Intermission: And the World Turned On
Doing His Duty
A My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fan fiction
by Wolfram and Hart
INTERMISSION: And the World Turned On
Flash listened intently to the lulling echoes of Prince Blueblood and his corps’ hooffalls ringing throughout the sparse halls of Canterlot Castle.
Ah, Canterlot.
Familiar sounds, familiar sights, familiar faces. Thick walls, dozens of guards, and a comfortable daily routine. Flash had forgotten what this feeling called “relaxation” was. His breath was not ragged, neither his heart nor head were pounding, and in no place was he nursing a bloody wound or a searing burn. He was not in fear for his life or the lives of others, he did not have to worry about megalomaniac princesses, crashing skyships, or anything of the like.
Everything was normal.
But of course, without warning, a pretty petite pink mare with a blindingly blue mane charged from around the corner, a spiky morningstar clutched intently in her teeth. Her eyes flared up with fiery rage the moment she caught sight of the prince. She snorted like a bull, then let out a guttural warcry, rocketing toward Blueblood and raising her mace high in the air.
Her throat ran right into Flash’s waiting hoof, forcing the mare to spit out the weapon. She was knocked on her back in a split second.
Flash sighed.
“I think it’s your turn to haul one to the dungeon this time, Xander. I took Cotton’s turn for her while she’s on leave,” he said in a bored tone.
Xander flashed his fellow guard an almost offended look.
“Oh come on, you can carry her twenty times as far as me without even breathing hard, Lieutenant Lazystripes.”
Reluctantly, Xander nodded, moving to grab the mare by the scruff of her neck. He dragged her down the halls, out of sight. Flash could hear her labored coughing between screams for vengeance fade into muffled nonsense over time.
With a mental shrug, Blueblood and his guard turned tail and went on with their lives.
Just another day at the office.
* * *
The echoes of their steps became sharper and more pronounced as they rounded the corner and slipped into a short hallway that ended in a tight spiraling staircase. Up and up the two went, clip-clopping a multitude of granite steps as they ascended the dizzying heights of the tower. Flash glanced out of the occasional window that popped up every few levels, watching as the rest of Canterlot grew smaller and the sun sank closer to the horizon every time they passed one. Around three-fourths of the way up, the prince ordered him to halt while he stopped to catch his breath, mumbling something about stairs being great cardio and cursing Flash for having the convenience of wings.
Their long trek to the apex of one of the two tallest towers in Canterlot Castle ended into another short hallway decorated in the castle's standard flavor of opulence, complete with a set of two royal guards stationed at either end of an ebony carved door, both standing casually and sharing a hushed conversation.
The two guards’ eyes went wide and for a split second, their faces contorted into the classic “oh shit, I’m in it deep now” expression the moment that the prince crossed the threshold. They immediately snapped to the position of attention and offered Blueblood a pair of salutes.
“Good evening, Your Grace!” the senior one sounded off with a military tone “Second Lieutenant Red Rover and First Lieutenant Battle Station, Daytime Security Watch, standing by for further orders, Your Grace!”
“Drop your salute, Watch,” Blueblood ordered.
“Yes, Your Grace.” The two mechanically returned their hooves to the floor.
“I'll be waking the princesses this morning,” the prince went on. “You are both properly relieved. Your reliefs have already been notified of this change. Dismissed. Go and get some sleep.”
The guards shared a look of mixed confusion and amazement. They returned to attention and flashed a brief salute.
“Thank you, Your Grace!” They wasted no time in falling out and finding their way down the stairs, with their platemail generating that familiar tin can noise.
The other guard who had yet to speak poked his head around the corner “Have a pleasant evening, Your Grace.”
Blueblood replied with a genuine smile. “And you as well, Lieutenant.”
The young stallion beamed at the prince, then skittered back down, hell-bent on getting some well-deserved shuteye.
“And they say you used to be such a clophead,” Flash said, his entire body seizing up the moment those words left his mouth. The pegasus didn't even realize he was even saying something before it was too late. What happened to him? His military bearing used to be so good!
Mentally kicking himself in the flank, Flash added. “...Your, uh, Grace.
Blueblood didn't even bat an eye. Flash knew how close the two of them had become- despite clearly defined codes about unprofessionally familiar relationships between a guard and a royal -but he would have never seen himself dropping his professional mannerisms while still on duty. He was never like that with Princess Cadenza. Then again, he never had to save her life on multiple occasions.
“Oh, I was horrible to the guards,” the prince reminisced. “I used to flick popcorn and all sorts of small stuff at the sentries when I passed by, just to see if they'd flinch or not. I'd yell at them if they did.”
“They're certainly warming up to you.”
The prince hummed in agreement. “Perhaps my abysmal reputation may turn around after all.”
“I can only hope so, Your Grace.”
Knock knock.
“Auuunnnty!” Blueblood sang in an alto tone “Are you awake yet?”
“For what purpose dost thou wish to molest us at such an outrageous hour?” The doors shuttered with the force of Princess Luna’s Not-Quite-Royal-Canterlot-But-Still-an-Earsplitter Voice
Blueblood snickered at her choice of highly antiquated words.
“You can’t rule the night if you’re still asleep!” the prince’s tone could have rivaled a canary with how cheery it was. “Permission to enter, Aunty?”
Flash could hear her sigh like a pouting filly from behind the very thick slabs of wood. “Very well.”
“The princess isn’t much of a morning pony,” Flash mused. “Or rather… evening pony.”
“You have no idea,” the prince muttered.
Creak. Blueblood undid the latch and tentatively cracked open the door to briefly poke his snout in. Satisfied with the appearance of things, he cocked his head back and waved Flash in.
“And how are we feeling on this fine Equestrian evening?”
“We liked thee better when thou were a snot-nosed narcissistic colt.”
“And I liked you better when you spoke in flowery outdated dialects.”
“Were we-?” Luna coughed. “I mean... Was I doing it again?”
The prince had been doing this ever since they had unpacked their bags from the trip to Maretonia. Every once in awhile he’d haul his corps up to this far-flung wing of the castle to personally check on Luna before she started her nightly princess duties, much to the lunar alicorn’s ire. Flash had wondered what his reasoning behind this was, but he concluded that it wouldn’t be his place to ask. After all, he had to at least try to maintain a healthy emotional distance from Blueblood, as difficult as he makes it.
Trailing behind the unicorn, Flash cautiously set hoof into the princess’s chambers. He seemed to shrink half an inch as his weight caused him to sink hoof-deep into the thick blue carpet that blanketed the room. While her bedroom was fairly small considering her position, whoever was in charge of decorating it must have believed that there was no kill like overkill. It wasn’t tacky per-se; it seemed like there was a bit too much going on in such a tight space. Lining the walls were the finest pieces of furniture Flash had ever seen, from dressers to vanities to wardrobes, most (if not all) of them carved from some rare tropical tree that he had probably never heard of. All of them were painted some shade of blue and trimmed with polished silver. Covering the sections of wall not taken by furniture were abstract paintings of Equestrian landscapes or various portraits of the Triarchy plus Cadenza. And all of that was nothing compared to the hundreds of dimly-glowing white crystals that peppered the ceiling, each one of them carefully arranged to mirror some of the princess’s favorite constellations
Finally, situated in the very center of the room, was Luna’s bed, a huge white cushion that looked like a chunk had been cut out of it. If one was to look at it directly from above, they would see the bed’s striking resemblance to its owner’s cutie mark. The bed itself would of course not be complete without The Warden of the Night herself; a dark alicorn with thick bags under her eyes and a mane so bedraggled that it could be mistaken for the nest of a very large bird. Luna looked around the room blearily, hissing and cringing like she had been poked with a needle as soon as the light from an open door hit her face.
To see the princess like this… Flash felt as if he were treading where he shouldn’t be. The image in his mind of Princess Luna he had fostered since childhood was nothing near the truth. Perhaps he should have realized that alicorns were indeed still ponies like every other equine living in Equestria, but it somehow felt better to see them as something far greater.
“How are you feeling today, Aunty?”
“Better,” Luna threw her covers off and slipped down from the bed. Flash wanted to slip out when nopony was looking or risk getting his ear chewed off for invading a princess’s quarters. This went against everything he had learned in basic training.
“My levitation has returned to full strength!” Luna merrily declared. She demonstrated it by clutching a silver manebrush that laid flat on a vanity in her magical grasp and ran it through her starry hair. “Though everything else leaves much to be desired. I am still unable to teleport without feeling as if my horn was a peeled banana.”
It didn’t take long to get her mane back on-spot. Luna let out an incredibly unladylike yawn, setting the brush back in its place. “No matter. I am still fit for a patrol tonight! I may rest, but the evildoers that stalk the night and nightmares that plague my little ponies do not.”
“No.” Blueblood furrowed his brow and set his jaw. “Can you even fly straight yet?”
Luna shrugged. “No. Yes. Perhaps, if I focused.”
The prince rolled his eyes. “How reassuring. You have an entire section of the guard solely for occasions like this to protect the realm while you cannot,” Blueblood berated his… aunt. Wait, how is he getting away with this?
“And?”
“And you let them do their job.”
Luna growled, inciting Flash to take a few steps back while the prince firmly held his ground. “I cannot stand lying around like some kind of fattened housecat while there is work to be done! I have been skulking about this castle ever since your guard and I saved Spire City. We have done the deed, yet-”
“We’ve had this conversation a dozen times, Aunty. You’ve earned some rest, use it wisely. Catch up on your reading. I’m almost certain there are some wonderful Fourth Age books that you’ve missed out on. Better your mind while your body recuperates from last month’s little adventure.”
The princess fumed silently for a moment, then reluctantly retorted, “I do not see your corps resting as much as I.”
“They’ll receive what they’ve earned. In fact-” Blueblood turned to regard Flash “-don’t you and Xander start your full weekend of leave tonight?”
Flash nodded, forcing himself into full guard-mode “Yes, Your Grace.”
“Ah, excellent,” Luna said. “Would this not be your first outing since arriving here?”
“Yes, Your Grace, I do look forward to seeing Canterlot on my own time.”
“Then I will be sure to watch over your endeavors,” the princess shot her nephew a glare, “Or I would if the one you so diligently guard would allow it.”
“You’re a big mare,” Blueblood shot back. “You can make your own decisions, I am merely offering advice and insight.”
“My lunar flanks you are!”
Flash tried not to let the blush in his cheeks show. One-thousand-something years old and he still felt like a colt in the presence of a royal.
Flash coughed. “My prince, the staff will have dinner ready for us soon. Perhaps we should depart now to ensure we are not late.”
“Yes, go,” the princess with the lunar flanks agreed. “I will be along shortly.”
“Have a good evening, Aunty.”
“I will not, but thank you for the offer.”
And knowing that you would have wanted it this way
I do believe I'm feelin' stronger every day
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1. What the fuck happened at the end?
and 2. Is there ANYTHING they could do for Xander? Anything at all? Forbidden Healing magic, maybe?
6776629
What it says happened. Was I being to vague? Tell me what part don't you get so I can fix it.
EDIT: Oh what the fuck. It pasted my editor's comments too. Yeah, I write in Gdocs and my new editor likes to snark a lot.
Nothing. I'll address this eventually.
But if you want a bit of headcanon now; Healing magic only accelerates a body's natural healing process. Equines cannot regenerate lost extremities naturally. Ergo, conventional magic doesn't work, and anything that does is probably forbidden and evil.
6776665 ah. Well, hopefully they find SOMETHING. I just imagine an "evil and forbidden spell" that is basically a large scale graft. but it would require a FRESH replacement for the extremity in question.
editor here
i didn't actually get to editing that last bit. guess i just got too caught up in doing my own thing. whooooooops.
either way, yeah, i hopped on to start doing editing work for w+h. and cover art. and prodding until he gets back to work. you are welcome.
had to create a new fimfiction account just for this. nfuidauif
Oh dear.
Oh no
And why aren't you sailing more ships now that you are a sailor?
So what I'm hearing is that Luna decorated her own room.
6777471 Because I'm in A-School. I need to learn how to be an IT before I can hop on a ship.
Aryanne? I did Nazi that one coming.
Oh my god, it's Aryanne. Flash should've checked the cutie mark first.
Who is Aryanne? Is it a character from another of your stories?
6783250
Essentially, a Nazi (yes you read that right, NAZI) pony OC that came from the black depths of a site called 4chan. She's never really existed much outside of there, and was created to offend many people very quickly, that's why we love her. She's also a qt3.14 and top waifu material. She has her own tag on Derpibooru if you want pics.
6784608
I get what your saying. The other two mares I posted at least had some interesting or redeeming qualities yet Moyra was essentially irredeemable, like some kind of James Bond character. As for the plot, I pretty much intentionally centered it around these serial killer past flames, but I do not plan the entire story to consist of that formula. The next arc will be Flash-centric, containing no Blueblood, and two more planned arcs will at least be interesting enough to get away with the circular story premise. If you didn't like the arc so far, I recommend skimming it until the Intermission chapter, especially number twelve, which I rushed the everloving hell out of and will have to go back and edit later.
6785058 huh, that's actually kind of interesting, I'll have to look her up
Oh lord. this is going to be hilarious.
Yes, I find this acceptable.
More please.