Improper Guile
"... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..." was all Shining Armor could say as he scuffled to a stop in the center of the Mirror Caverns.
Sergeant Garnet and three dozen other members of the Crystal Imperial Guard gaped in horror.
Before them, the cavernous Land Mark lay in ruins. Hundreds of stalagtites had fallen from the ceiling, forming a pile of crystalline chunks that scattered every which way. A glass sea of reflective powder had spread across the smoothe floor of the chamber, leaving no trace of the yaks or any of their much-consumed supplies.
"Mother of Celestia..." Shining Armor gulped. He stood and trembled—perhaps for a few seconds too long. Inhaling sharply, he regained his composure and began shouting orders. "Everypony! Fan out!" He pointed across the wreckage. "Search for the hostages! The yaks! The sergeant! Anything!" He gnashed his teeth. "Move in pairs! Holler the moment you find something!"
"Aye, sir!" several guards shouted, immediately gallopping forward.
"You!" Shining Armor spun to shout orders at a group of soldiers holding up the rear. "Go back out and fetch wagons! Buckets! Shovels! We'll need all the help we can get to burrow through all this mess and—"
Suddenly, Sergeant Garnet shouted: "Captain!" He pointed towards the furthest end of the cave, beyond a throng of fractured stalagmites. "Movement!"
Shining Armor twirled about. "What? Is it one of the yaks—?" His words froze as he gazed upon the scene.
Guards and soldiers watched in silence as twenty-five figures trotted slowly, calmly, and safely from the rear of the cave.
Flash Sentry shuffled along, his face cold and deadpan. Three tiny schoolfoals were balanced on his flank. The chaperones carried a few more while the largest of the children marched on their own—gaping at the destruction and the soldiers who had rushed in to investigate.
"... ... ..." Shining Armor blinked hard.
"Sergeant...?" Garnet was the first—and only—soldier to approach Flash. "What... happened here?"
Flash Sentry inhaled. "The hostages are free," he simply muttered.
Garnet watched as he and the civilians shuffled past him. "And..." Garnet gulped. "And the yaks?"
Flash pointed behind him at pile of rocks and crystalline powder. "Start digging."
Garnet and Shining Armor exchanged glances. They both gazed at the debris—just as a few random chunks of rock and fallen stalagtites started stirring. Crystal ponies rushed the scene with spears and crossbows. When the first of multiple yaks blearily emerged, they were immediately held at weapon point. With their hooves raised, the militants were all shackled one-by-one... and arrested.
Outside the Mirror Caverns
"Is that my baby?!" A crystal pony craned her neck, panting for breath. "Darling!" she shrieked, running forward.
A few guards tried to stop her—
"No!" Princess Cadance insisted, hovering above the line of soldiers. "It's okay! Let them through!"
Just like that, the parents and families of the hostages poured over like deluge through a floodgate. They rushed the mouth of the caven just as Flash Sentry finished placing down the first of many little foals.
"Mommy!"
"Daddy!"
"Momma!"
Dozens of families reunited in a flurry of tears, whinnies, and whimpers of joy. Parents scooped their children up and nuzzled them dearly. Spouses hugged the chaperones while tears and laughter glittered across the crystalline crowd.
Princess Cadance touched down, her lips pursed as she observed the scene. Her eyes lit up—as did her horn—to witness so much love and adoration. The alicorn's wings spread, overshadowing her heart-shaped cutie mark.
In the meantime, soldiers began marching out of the Mirror Caverns. The Crystal Imperial Guard closely escorted a haggard group of twelve limping, bruised, defeated yaks. The hairy militants hung their heads—flinching as the ponies nearby continued laughing and sobbing in affectionate octaves.
At last, Shining Armor and Sergeant Garnet shuffled out. The Captain joined his royal wife's side, gazing in numb amazement at the reunion of their crystalline subjects.
"Oh, honey... we prayed for you! We trusted in the warmth of the Crystal Heart—and look at you! You're safe and sound!"
"I wasn't scared, Mommy! We knew the Prince and Princess wouldn't stand those meanie yaks for long!"
"You should have seen the Captain's finest!"
"Yeah! Wham! Whap! Pow! He saved us just like that!"
"He sure showed those yaks!"
"Who? Who did?"
"Who saved our precious foals?"
Eventually, breathless parents' gaze wandered about—finding Flash Sentry. Upon making eye contact, they tearfully smiled, held their children close and bowed collectively.
"Th-thank you... bless you..."
"Praise Celestia... we knew Equestria's finest would come through in the end..."
"Please forgive us for ever doubting..."
At last, Flash smiled back—if only politely. He bowed back, standing off to the side.
Sniffling, Princess Cadance smiled. She couldn't help it—she leaned over to nuzzle Shining Armor affectionately.
Shining Armor removed his helmet and hugged her back. However—the whole while—he gazed over her shoulder at Flash Sentry.
Flash Sentry turned to gaze back, silent and expressionless.
Shining Armor fumed and fumed... his teeth gritting to the breaking point.
Crystal Imperial Camp – Captain Shining Armor's Tent – Much, Much Shouting Later
"Improper! Irresponsible! Wreckless! Unprofessional! Careless!" Shining Armor paced and grunted, grunted and paced. "And—worst of all—disobedient beyond my actual capacity to document!" He hissed, marching furiously around the lone chair where Flash Sentry was seated. "The moment you disobeyed my orders, you threw out every oath you've ever sworn to and sacrificed any and all morals as a respectable member of the Royal Equestrian Guard! Much less the Crystal Imperial Guard! As a non-crystal pony, you're here on as important and fragile a mission as I am! My wife and I—the Stewards of the Crystal Empire—are charged with protecting this fragile nation as it slowly acclimates itself to modern day! It's taken a great deal of anomalous miracles for the population of this kingdom to survive the wrath of King Sombra and an incomprehensibly huge lapse in time! That is far too much to throw out through a single act of brazen idiocy! What are you, a soldier or a psychopath?!"
Flash Sentry sat silently, gazing straight forward across the tent.
Shining Armor scuffled about, huffing. "I'm talking to you, Sergeant!" He leaned forward, glaring. "You may have intimidated the yaks and won the respect of the locals with this stupid silent treatment, but it won't work on me! When I ask you something, I expect an answer! So how about it?! What in the wild blue buck were you thinking you would actually accomplish with this ludicrous cavalier rampage?!"
Flash Sentry took a deep breath. Coldly, he muttered: "Sir. I humbly accept any and all forms of discipline you would find it best to place on me and my commission, sir."
"Nope. Uh-uh!" Shining Armor's horn glowed as he swiveled Flash's seat, forcing the Sergeant to stare at him head-long. "You don't get away that easy!" He clenched his teeth. "Open the windows to your thick skull, Sergeant, and let me in! Because—I swear on my life—I am not letting you go home—dishonorably discharged or not—until I get an answer! I want to know why you went off like a mad firecracker and put everypony's lives in danger. Give me something... anything to tell Princess Celestia when she asks me why in the Hell the entirety of Equestria was thrown into full-on war with Yakyakistan!"
Flash Sentry shook slightly. With nostrils flaring, he swallowed and eventually muttered: "Twenty-two families were just a few angry yak threats away from no longer seeing their precious children ever again. I decided it was time to make sure that tragedy never befell them."
"You decided it was time?!?"
Flash looked at Shining. "I failed to prevent such a thing before, sir." He slowly shook his head. "I'd rather die than let that happen again." A shuddering exhale. "If my career must lie in dust for what I've done, then let it. Every family deserves to remain whole."
Shining Armor blinked. With an exasperated sigh, he eventually broke his rigid resolve. Leaning back, the unicorn rubbed his brow and muttered: "Sergeant... Flash." A gulp. "Nothing I can say or do will ever properly express just how sorry I am for what happened to your mother and father that one day in Canterlot..."
"It's not your place to apologize for them, sir—"
"Shut up." Shining Armor's eyes flared. "I'm talking."
Flash Sentry clamped his muzzle shut.
Shining Armor stood before him. "Life is hard, and we've all dealt with our abysmal lows. But—as soldiers—we've mutually agreed to set our feelings and emotions aside in order to embrace the bigger picture. Believe it or not, I wanted to save those hostages as much as you did. But I also knew that to risk any sudden, unprovoked siege would mean inviting violent repercussions the likes of which Equestria hasn't experienced in centuries—and we may very well be suffering it now!"
"With all due respect, sir," Flash muttered. "Risk is necessary in saving lives."
"We're not just talking twenty-four lives, here, Sergeant!" Shining growled. "You have just single-hoofedly flung our entire nation into a bloody, violent war with Yakyakistan! And you know what?! It's all my fault." Shining exhaled. "Because I suffered the illusion... the pathetic and fallacious hope that I could somehow have saved you... that I could have taken a broken, distraught Captain-in-the-making under my wing and brought him here to the Crystal Empire to make a difference... both for himself and for an entire province of out-of-place citizens." He slowly shook my head. "But that's my fault for allowing emotion to control my judgment. I stationed you too deep in the heat of things... and it melted away an already fragile exterior. And now... your weaknesses and mine have both cost Equestria everything."
"Correct me if I'm wrong," Flash droned. "But it was love and emotion that brought you and Princess Cadance together... and magically drove off Queen Chrysalis and her hive to begin with." Flash's eyes narrowed. "If the two of you had only made that connection sooner on your wedding day... then perhaps my parents would still be alive too."
Shining Armor blinked. His ears and muzzle turned red as he teetered on the brink of shock and anger.
Hoofsteps. A rustling tent flap. Sergeant Garnet stuck his head in, breathless. "Captain Shining Armor—"
"Not! Now!" Shining barked.
Garnet flinched, his muzzle clamped shut.
Shining weathered a heavy sigh. He spun about. "What... wh-what is it, Sergeant?"
"Captain..." Garnet bowed. "Princess Cadance demands your presence right away." His crimson eyes bounced aside. "Sergeant Flash Sentry as well."
Flash Sentry stood up.
Shining Armor merely blinked... his muzzle agape in confusion...
Stats
Page generated in 0.037 seconds
Total duration
983 users online
1,660,009 hits today, 2,814,898 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
derpicdn.net/img/view/2013/12/5/489807__safe_solo_meme_looking+at+you_flash+sentry_shrug_-colon-i_shrugpony.png
Flash Sentry is the Batmane, fucking calling it.
Wow... That was really really low Flash.
Someone (7377834 ) done hit the nail on its head.
derpicdn.net/img/view/2015/2/13/827314__safe_solo_oc_artist+needed_vulgar_bat+pony_reaction+image_pixel+art_ponyville_raised+eyebrow.png
Well... shit.
Any bets that Cadence is going to reward him or something? Instead of the punishment he deserves? Then Shining will look like the bad guy, no doubt. 24 kids are not worth a war. Twenty-something lives versus thousands or more. LOT more kids gonna die unless the Yaks decide not to go to war.
7379367 In this sort of border incident it is the Crystal Empire who have casus belli here, not Yakyakistan. Yakyakistan can (and, apparently, did) redeem themselves by denouncing the militants' actions. But at this point, Yakyakistan declaring war would be just as unjustified as doing so at random during peace time, regardless of what the militants say. Entirely possible too, given the general disposition of the yaks.
Wow, that was a dick thing to say, Flash.
Also, another high give for the changelings taking out his parents. Go changelings go!
7379408
Considering the entire species seems about as brick-dumb as Diamond Dogs, based on the two groups of them and their leaders we've seen so far... seeing Yak warriors defeated by 'soft stupid ponies' is likely an affront to their entire civilization. If they DON'T go to war I will be utterly lost and confused, because nothing written about them will make sense.
The Crystals may see Flash as a hero now for saving the class of kids, but if war comes to the North, no doubt the hundreds of parents missing their children and hundreds more orphans aren't going to be too happy with him. Rightly so.
Even setting that aside, he needs to be actually and properly punished for using his personal reasons to endanger the lives of innocent hostages and the safety of TWO countries - the Empire and Equestria, as allies who will certainly go to war together. It's not heroics when you cause more problems than you solved and did it for stupid reasons that had a strong chance of failing.
The thing is, Yakyakistan going to war with Equestria would be incredibly STUPID. In more ways than one.
And, at this point, I've entirely given up hope on seeing the description come into play anytime soon.
Mine as well enjoy the ride seeing as I SOMEHOW got hooked on this story!
Well. Let's see now. Violating negotiation agreements, putting a few dozen lives in significant peril, devastating a national landmark, and given what we've seen of Yakyakistan, quite possibly inciting a war. On the other hand, to anyone outside of the chain of command, this is a PR gold mine. And Flash does raise a point; it's a little hypocritical to expect total emotional neutrality from those who serve the Princess of Love.
Still, this was a short-term gain with a potentially catastrophic long-term cost. (Possibly catastrophic for the yaks—we've seen what Equestria can do on a total war footing, and that's without the Crystal Empire—but catastrophic all the same.) We'll see how it shakes out,
I keep thinking about this comic throughout this whole yak incident.
http://www.deviantart.com/art/MLP-Comic-Party-Pooped-alternate-ending-544841157
7379408 The yaks are the North Koreans of Equestria.
7379435 It could be that trying to placate them was just pissing them off and fighting back was what they actually wanted. That'd fit with their behavior in the show.
7379992
Again though, there's the whole 'warrior culture' and 'might makes right' ideology their leaders are shown to be representing. They automatically dismiss ponies as weak, and from what can be inferred from Cadence's discourse is that the only reason they aren't at war already is because the Yaks think they aren't worth the fight.
From what they seem so far? I'd compare them to Orks from Warhammer 40k.
7379643
Give. It. A. Rest.
We get it. You think the story description is fraudulent. You—and everyone else bitching about this—are free to complain to the moderators, free to down vote, free to stop reading.
Here's a clue: it's not going to get better. Are we going to have to listen to this crap for the next one or two million words? For the next few years? Because that's how long it'll take for this story to be finished.
I assure you SS&E doesn't give a f'naaaa about your complaints, and isn't going to lift a finger to address them. So. Just. Drop. It.
If rescuing hostages from a band of militants, and doing so in such a way that said militants are somehow still alive, is enough to cause Yakyakistan to declare war on Equestria, then war was inevitable anyway.
Oh, and Cadance is totally gonna take Flash's side.
Whelp. That ties up the hostage situation.
Flash questions Shinning's stallionhood for not getting that love power up before his parents were killed. gg
Whelp. I guess the obvious course from here would be a Flash vs Shinning Armor in seeing who can get more love power out of Cadance. Loser has to leave the Crystal Empire and leave the guard forever.
Or at least Cadance thought that'd be the obvious course. Apparently Shining just wasn't buying it. *shrug*
Crap, I forgot this was a superhero story. Hero's don't kill, and villian's don't die, especially the low tier cannon-fodder.
Back to the drawing board.
7382815 True, except this is also a SS&E story. Emotions will be had somehow.
landmark is one word.
Also, Flash Sentry is not the good guy.
Well...
Welcome to the doghouse, you two.
~Skeeter The Lurker
Alright, Flash is an asshole. I was actually gonna give him a chance, and he turns out to be an asshole.
Well everyone has basicly said what I'm thinking so I'm going to post a totllu unrelated pic jist cause I've posted on every other chapter so might as well keep up the trend.
orig11.deviantart.net/9ebd/f/2012/097/8/6/lunadance_by_warpout-d4vaayz.gif
You you know what Shining, screw you. From what I saw here, war was inevitable. Flash did in ten minutes what your so-called negotiations couldn't do in a week. You let 22 foals and two adults be trapped with violent psychos who couls have slaughtered them, for fun, I might add, at any moment, all while YOU treated them to a week long, all expenses paid FRAT PARTY.