’t just sit around moping. I need to find her and redeem myself!” “That’s the spirit!” Flash said, jumping up into the air. “So, how are we going to do this?” “Well, Cadance said that if I ever needed help, I should to go Sunburst, so that’s what I’m going to do. Hopefully, he’ll be able to join in the search for Flurry Heart.” Upon hearing this, Flash Sentry’s eyes immediately lit up. “Ooh! If you’re gonna be out getting Sunburst, you’re going to need somepony back to stay here and keep searching for Flurry Heart in case she’s still in the castle. I’m that pony.” “Alright,” Shining Armor said cautiously, staring at the pegasus. “You’ve got to promise me you won't tell anypony what's going on, though.” "Anypony? Not even the Crystal Guards?” “Not even the Crystal Guards.” “Not even the Elements of Harmony?” “Not even the Elements of Harmony.” “Not even Princess Twilight?” “Especially not Princess Twilight.” “Alright, alright, I got it,” Flash sighed, scratching his mane. “I won't tell anypony about the missing baby alicorn. But don’t blame me if they find out themselves..” “Thank you so much, Flash,” Shining Armor said, starting to walk out of the room. “If you find her, please send somepony to get me as soon as possible.” “Yes, sir.” With that, Shining Armor dashed out of the castle and entered the city, ready to find Sunburst and retrieve his daughter. Here goes nothing, he thought to himself.