//------------------------------// // Rule 3: Don't Get Distracted // Story: Flurrysitting 101 // by TheGuineaPig45 //------------------------------// Shining Armor and Flash Sentry walked through the castle in silence. Every window and door they passed was locked. All the lights were turned off. The balconies were blocked by wooden bars. The roof was unaccessible. Even the door to Shining Armor’s own bedroom, which could only be accessed from inside the castle, was blocked off. It worried Flash immensely. “This is kind of scary,” he whispered to Shining, staring at the three royal guards behind them. “Have we ever been in lockdown before?” “Not as far as I know,” the prince replied, taking a deep breath. “Whatever’s causing this must be bad.” “Like Sombra bad?” “Eh, not necessarily. Just bad enough to force everypony to stay indoors. Lockdowns are usually put in place just to make sure everypony goes inside their homes to stay away from whatever danger lies on the streets.” “Oh, so, it could be something small, like a zombie pony?” “Yes, but I hope it’s not one of those,” Shining Armor opined, shuddering with fear. “I’m just really worried about Flurry Heart right now. She doesn’t know what a ‘lockdown’ is. If somepony tells her that she has to get inside, she’ll probably just shake her head and stay right where the danger is.” He sighed. “She could be in a lot of trouble right now.” “Hey, don’t worry,” Flash said, putting his hoof on the unicorn’s back. “It’ll all work out. Once the lockdown is over, we can continue our search, alright?” “Okay,” Shining sighed, scratching his mane. “I just hope we won’t be too late.” With that, the group continued walking ahead, not saying a word until they reached their destination. When the two finally reached the main foyer, they found a small crowd of townsponies surrounded by three or four Royal Guards. There was also a guard stationed at every possible exit, each holding a sharp spear in their hooves. “There,” one guard said to another, bringing Shining and Flash to the rest of ponies. “That's all of them.” “Affirmative,” the second guard replied. “Now we wait.” Shining Armor stared at the royal guards, waiting for them to tell him what was happening, but no words came out of their mouths. Instead, Shining heard a familiar voice coming from behind him. “Oh, there you are!” Applejack exclaimed, running over to the two stallions. “What the hay is goin’ on in here? The guards are actin’ even weirder than before!” “We’re on lockdown, apparently,” Flash Sentry replied, waving at Applejack. “Although we don’t really know why.” “I can tell you,” one of the townsponies offered, biting her lip. “There's a lunatic running around the streets! I saw them myself. They had a cloak, and a spear, and they nearly attacked me! Luckily, the royal guards saw the situation and pulled me and a few others inside before anything could happen. Everypony else was told to run into the nearest building. It's insanity!” “There’s no real need to worry, though,” a stallion added, walking over to the others. “I overheard some ponies saying that the Wonderbolts are going to stop whoever’s behind this!” “Is that true, guards?” Shining asked, turning to the pair of royal guards in front of the main entrance. They both nodded their heads. “They were in the Crystal Arena when we first started the lockdown,” the first guard replied. “I told them to go inside, but they offered to help take down the threat themselves. They’re so brave.” “Yeah,” the second guard agreed, scratching his mane. “But, since the ‘Bolts are taking down the threat, we’re going to be stuck here for quite a long time. Now might be a good time to think about that overtime, sir.” Shining rolled his eyes, then went back to Applejack and Flash Sentry, who seemed to be chatting with the group of Crystal Ponies. “It really looks like we’re sittin’ ducks,” Applejack sighed, sitting down on the floor. “The two of us spoke to a bunch of the ponies in here, and all of ‘em said the same thing: ‘wait until the Wonderbolts deal with it.’” “But we don’t have the time to wait!” Shining Armor exclaimed, his breathing becoming heavy. He felt like he was going to run out of air sooner or later. “We need to get out of here and save Flurry Heart! Look, she doesn’t know what a ‘lockdown’ is! If somepony tells her to go inside, she’s just going to shake her head! And if she does that, the dangerous pony is going to get to her! I really don’t want that to happen!” “None of us do,” Applejack said. “But what are we supposed to do about it? In case you didn’t notice, we’re kinda locked up in here, and I doubt the guards are gonna let you out, no matter how nicely you ask. You’re too important to the Empire. They’re not going to willingly let you walk into potentially dangerous situations.” “Well, they’re going to have to,” Shining stated, walking over to the stallions blocking by main entrance. “Guards, I would like to leave the outside of the castle right now, please.” The guards, clearly having overheard a portion of the prince’s conversation with Applejack, immediately just shook their heads and pushed Shining Armor back into the crowd without any sort of hesitation. “You should really listen to that mare more,” the first guard told Shining Armor. “She really knows what she’s talking about.” Shining Armor groaned and sat back down right next to Flash Sentry and Applejack, who just shook their heads. “I tried to tell ya,” Applejack said with a sigh. Fifteen minutes had passed, and everypony was still locked in the Crystal Castle’s main foyer. It had been a while since any of them had said a word, as with no word having come from the Wonderbolts about any progress, there wasn’t very much to talk about. Besides silent, the room’s atmosphere was also very tense. With there being a threat lurking around the streets, everypony was on edge. Even the smallest sound, like the creaking of a door, would cause them all to jump, and they could practically hear their hearts beating in their chests. Shining Armor looked at a nearby clock. Two o’clock, he thought to himself as he sat, motionless, on the floor. Flurry Heart’s mealtime. Great. Now she’s going to be lost, in danger, and starving. What could be worse? “Ugh, this silence is killing me,” Flash moaned, staring at the crystalline ceiling. “Can we please talk about something?” “Like what?” Applejack asked. “As far as I can tell, there's really nothing to talk about.” “That's not true. How about we tell each other stories to pass the time? I've got this really funny one about the time I accidentally thought a brick was a sandwich!” All of the other royal guards groaned. “He tells this story to us every single day,” one of them sighed. “It's torture.” “That's not true!” Flash argued, getting up off the ground. “It's a great story. I'm sure everypony will love it. So, it all started when—" Right at that moment, there was a knock on the main entrance, causing everypony to become dead silent. Not sure what to do, a guard unlocked the door, then opened it up to see who it there. Much to everypony's surprise, they saw six of the Wonderbolts standing outside: Spitfire, Soarin, Fleetfoot, Rainbow Dash, Misty Fly, and Lightning Streak. “Oh, thank goodness!” the guard exclaimed, jumping up into the air. “The Wonderbolts have saved us! Now we don't have to listen to that awful story!” “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Spitfire said, shaking her head. “We haven’t saved anypony just yet.” “You haven’t?” Flash asked, confused. “Then, why are you in here and not out there?” “Because we need help,” Rainbow admitted. “This one pony is totally crazy! There’s no patterns to their attacks at all! It’s like they’re waving their spear around town without any idea of what they’re doing!” “And since the threat is so random, it’s hard to contain,” Soarin added. “Which is why we need help. Six of us ‘Bolts really isn’t enough to stop them.” Flash gasped, then turned to Shining Armor and Applejack. “Guys, this is our chance,” he whispered, making sure nopony was listening to him. “If we volunteer to help stop this threat, we can get out of the castle and start looking for Flurry Heart!” “True, but we’ll actually have to stop the threat if we do that,” Applejack pointed out. “We can’t just volunteer to help and then walk away entirely.” “We’ll figure that out when we finally leave this,” Shining said. “For now, let’s just stick with Flash’s plan.” With that, Shining Armor left his friends and walked over to Spitfire, who was conversing with a guard. “Don’t worry, Wonderbolts,” he proudly announced with a big smile. “Flash Sentry, Applejack, and I will gladly assist you in your mission to stop this threat. And guards, you won’t have to worry about us getting injured while we’re outside anymore. We’ll have the Wonderbolts to protect us now!” Spitfire and the guard stared at each other while they thought over the unicorn’s words. Then, after a few seconds, the two simultaneously nodded their heads. “Alright, you guys,” Spitfire began, signaling for Applejack and Flash to come over. “Thank you for volunteering to help us out. We really appreciate it.” “No problem,” the three chorused. “So here's the plan,” the golden pegasus continued, walking over to the rest of the Wonderbolts. “We split into three groups. Fleetfoot and Misty Fly, you take the right side of the Empire. Lightning and I will take the left. As for you, Rainbow and Soarin, I need you to watch over and protect the prince and his fellow volunteers. Search the center of the Empire, but stay near the castle.” “Alright,” Rainbow replied. “Should be a piece of cake.” “If you find and/or capture the threat, notify the others immediately. If none of us can do either of those things within the next hour, we meet back here. Everypony got it?” Shining, Applejack, Flash, and all of the Wonderbolts all nodded their heads and muttered words of agreement before walking toward the door as one large group. “Before you go,” one guard began, pulling Shining and Flash to the side, “I have a question.” “What is it?” Flash Sentry asked. “Where's Flurry Heart?” Shining Armor felt his heart drop when he heard those three words. The one question he had hoped he would never have to answer had just been asked, and he had absolutely no clue how to respond. “We never found her in hide-and-seek,” the guard continued, “and she's definitely not with the rest of us here for the lockdown. So… where is she?” The prince couldn't form a proper answer. A part of him just wanted to shake his head, like Flurry Heart always did, but he realized that that probably wouldn't have been a very acceptable response. Fortunately, Flash stepped into the conversation before Shining could embarrass himself. “Uh, I found her,” he said, spreading out his wings. “Yeah, let's go with that. I totally found her. True story, she was inside a, um, jar! A small one, at that. I got her out of there and then took her to right to Sunburst. She should still be there right now.” “Oh, good,” the guard replied, nodding his head. “Hey, since Flash is a royal guard, and he found Flurry Heart, does that mean we all get our promised day off?” Shining cringed. He had completely forgotten about the deal Flash had made behind his back. With a sigh, he nodded, causing a wide smile to suddenly appear on the guard’s face. “Thank you, sir,” he said, saluting the prince. Shining Armor saluted back, then, with Applejack and Flash by his side, walked over to the Wonderbolts. “We're ready to go,” Applejack said to Spitfire. The pegasus simply just nodded. Within seconds, the main doors opened again, and the three groups of ponies split up, each searching for the threat. I hope you're out there, Flurry Heart, Shining Armor thought to himself as he left the castle. I really need you right now... Shining Armor, Flash Sentry, and Applejack walked through the streets of the Crystal Empire, with Rainbow Dash and Soarin flying in the sky above them. All five of them were searching for somepony, whether it was the suspicious threat, or the missing alicorn foal. “See anything?” Soarin asked to the group below him. They just shook their heads. “This street is empty,” Flash sighed. “Just like the one before it. And the one before that one. And the one before that, and the one before that, and the one—” “We get it,” Rainbow said, interrupting Flash. “Whoever they are, they're clearly not here.” “So what do we do?” “We go to the Crystal Café,” Shining Armor suggested. “It's a highly populated building, so it only makes sense for the threat to go over there.” Plus, Flurry Heart is hungry, he thought to himself. She's going to go wherever she smells food, which means the Crystal Café. "Sounds about right,” Soarin agreed, nodding his head. “You know, I'm down with that. That place has got some great pie. Do you think we could get some while we're over there?” The group just rolled their eyes and smiled before heading toward the restaurant, leaving Soarin flying alone in the sky. He raised an eyebrow. “Um… is that a yes?” The group was only one block away from the Crystal Café, yet they hadn't found a single sign of the threat anywhere. They searched in every building, alleyway, and trash can, but couldn't find any sign of the threat or the foal. They just had to keep on searching, hoping for something that could help them. After searching through a cluster of six trash cans, the group was ready to give up. “I'm starting to think this is a lost cause,” Soarin sighed, kicking over one of the cans. “It's been like ten minutes, and nopony has found the threat yet. How the hay are they so elusive?” “I don't know,” Rainbow Dash admitted. “I'm just glad that you guys were the volunteers, rather than some random ponies from the streets. Can you imagine how boring searching with them would've been?” “I'm just glad that we’re gettin’ to spend our time together,” Applejack replied. “Well, sorta. I certainly wasn't expectin’ it to go like, um, this.” “Guys, stay focused,” Shining Armor said. “We've got to keep searching for this threat. Soarin, what did they look like?” The Wonderbolt cleared his throat. “Well, we couldn't see very much of them, since they were really fast and unpredictable. All we know is that they're a pinkish-white pegasus with abnormally small hooves, they've got a really brightly colored cloak on, and they're holding a really sharp and pointy spear.” “Kind of like that pony over there,” Flash said, looking into a nearby alleyway. The group gasped, then immediately turned their heads. Sure enough, there was a pale, pink pegasus mare flying beside them, wearing a pink, red, and yellow cloak. There was a spear in her hooves, and she seemed to be laughing at Shining Armor. "Um, okay. What do we do now?” Flash whispered to the rest of the group, who had froze. Only Rainbow Dash seemed to have heard Flash's question. “We take them off the streets,” she replied, slowly flying over to the mare. Without making any noises or sudden movements, she grabbed onto the cloak and pulled it a little toward her. It revealed something nopony was expecting: a unicorn horn. The group freaked out. “What the heck?!” “The threat is an alicorn?!” “What is even happening?!” Shining Armor’s heart was racing. Why was there an alicorn in front of him? Was there a new princess he had no idea about? And why were they attacking the Crystal ponies? All of those questions were answered when Shining noticed a purple mane under the mare’s horn. He almost fainted. “Wait a second… that's FLURRY HEART!” he exclaimed, jumping up into the air. A huge smile appeared on his face, and he felt tears forming in his eyes. “It's really her! She's the threat we've all been fearing!” “Um, Shining, why would Flurry Heart have a spear and cloak?” Rainbow Dash asked, scratching her mane. “Well, it's a long story. That spear belongs to the Crystal Guards. Flurry Heart picked it up earlier today, and, well, she wouldn't let go! As for that 'cloak’, it's the curtain from the Crystal Cafe! It must've landed on her when I threw it off of the balcony!” “Plus, she's an alicorn,” Applejack pointed out. “That proves it plenty.” “Hold on a second,” Rainbow interrupted, shaking her head. “I'm confused. You said that Flurry Heart was with Sunburst. How is she here? Why is she attacking the ponies?” “And why did you have the Crystal Cafe's curtain?” Soarin added. “That's another long story,” Shining sighed. “Look, I fell asleep, and Flurry Heart escaped. I didn't tell you because I don't want rumors to spread. As for the attacks, she's just a baby. She doesn't know that what she's doing is wrong. As long as she's having fun, she'll keep flying, even if she's accidentally injuring ponies.” “Wait a sec. You're saying that a baby put the entire empire into a panic?” Soarin repeated in disbelief. “Really?” “Eh, wouldn't be the first time,” Flash replied. “So, what’s the plan?” Applejack asked, avoiding getting poked by the spear. “I mean, I doubt you want to turn Flurry Heart in as the big threat.” “Yeah, I really don't,” Shining said. “But I don't exactly have a plan either. I'm just happy we found her. I was so worried. Thankfully, nothing's going to take you away from me again, Flurry Heart!” Right at that moment, Spitfire, Lightning Streak, Misty Fly, and Fleetfoot flew right into the group, each carrying a large brown sack. In the blink of an eye, they pushed Shining Armor away from his daughter, threw her spear into the ground, and stuffed the foal into one of the bags. “Threat contained,” Fleetfoot said, holding the bag over her shoulder. “Great,” Spitfire replied, nodding her head. “You know what to do now, 'Bolts.” With that, Fleetfoot, Misty Fly, and Lightning Streak flew away into the distance with the threat, completely oblivious to the fact that it was the prince's daughter. Shining's heart dropped once again. “Spitfire, what are you doing here?!” he asked, almost screaming. “What, no ‘thank you?’” the Wonderbolt captain sighed, scratching her mane. “We came because we heard you guys screaming, and I'm glad we did. You looked like you had gotten yourselves into some serious trouble with the threat. But don't you worry now. The rest of us will take care of the threat from here. Soarin, Rainbow, make sure to take these three back to the castle and tell the Crystal guards the new situation.” “Yes ma'am,” the two pegasi said in tandem. Seconds later, Spitfire flew away with Fleetfoot and the others, leaving Shining Armor, Flash Sentry, and Applejack standing in the alleyway with their mouths dropped open. All of them were silent, and didn't make any motion. Rainbow Dash sighed. “Welp... we're doomed now, aren't we?”