• Published 29th Apr 2014
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Somewhen, Somewhere - Leftover of Saikano



Nothing will stop Flash Sentry from trying to reunite with Twilight Sparkle. Not even the Alicorn Goddesses

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No Party like a Dwindling Party

Somewhen, Somewhere

Chapter 5: No Party like a Dwindling Party

By Leftover of Saikano


The aqueducts of Canterlot were a wonder of architecture. Without needing any kind of magic, they were able to supply Canterlot with water from the rivers Everfree and Firefly. They were made to last and would probably be there for millennia after Canterlot stops existing.

On a dry segment of the labyrinthine canals, Flash Sentry walked as he could towards the castle. Hearing noises near a crossroad, he went to check, as stealthy as he could. Before he turned the corner, he noticed the air being rapidly filling with colorful confetti, coming from the way the noises came.

“That must be Pinkie Pie!” he said, forgetting stealth, and jumping to the middle of the canal. From there he could see that who he found was indeed Pinkie Pie, but not as he had expected.

Pinkie was standing on two legs with her back towards him. Her front legs were holding one of her trademarked Party Cannons in front of her, and both the cannon and her mane were releasing black smoke. Some meters ahead, Rarity laid face down in one of the many puddles of the canal. A white unicorn stallion in purple and gold Royal Guard captain armor and reading glasses was standing at the middle point between the mares.

After a couple of silent seconds, Pinkie Pie fell backwards, unconscious. Her face and the front of her body were black with soot, and little patches of her fur were burned.

“Pinkie Pie! Rarity!” Flash Sentry glared at the armored stallion “Did you do this to them?”

“That silly mare did it herself.” The stallion adjusted his glasses. “I told her it was a bad idea to use a cannon to challenge the captain of the Artillery Division of the Royal Guard. The other mare wasn’t smarter.”

“Artillery Division… So, you are Chip Bit, the prodigy. Youngest captain of the guard in centuries, who handles heavy weapons daily but is still too young to drink hard cider.”

“Ah, yes. And I too have heard of you, Flash Sentry. The pony of the moment.” The unicorn smirked towards Flash Sentry. “Running away with the youngest princess of the realm, it’s hard not to have heard of you.”

“I didn’t… I didn’t know what Twilight planned. She only told me to go with her, and I did so, as a guard should. I supposed she wanted some free days with me apart from everypony, so we could get to know each other better, considering we are only together since a short time ago.”

“Believable. But don’t worry, that doesn’t matter anymore.” Chip Bit shrugged “I will marry princess Twilight, will become a prince, you’ll be arrested, or resist and die, or whatever.”

“Wait, you want to marry Twilight?”

“I don’t ‘want’ to marry anypony. I would totally prefer being an adult single for some time before settling. But marrying Twilight Sparkle is kind of my duty, and thanks to her little idea of running away, I am forced to make my move now, because the big ponies are doing the same.”

Chip Bit walked walked calmly towards Flash Sentry. “Not that they are competition, of course. Who would you choose? Me, the one who would have with her the smartest and most talented unicorn foals since, well, she and I? The big brute who can barely speak? Or the fanatical pegasus who, according to a report, was just beaten by a tomboy and a farmgirl?”

“Those are Rainbow and Applejack!” said a voice a short distance away. “That means they are already in Canterlot.”

Rarity stood up as she could. Now Flash Sentry could see the bruises under her coat, and the charred tips of her mane. What got his attention were the tiny cuts she had all over the front of her body. They were not deep, but it was obvious that they were made by something as sharp as a surgeon’s tool.

Chip Bit looked at the mare, then at Pinkie Pie, who was still on the ground. One more time, he smirked at Flash Sentry. “Sorry Flash. Unlike you, the Elements of Harmony are considered a serious threat. Let me take care of her for a moment, and then we’ll continue whatever it was that we were doing just now.” Saying so, he walked towards Rarity, charging his horn.

“Wait a moment!” shouted Flash Sentry, preparing to pounce on him. “I won’t let you-”

With a telekinetic push, Flash Sentry was effortlessly flung against a wall. It took him some time to stand up again,and when he did, he saw Rarity against an opposite wall, her side covered in more cuts, and her mane and tail pinned against the wall with what seemed to be precious gems. She tried to move, losing strands of her beautiful mane in the process.

This time, Flash Sentry tried to attack from a distance. He extended his right wing and, rapidly moving the feather tips in specific patterns, he created a swirling cone of air to his side, and prepared to launch it.

“Flash! Wait!” screamed Rarity, separating herself from the wall with a movement of her head, and losing more of her mane in the process.

Flash Sentry launched the windy projectile at the captain. Chip Bit, who knew the attack was coming, spun around towards it, his horn lit. Gone was the smirk he sported while talking with him, replaced with the stoic mask of a Royal Guard. Flash Sentry could see traces of light blue unicorn magic orbiting around the guard, and he could feel in his feathers that the air around them was changing the way it moved.

As he could see the attack, Flash Sentry believed he could also avoid it. “Too slow!” he said as he moved out of the way, but his hurt limbs didn’t respond, and he received the full force of a magically enhanced gust. It seemed Flash Sentry could only stand due to not knowing in which direction to collapse. His centuries old armor was cracked, and little metal pieces fell from it.

Chip Bit looked at him, expressionless. “You want me to consider you a threat too? Then go on.”

“Stop...” said Flash Sentry, breathing painfully. Chip Bit’s serious mask broke enough for him to raise an eyebrow. “I have to find Twilight… But I cannot just leave two mares fighting against a trained soldier.”

Chip Bit raised his eyebrow even more, and then scowled. “Seriously? Do you even hear yourself? You are barely alive after eating some divine retribution by an alicorn Princess, yet you are here trying to protect two of the bucking Elements of Harmony! You know, the ones that stopped threats like Nightmare Moon and Discord? If they were not dangerous, I wouldn’t be treating them so seriously. And why are you doing it? For some childish sense of chivalry? Are you one of those dreamers that joined the guard to become a knight and defend the honor of maidens? Is that it?”

“If you want to know, I could say a lot of reasons.” Flash Sentry once again created a gust under his wing, stronger than the previous one. “But I have to admit what you said is partly true. That’s how I was raised, and that’s how I view the world. The duty of a stallion is to protect a mare. Even if they can protect themselves, I have to make sure they don’t need to.”

Chip Bit once again tried to put a serious face, as Flash Sentry launched the attack towards him. “I can’t believe you’re serious.” Once again, he stopped and redirected the wind.

This time, Flash Sentry didn’t try to dodge. He readied himself to block the attack, but a pony-sized crystal erupted from the ground in front of him, stopping the air bomb.

Both stallions turned towards Rarity. Her horn was glowing with light blue magic, and crystals and precious gems orbited around her. “That’s very charming of you, darling, but Pinkie and I are strong, adult mares. We can take care of this ruffian, you have to go find Twilight.”

Rarity launched a barrage of gems at the captain. Chip Bit blocked them, and prepared to return the attack, but was interrupted by the need to use his magic to block something that was shot from a cannon towards him.

“Mister Unicorn already has us to play with him, silly,” said Pinkie Pie, with a big smile on her soot-covered face. “You can go and find Twiliet, Romeo. Even if we take some time, we’ll all catch up.”

Flash Sentry looked at the reassuring faces of Rarity and Pinkie Pie, and without saying anything else, galloped as he could towards the castle.

Chip Bit just looked at him go. “Don’t worry, ladies. We’ll finish this in a moment, and then I’ll go after him. And even if I don’t, I am not the only guard in Canterlot. Now, where were we?”

A fraction of second after a cannon shot sounded, a pink projectile was floating inches away from the captain’s face, where he had just stopped it.

“I told you since we first met, mare. I am in change of the artillery in the guard. Using cannons against me won’t work, no matter what kind of weird ammunition you-”

The projectile, that somehow turned out to be Pinkie Pie, launched a wild buck aimed at his horn. When it landed, his eyes lost focus, and his magic failed, as if he was suffering from some kind of short circuit. Once Pinkie was free from his grasp, he was assaulted by a rain of crystals and precious gems, along with blasts from half a dozen cannons. Soon, that entire section of the aqueduct was covered in a cloud of smoke and dust.




Flash Sentry found his way out of the aqueducts, and into an area where the sediments dragged by the canals were deposited. The place was like a miniature desert full of dunes. It seemed he was alone there, yet he still spoke.

“Pinkie Pie, Rarity. I’ll go ahead. Please try to catch up with me.” He didn’t expect his words to be answered.

“Why do you oppose the Goddesses, Flash Sentry?”

Flash Sentry looked forward and up. On top of a dune, an armored stallion was looking down at him.



Chip Bit walked slowly in the dry canal. Pinkie Pie and Rarity laid face down around him, unconscious. “Did you really think you two could defeat me, a Captain of the Royal Guard?” Seconds later, the cracks of his armor grew in size, and soon it all fell in pieces, revealing fresh cuts and bruises. “Still, you two managed to really hurt me.” He collapsed on his side. “Inconceivable,” he said, before losing consciousness.

“That word, you are not using it correctly,” said Pinkie Pie, face still planted on the floor. “Silly.”

Author's Note:

Well, sorry for the long, long wait. I have no computer since last month, and I have been taking a couple of minutes every other day to continue this with the computer at my workplace. You may understand I can't take too much advantage of that.
Don't worry. Next chapter won't take as long as this one. I hope.