Perfect Day, part 3
Shining Armor sat in his office as he went through a bit of last minute paperwork. Perhaps rearranging the guard while protecting the city, planning his wedding, and trying to figure out if his fiance was really his fiance had been a bit ambitious. However, spending so long with Jak had made him just as stubborn as his adoptive brother, and now that he was making the attempt he wasn't about to back down. His concentration was, however, disturbed by a knock at his door. "Come," he said automatically, instinctively making a mental and magical check of his weaponry.
The door opened, and an orange pegasus with a blue mane wearing the gold armor of a guard stepped in, looking nervous. "Umm...I have a message for you, Captain. From...your sister?"
Shining Armor blinked for a bit, momentarily confused. "You're a guard?" he asked bluntly.
"Y-yes sir," the stallion confirmed. "Private Flash Sentry." He quickly saluted. "I'm in training for the First Strike division."
Shining nodded. The First Strike division of the Guard was the only truly offensive branch, meant to work alongside the Wonderbolts to attack an enemy nation should Equestria ever go to war. As such, they didn't get the enchantment on their armor to make them all the same color, since knowing one soldier from another on the front lines was more important than the unified image of the all white and gold Guard that defended the Castle and Princesses. "And...my sister gave you a message for me? Why?"
Flash Sentry shrugged. "She said she knew she could trust me to deliver the message, since I was the only guard she asked who offered an opinion instead of a non-answer."
"An opinion on what?" Shining asked pointedly.
"On if I thought Princess Mi Amore Cadenza was acting weird," Flash explained. "I said that I didn't know her personally, but her behavior did seem off from what I'd heard, though I personally attributed that to the stress of the wedding, and the idea that said wedding might be interrupted by an unknown attack. Apparently, all any other guard would say was that it wasn't their place to say...or that absolutely nothing was wrong and she should stop asking questions."
Shining frowned deeply. That sounded rather ominous, especially with his thought that Cadence might not be Cadence. It could be she wasn't the only pony here who wasn't who they seemed. "And what's the message?" Shining asked curiously.
Flash scratched his head. "Umm...I'm not really sure what it means, but...'Double Trouble, who seeks the Dragon's Lair'?" He seemed especially confused by the contents of his message.
Shining, however, found himself smirking. Those were names of Ogres and Oubliettes campaigns he'd bragged to Twilight about when they were younger. Specifically, the first one was a campaign where there had been two of a particularly important NPC and they had to figure out which was the real one, and the second involved rescuing an NPC - a Princess - from captivity. Twilight was using that to try and ask him what approach should be taken with Cadence if she wasn't who or what she seemed. Shining steepled his hooves as he considered this thoughtfully. Eventually, he came across the perfect way to do it, remembering a particularly effective strategy at throwing off both Game Master and Players, probably effective in this case as well. "Private, find my sister and tell her, 'The Eclessiarc'. She won't need further explanation."
The younger stallion nodded. "Umm...yes sir." He turned to go.
"A moment," Shining Armor spoke up, catching his attention. "You said you felt my fiance isn't being herself?"
"Y-yes sir," Flash responded. "But with all the stress-"
Shining Armor waved the qualifiers off. "Of course, of course. But you can understand why I'd be concerned, right?" Flash nodded in understanding. "But I can't talk to her about it. We're both working as hard as we can because we have to, so the last thing I want to do is add more stress on her from a fight. But at the same time, if the stress gets to her too much, I would like to do something before she ruins her own wedding from overwork. So I need someone to discretely keep an eye on her, and keep track of just how hard this is pushing her. Can you do that for me?"
Flash nodded eagerly. "Of course sir! I won't let you down!" He quickly saluted.
"Report to me in private at regular intervals what you see, soldier," Shining instructed. "And if anything is particularly disquieting, report it as soon as you can get me alone." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I wish I could see those instances with my own eyes, hear them with my own ears...but..."
"I can take care of that, sir!" Flash spoke up eagerly. "First Strike unit helms come equipped with recording crystals for scouting missions. With your approval, I can use them here."
Shining grinned. "See to it. Of course, you understand this mission has to be in the strictest of confidences. You report directly to me on this matter, and mention it to no one else." A thought occurred to him. "Oh, one other thing."
Reaching into his desk, he pulled out a picture he'd found in his Precursor armor. It was a picture of Keira, Jak, Samos, Daxter, and Tess. "During your work, there's a chance you might encounter the creatures in this image," he instructed, showing it to Flash briefly. "If you do, tell them 'Ar-Mar shines in the castle'. They'll know what it means." He then put the photo away.
Flash nodded quickly. "Umm...what are they, sir?"
"Late guests," Shining responded cryptically.
Unsure what else to do, Flash saluted. "I won't let you down, sir."
Shining smiled to himself as the Private left. Twilight had picked her messenger well. He made a mental note to keep an eye on that guard, and keep him close. He could be quite useful. Idly, he wondered why Twilight had even approached him.
He's her age, a rather wicked part of his mind pointed out. You never asked Twiley if she had a special somepony...
He resolutely decided not to tell Cadence that speculation...once he was certain he was talking to the real one, anyway.
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And the ripples are spreading. How will "Cadance" respond?
7764441
Well, given how we've all seen the canon version of this, I would venture to assume "quite badly".
I really like the codeword stuff here. Very well done, and very believable as well considering the backstories canon is building. I would be extremely surprised if Canon!Twilight didn't have a photographic memory, so remembering something like that would be child's play to her, while Shining was emotionally invested in it, so it was easy to remember for him.
I see you are part of the minority that actually treats Flash like another Pony, rather than the butt of all jokes. That's a relief. Though... that does raise the question of how you'll handle Twilight and Flash in The Sparkle in His Eye.
Meh, something else to look forward to,
7764488
You mean when Twilight already has a boyfriend and tends to approach problems of hostile targets with "Bring bigger guns"?
Agent X: Code words, over.
Agent Y: More code words, over.
Agent X: Code words, over, and out.
this doesn't end well for the Changelings there is no way they survive this. Sorry Thorax sorry Chrysie.
7764516
The only bug that needs to be sprayed is Chrysalis. As much as I love her, canon, the Changelings are better off without her.
7764441 7764470
Cadance: You won't get away with this!
Chrysalis: Oh, I already have. Isn't that right dear?
Shining Armor: ... Right. So, you really didn't notice I actually wasn't under mind control. Real attention to detail there.
Ch: Wh-What!? Grrr! No matter! I can take you my-!
Sh: *Summons eco-guns and eco powers.* I'm sorry, what was that?
Ch: Um... I was saying that I was just about to leave and cut my-
*Jak bursts in, wielding his staff and flaring his Prism Sage Powers*
Jak: Hi. I believe you were the one threatening my little brother's wedding?
Ch:... Mommy.
Really liking those codewords.
7764670 That works
Tracking. At last.
7764488 It'll be really interesting having Nefarious and Flash try to impress Twilight in their own way.
7764670 Don't forget about Daxter.
7765174 I felt was starting to get into overkill.
7765385 Well, the three of them are known for overkill.
7765173
Then again, it's not like a nonexclusive relationship would be unprecedented in the Sparkle-Gyro family...
7765394 True.
Very smart moves from Shining, can't wait to see how this turns out. Though if it ends with Chrysalis having to provide a double of Shining because he's rescuing his wife I'll LAUGH like crazy since we'll get the bride and groom both busting down the door to object to the marriage.
I'm liking how this is turning out more and more. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the great work. Deus tecum.
Finally a story where Flash Sentry does some good compared to his appearance in the the show.
The Scout is a Spy! Flash is a Spy!
Using O&O tactics to do spy work on a possible invasion of your hometwon.
Flash, now that's a bit of a surprise, he doesn't usually get much play in fanfiction. No complaints here though, I like seeing underused characters (and in this case dare I say under characterized characters) get more use.
8268901
Gee, I wonder why Flashcoughmilkytoastcough Sentry doesn't get used much in fanfictions.
Maybe it's because he was only there for a bit of tween drama in the first EG movie that never went anywhere. And his sole appearance in the Crystal Empire was meta humor that fell flat.
It wasn't humerus at all. Heh, puns...
Still, the nice thing about Flash- and eighty percent of the males in FiM with the exception of Spike (I'm including both Tirek and Discord in the greater number because one is nothing more than an overgrown mana battery, and the other is as much of a hack character as Darkseid is) -is that them having so little personality makes for a nice starting point.
Come to think of it, they've done a better job all around with non-pony males. Honestly, the only males that have fleshed out roles are those like Trouble Hooves and Silver Shill. Everypony else is so much window dressing.
You can have strong male leads in a show geared to girls without taking away from the show itself.
8644366
Mac likes Cross-Dressing