• Published 30th Jun 2013
  • 9,413 Views, 293 Comments

Canis Fidelis: Harmony - PseudoFiction



A different kind of soldier finds himself in Equestria… the four legged fluffy kind.

  • ...
14
 293
 9,413

49

The way she was sprawled lazily over Fluttershy’s couch; Luna felt like one of those lazy Saddle Arabian sultans. She figured she must have looked the part too – all the while waiting idle as the threat of death gripped every pony in Equestria. The frustration was almost too much to handle, so she didn’t think about it, doing her best to side-track herself.

Laying on the couch, the alicorn’s horn glowed. The receiver unit for Bungee’s camera hovered in front of her as the princess prodded some of the buttons and played with the settings. She had no idea what she was doing or what she was trying to achieve. All she seemed to be doing was wasting time. Hiding in Ponyville when instead she should have been out there helping her sister track her would-be assassin down.

Letting out a small cry of frustration as her mind came full circle, she threw down the device on the wooden coffee table. At the same time her head was thrown back against the hard backrest of the couch. She stayed like that for a long time – just glaring at the ceiling – all on her own.

Bungee watched from across the cottage. He hadn’t made a sound, just watching Princess Luna as she slid down the couch, rolling on her back until her head was propped up on the armrest.

The Elements of Harmony were gone, just leaving the two of them in Fluttershy’s home. Princess Celestia hadn’t left any guards so their presence in Ponyville would be discreet. Twilight had run back to the library to do research on ‘humans.’ Applejack was at the farm finishing her chores and packing overnight bags to stay with Luna and Fluttershy until Princess Celestia returned. Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were doing the same. As for Fluttershy herself, Bungee’s keen ears could hear her pottering about in the garden, caring for her extensive horde of animal friends.

Luna was bored and worried. A dangerous mix.

Moving closer, Bungee quickly hopped up on the couch and crawled over Luna as if she weren’t there. The princess let out an ‘oof,’ winded as the dog accidentally planted a paw directly on her stomach. Meeting his gaze, she was quickly consoled by a tongue lapping over her face.

The alicorn giggled, trying to crane her head away to no avail.

“Bungee, stop!” the princess squealed as she tried to push off the dog.

The dog seemed to smile, feeling a little uplifted as he stood over the mare. Seeing her smile he felt himself uplifted. He liked to see her happy. She was his new best friend after all – it was only natural.

Oblivious to what Bungee was thinking, Luna gave a sneaky smirk. Without warning she darted closer, wrapping her forehooves around the dog’s body, tackling him into a tight hug. Bungee’s eyes widened as he let out a grunt of surprise.

“Gotcha!” Luna teased, refusing to let go as Bungee desperately squirmed and writhed in an attempt to escape.

Pressing his paws into the soft cushions of the couch, he managed to scoot low and slip his head out from under the alicorn’s grip. Panting as he sat up on the opposite end of the couch, Bungee watched as Luna tried to re-orient herself for another attack. Bungee was faster.

With a high pitched bark that was more like a laugh than a canine threat, the German Shepherd pounced on Luna’s neck. She felt his cold nose nuzzle through her mane and tickle her neck as the alicorn rolled off the couch. Bungee followed, hopping on his hind legs as his forelegs remained wrapped around Luna’s neck.

“Alright, alright!” Luna giggled trying to shrug her ‘attacker’ off. “You win! I surrender, I… AAAH!”

Still chortling like a giddy school-filly, the princess lost her footing and hit the ground on her back. Bungee immediately landed on top of her, mercilessly assaulting her face with doggy-kisses. Spluttering, coughing – but still laughing – the princess weakly pawed at the dog’s fluffy coat.

“Mercy!” Luna laughed desperately. “Mercy!”

Bungee was about to grant just that when his ears perked up. Luna’s did exactly the same, and drawn to the sound of creaking wood they both looked up to a figure framed in the cottage doorway. Luna looking like a filly caught with her hoof in the cookie-jar, Bungee standing by with his tail wagging and mouth hanging open.

“This is taking care of the princess?”

Despite the emotionless rasp of her voice, Mare Do Well was clearly surprised. Particularly revealed by the slight inflection of her voice, and the fact one of her masked eyes was larger than the other as she watched the princess and her faithful canine companion rolling around on the cottage floor with a frown creased into her mask.

Luna and Bungee glanced at each other a little sheepishly before standing up.

As Mare Do Well let herself in and trotted towards the princess, Bungee looked through the open door. A breeze wafted in, clawing gently at his face. He seemed to stop breathing for a moment, mouth closing as he gaze darted off through the doorway. Noticing something carried on the wind, he curiously moved towards the open door.

In the meantime, the masked mare was systematically checking the room was secure – peering through each window for a moment and checking under the tables and chairs for good measure. Halfway through her checks, satisfied the area was reasonably free of eavesdroppers, she explained why she was wandering about in broad daylight. She was after all a nocturnal pony. The sun shining a spotlight on her wasn’t a comforting situation for her.

“I know you almost exploded,” Mare Do Well began to explain in a matter-of-factly tone. “I’ve been working through the daylight hours, tracking your would be assassin.”

“Your concern is touching.”

“I shook down my leads,” the masked mare rasped, ignoring the princess even while facing her. “I believe there is a human behind all this. Behind the abductions, behind the fresh influx of zombie ponies, behind the bomb in your bedroom. His name is Rourke, and his plans for Equestria may not be savoury.”

Luna nodded, simply replying, “We know. He is in the Everfree Forest somewhere.”

Mare Do Well was silent for a good while, staring at the princess with her mouth agape, stretching a concave in her dark purple mask.

“Then why are you wasting your time here?” the vigilante snapped, already trotting to the door. “C’mon. If we’re quick we should be able to find him before sun-down.” Realising there was only one set of hooves rapping the floor, she stopped to look over her shoulder. Princess Luna hadn’t moved an inch.

“What?”

Luna slowly shook her head. “My sister commanded me to remain here.”

Mare Do Well didn’t really laugh, but that comment brought her fairly close. “She commanded you? So much for the diarchy.”

“Excuse me?”

With a sigh, Mare Do Well turned to face the princess, trotting back to meet her. “Aren’t you supposed to be ruling Equestria together?”

“She fears for my safety,” Luna replied.

“Like you need protecting,” Do Well scoffed. “You always do what she tells you?”

Mare Do Well had a point there. Besides, the Elements of Harmony weren’t around. Mare Do Well had slipped in without Fluttershy noticing. All it would take was a simple invisibility spell for her to slip out unnoticed. And what would Celestia do if she found out.

Ground her?

Luna smirked as she answered, “No,” then quickly turned on the spot calling out to Bungee.

“Bungee, come!”

There was no reply to her call. No brush of his fur against her leg as he pinned himself to her side. No sound of his claws on the wooden floor. Not even an affirmative bark or whimper to indicate there would be a delay obeying the order.

There was no sign of his presence. There simply was no dog.

Bungee was nowhere to be seen.

“Bungee!?” Luna suddenly cried, her heart stopping in a moment of panic. “Bungee, where are you!?”

She threw herself across the room, eyes darting from side to side as she searched for her pawed friend. She ducked low to check under the coffee table, she even charged upstairs and glanced about Fluttershy’s room.

Without a sign of the dog upstairs, she dropped down the stairs again, wings half spread to slow her rushed descent. Mare Do Well stood idly by watching the princess run in circles like a mad mare.

Suddenly the strands of her azure mane caught on a noticeable breeze. Following the waft of air, her eyes were drawn to the open door. Luna’s eyes widened as she saw the distant Everfree Forest treeline framed in the doorway. Everything clicked in place.

She knew exactly where Bungee had gone.

“Oh, no,” she whispered, moving towards the threshold. “He said he caught Rourke’s scent in the forest.” If she knew a thing or two about how fast Bungee was – and she liked to think she knew plenty – the German Shepherd was probably halfway across the Everfree Forest by now.

“Talking and tracking of his own accord? That is one smart dog.”

Luna shot Mare Do Well a dirty look. “It is a long story. We need to catch up to him.”

The vigilante scoffed at the mere concept of that idea. “Tracking a fast mover with generations of predatory instinct. Yeah, that sounds fun.”

Luna didn’t say anything, drawing the vigilante’s eyes.

Mare Do Well realised Luna’s gaze was turned away. Following the princess’ eyes, soon both mares were looking at a plastic brick with an attached antennae laying on the coffee table…

The dog hesitated as he watched the brush sway in the wind. A cluster of leaves formed a miniature tornado of reds and browns, whirling out of the tree line and settling in the damp grass. The town of Ponyville lay in the direction of his tail.

Ahead of him the Everfree Forest seemed to stretch for an eternity.

Bungee put his face in the breeze and smelt it again. The smell of death and decay. The smell of human. The smell of his target.

The smell of bad.

It was like the forest was engineered to hold nothing but bad memories. First undead ponies. Then the Diamond Dogs hungry for filly flesh. And now Lieutenant Rourke.

Bungee sighed, stepping forward and following his nose. Following the breeze. His target was zeroed in. The man wouldn’t escape this time.

The dog hesitated regardless. He cast one more glance over his shoulder. Fluttershy’s cottage stood on the hill far behind him, the size of a toy in the distance. Bungee felt bad leaving Luna behind – he felt bad for disobeying her. He relished the emotion. It reminded him he was still a good guy. Still a warrior. But he had to do this for Luna’s safety and the safety of all the other ponies out there.

“Bungee! Hey, Bungee!” a southern drawl called.

The German Shepherd flinched. A familiar voice; a very nice voice. But the sound of it was an annoyance he didn’t need. She’d try to stop him, he just knew it. He’d been discovered, bringing the mission to an end before it even began.

Though in truth Winona had no idea what was going through Bungee’s head. She’d just seen him pause on the edge of the Everfree Forest, wondering what he was up to. She knew all about those woods, about all the dark things in there. It was no place for ponies or pets. And she wondered if Bungee even knew that.

“What’re ‘ye up ta’?” the Collie asked, walking up to his side. “Yer’ not goin’ in there, are ‘ya?”

Bungee answered with silence, staring into the trees.

“He’s in there, ain’ he? The one who killed ‘er.” Winona suddenly said. Bungee didn’t have to be a genius to know she was talking about Rourke. “Ah heard Applejack talkin’ ta’ Applebloom ‘bout what happened ta’ ‘ya,” Winona continued her voice growing more solemn in Bungee’s head. “Ah’m sorry ‘bout what happened ta’ ‘yer owner. But y’all have ta’ understand, revenge ain’ the answer.”

Bungee ignored all of that. Whether he didn’t understand or didn’t actually care, no one would ever find out. He just took a defiant step forwards. Into the forest…

A blur of white and brown blocked his path, causing Bungee to recoil. Lifting a let up to his chest, he edged to one side, giving Winona a sideways look. She stood there, stubborn as her owner Applejack with a similarly stubborn expression on her face.

“Now hold ‘yer horses,” Winona continued to say. “Are y’all deaf or jus-…”

The Collie stopped dead, recoiling the same way Bungee had in the opposite direction.

Bungee still hadn’t said anything. But simply looking in his eyes, Winona saw something. Something that terrified her and caused her to balk. Quickly stepping out of his way, she watched with a mixture of fear and awe as the dangerous, mute lunatic moved on soundlessly.

In a single bound, Bungee disappeared into the woods. In moments he rocketed into a full sprint, weaving between trees and leaping over low undergrowth. The forest blurred past him as he followed his nose, guided straight and true towards his upwind target.

Even if he could’ve said something to Winona; there wasn’t a damn thing worth saying. It was Bungee’s mission to protect. To do this, the dog had to do whatever it took. To defend lives – to defend Luna – he would become the darkness many feared even talking about.

Rourke would not exercise restraint. He wouldn’t think twice about pulling the trigger and adding another pony to the bodycount. He had already attempted to take Luna’s life; he wouldn’t stop.

If Bungee was going to beat him, he would have to follow the same rules.