You're Wanted: I'll Always Protect You

by SciWriter

Shut Up and Dance

And then suddenly-“hold it!” Pinkie shouted. “Let’s see… can the guards circling the sky over us come in?”

“You don’t find that creepy?” asked Moonstone. “It’s their job and all but-“

“Nope!”

“Okay then,” he walked outside and looked up, yelling back in to us. “Depends on how long you all want to do this. There are twenty soldiers up there…”

“Twenty?!” I shouted.

“Want me to be frank? We’re counting on you being attacked within the week. We’re hoping for it so we can put it down and tell the bards how terribly it went for the bad guys.”

“What if they just attack somewhere else?” I asked back.

“Welcome to orange alert Rainbow. Every soldier is waiting for something. I’m surprised you yourself weren’t deployed, though the circumstances may help explain that. Gray was attempting dark ascension and likely wasn’t alone meaning that-“

“Yea yea, that’s not the point. Can they come down or not?” asked Pinkie. “I think we’ll be at this for maybe… one hour.”

“In shifts, they can. But I will need to join them on guard, to do otherwise would imply exempting myself from my own decisions.” He looked back up.

“Um, is that illegal or something?” I asked.

“Not every unwritten rule shouldn’t be,” he said, taking off into the air.

As he went up Pinkie tossed a microphone in the air, caught it and then tossed it to Sweetie Belle. It bopped Sweetie in the nose, but didn’t really hurt her. She picked it up. “Sweetie, vocals!” Pinkie shouted.

“Got ya,” Sweetie said back, running up to the stage with a mic that by all accounts should have been both non-existent and inoperable.

“Scootaloo, Dusty, dance choreography,” Pinkie shouted.

“What does that word mean?” asked Scootaloo back.

“I don’t know, just dance on stage,” Pinkie said back.

“I don’t know this Dusty you refer to,” said Dusk with lowered eyebrows.

“Just get on stage Dusty,” shouted his sister. Dusk obeyed, grumbling, until he seemed to suddenly realize he was to be dancing with Scoots, at which point he instantly perked back up.

Finally ten darkly colored ponies along with general Moonstone filtered in. They all looked pretty nervous about all this. Oh yea and uh… a lot of them were pretty cute… and built… and in uniform… this made me happy for some reason.

“He’s mine,” Rarity said, the general floating over to her. He shrugged with a kind of half smile. He was cute too, but more in a kind of, daughter seeing her dad happy kind of way -no, he wasn’t my dad, but it was the same feeling-.

Pinkie raced over to me and talked to me in a manner to suggest she was being covert. “Hey Rainbow, they all look stiff don’t they?” Pinkie asked. “Even AJ… tell you what, the pony who gets the most ponies to loosen the heck up by the end of the song, wins.”

“Pinkie it’s kinda-“ the music started. I recognized the distinct sound of “Shut up and Dance”.

“You’re losing- you’re gonna lose, you can’t do it,” she started saying quickly. “maybe I should tell Scootaloo up there that Rainbow Dash can’t cut it-“

“You’re on!” I shouted smiling and almost laughing.

“One!” she shouted, shooting away from me. Wait, I counted… No Rainbow, don’t let her distract you. You have to find a way to get a bunch of soldiers to loosen up without setting a bad example for your daughter, move it!

I shot over to the first stallion, a dark purple pegasus, probably the only non-bat pony in the group. I appeared in front of him with a huge grin on my face, him practically freezing in place. I pushed him and started singing with Sweetie Belle in the most off tune voice I could manage. Helped that I didn’t actually know the words to this song. Looking at me with a raised eyebrow he cracked a smile, and laughed at my antics. I shot away.

Next stallion- nope, mare. One of the only two on in the group. She had a faded sage coat and light purple mane and tail. I grabbed her and started just dancing in front of her in my own chaotic way, seeing as I don’t often dance. She smiled. “By the way kid, you’re gorgeous.” My cheeks turned beat red… next-

“No one is ever going to be interested in you. Looks like they’re just dancing with everyone in the room. She comes this way just stay in the backgr-“ I overheard one stallion talking down to his compatriot. I thought about reporting him to the general, but rejected the idea and just body slammed him across the room. More fun that way. Minus one, but it was a negative one so I was still at two right? The intended victim had a skinnier frame than most of the other guards, but honestly he didn’t need to be ashamed.

“Sup handsome?” I asked, trying to think of what would work the fastest.

“Ya… you… you remind me of Daring Do… sorry I’m kind of a Darrian. I know it’s dorky, but if you like-”

“DARING DO IS THE MOST AWESOME PONY EVER!” I shouted in his face. “I have first editions of almost every story… and I um… might have multiple copies.”

“Even Forbidden City of Clouds? I can’t find that one anywhere,” he replied.

“Talk to me later if you can, I’ll hook you up with a copy.” I said. “I’ve got three… you don’t get the first edition one you understand.”

“Just a copy is fine with me.”

So yea, it went like this for a while. I got up to nine ponies at least feeling good. Only two of them took it as an invitation to hit on me, which they were lucky I didn’t break their jaws for that. Pinkie said she “already got one stallion,” but she was still working on one pony pretty hard. Strange that I was beating her somehow. I shot up to the stage, where Dusk and Scootaloo were kind of milling around, even if they were supposed to be dancing.

“Hey Squirt!” I shouted. Both kids jumped, looking back at me. “Feeling a little down?” I asked.

“Understandable isn’t it?” she asked.

I nodded. “Yea, I know, at the end of the day, you’ll just never be able to keep up with Dusty here at River Dancing huh? May as well not even try.”

“That’s not what I meant-“

“May as well not even try,” I interrupted. “You’re just not awesome enough.”

She gritted her teeth. “Dusk!” she shouted, grabbing the younger colt.

“Aren’t you still a little hurt?” he asked.

“I’ll just go slow, let’s do this!” and suddenly both kids were stamping their back hooves while dancing in a circle and holding up their fore legs. The dance looked pretty complicated, but more to the point, both looked exceedingly happy.

Okay, that made me feel better than any of the other encounters, even finding a fellow Darrien. I was thinking about making sure Lightning was feeling alright, but as another burst of electricity shook the entire house and everyone looked at her with her huge open grin… it was pretty clear no cheering up was needed.

Moonstone still didn’t look so sure of himself, but when I walked in his direction, a quick glare from Rarity told me to move on. Finally I came to Apple Jack. AJ was mostly just shrugging her shoulders in beat with the music.

“Havin’ fun?” she asked as I trotted over.

“I got pretty much every pony in the room grooving in under two minutes, I’d say that’s another record,” I said, not sure if bragging about that had any meaning, but I was going to anyway.

“Think ya can slow down and just talk fer a minute?” she asked. I shrugged, sitting down next to her. A new song started as we talked. I wasn’t paying attention to what it was, something about being a Rock Star. “Ah don’t like bein’ the only one not in the groove, actually ah used ta love dancin’, even if it weren’t ma music style n’ all.” She watched the stage. “Ah see granny do this all the time, just watchin’ me, Apple Bloom and Big Mac runnin’ all over the farm, playin’, workin’, goofin’ off, whatever, but ah never stopped to wonder how she does it. How does she stand just watchin’ and not bein’ part a’ things? These days ah have to pick an’ choose ma moments to play with Apple Bloom or work alongside ma’ brother, and even then ah can’t keep up.” She gritted her teeth. “Ah just… ah just want one more day ya know. To be what ah was. One more day.”

Well… that put my problems in context real quick. Course I dared not say all that out loud.

“The girls sure are cute up there aren’t they?” asked Pinkie, suddenly appearing on AJ’s other side.

“Ah guess, though ah doubt Dusk would like ta hear ya callin’ ‘im a girl.” She said with a chuckle.

“He’s outnumbered so he has to deal with it,” Pinkie said back.

“They’re all havin’ a blast up there, it’s good ta see,” AJ said back. The song was coming to a close.

“Apple Bloom isn’t up there,” I noted.

“She don’ know what ta do.” AJ replied. “Poor girl really only spazzes out when she dances. It’s cute n’ all, but she don’ like ta do it in public.”

“Oh that’s okay, she’s not as cute as the others anyway,” Pinkie said, waving a hoof.

AJ’s eye twitched. “Beg yer pardon,” she replied.

“Seriously, she can’t compete with Scoots and Sweetie,” Pinkie said. And just to hammer it home, “and Lightning and her brother are just in a league all their own.” Apple Jack’s brow started to twitch. “I mean, Apple Bloom is cute sometimes, but she’s just not-“

“Apple Bloom!” Apple Jack suddenly shouted. Her sister ran over to. “Git up there an’ do somethin’.”

“Um… like what?” Apple Bloom said. “The song just ended anyway.”

“An’ another one is startin’, ah don’ know, do yer karate or something. Ya know, what ya did at that talent show. When you weren’t bustin’ things up it was pretty cute lookin’.”

“Ah wasn’t going for cute that time-“

“Git goin’, ah won’t hear any more a’ this, now go join yer friends.” She was obviously confused, but Apple Bloom still happily scurried up on stage.

And thus the next song started, “I Could be Dancing”. Vinyl wrote that it was a remix, but I wouldn’t know one way or the other original vs remix these days. What I did know was the result was that a kind of slow dance song was now having lightning accompaniment, along with a damn good young singer who was the wrong gender for most of the singing and river dancing and karate as the on stage dance direction… it was hilarious and everyone was having a blast just watching even if they weren’t dancing.

Everyone except the general that is. He just kept looking confused, or like a deer in the headlight of an oncoming train. Sheesh, pretty easy to tell why he was still single if this was normal. Nice guy, but he really needed to loosen up. Not to say he wasn’t clearly attracted to Rarity, but I had evidence in the form of Spike that a male of any species shared that thought.

Rarity commanded his attention with her magic, almost forcing him to turn his head. Then she started dancing, quite professionally. All the amateur stuff on stage, even Vinyl’s playing, looked childish by comparison. I doubt that was helping. Rarity even started to sing a little, doing her best to invite him to join her. How does one deal with a shy guy beyond just showing interest?

Second chorus hit, a number of eyes were traveling to the general. Some of the soldiers were starting to talk. “Don’t think the general thinks we should be here,” “He’s just being nice. He’s a good leader but this isn’t his kind of deal.” “Maybe he doesn’t think a fashionista is good enough?”

On that last line, something happened. The general stood up tall and his wings shot out, his full body now on display. Rarity seemed to gasp at the display. He grabbed her and started pushing her into a form of dance that looked extremely formal and very close in contact. They spun and moved faster and faster, the general in the lead. Several times he had to pick her up or flex his muscles… yea that’s about what Rarity wanted. One of those mares who dreams of a big stallion sweeping her up and all… me? I’m the opposite. I’ll be the one doing the sweeping, thank you. I get the fantasy though.

I looked around. Several of the soldiers I thought I had calmed down were getting nervous again. “Looks like it only worked so well, what I did,” I noted.

“Ah whatever,” Pinkie said. “Took a little work, but I got the ponies that counted to have fun,” I looked over at her, noticing how happy AJ looked to be watching her sister on stage. Scootaloo and Dusk were also having a blast on stage and Lightning had all but let go of her now almost normally nervous self.

“Who was the hardest to get loosened up?” I asked.

“I can’t say that, not sure, but I know who I was working the hardest on,” she smiled at me. She started walking on stage to watch everything. I joined her. “You ever going to tell me what happened in the hospital?” she whispered.

“It’s not my place to tell you,” I said.

“You know that no matter what, we’re all gonna be there for you both right?” Pinkie asked.

“Thanks.” I close my eyes, remembering those glowing blue eyes again. “You sure there’s nothing that will change that?”

“Nothing you could ever do,” she replied. I looked back at the dance floor. “Wanna dance?” Suddenly miss “by the way you’re gorgeous” was next to us.

“Can I join?” I looked at her wearily. I really wasn’t in the mood to hook up, even if I did swing that way. Finding out your daughter just became sterile kinda kills that mood. All I wanted was innocent fun right now. –If someone was attracted that was fine, I just didn’t want to be pushed beyond a certain level at the moment.- “Oh nothing like that I swear. I just want a chance to dance with two of the prettiest mares in Equestria. Nothing at all inappropriate, again, I swear.” Pinkie and I looked at each other and shrugged.

And thus the three of us were on the dance floor. Eventually I even dragged that Darrian I found earlier into the group… oh hey, looks like some guys do like girls to do the sweeping.

An hour of partying later and I was pooped.

Yes, a few stallions and mares tried to make the moves on me and my friends, but most didn’t get far. Most turned away when told we weren’t interested (and everyone left Rarity alone, I wouldn’t cross the general if I were them either), though one notable exception was when Pinkie started getting a little ticked that one stallion wouldn’t take “no” for an answer. She finally pulled him aside, caressed his mane, looked deep into his eyes and said “Honey, I’m not into you, in fact, you don’t want to know what I’m into.” That got him to give up the chase finally. Kinda made me have my own questions to be honest… she was joking right? She didn’t look like she was joking. Pinkie is an adult… no, she’s innocent as a foal and that’s the end of it, or at least the end of what I will consider. Moving on!

We walked away from the small dance room in various stages of… tired. Vinyl walked out with a little yellow filly on her back, Lightning having passed out after only forty five minutes. She didn’t want to fall asleep, but she did. Dusk followed on the ground, stumbling along until Moonstone finally offered to carry him.

I offered to carry Scootaloo, but she said she had a lot on her mind and didn’t want sleep just yet. I understood that. Sometimes a good walk clears the mind. Apple Bloom was at her side, helping her keep up, as she was still recovering. Even as the group sometimes moved at a fast pace, forgetting them, Apple Jack, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo all stayed together- the general keeping the same distance from them the entire walk and ordering us to hold up every time they fell behind. He never scolded them however, just us.

Me? I was doing great. I hadn’t danced and partied like that in over a month. I wished that Twi and Flutters could have been there, but for just that walk, I was convinced that everything was right with the world.

Finally there was Rarity. Rarity was not a mare who didn’t know what she wanted, no one could ever accuse her of that. For the moment, she wanted the general. She walked next to him the entire time, taking his side every time he snapped at the rest of us for walking too fast. Several times she leaned her head on his shoulder, which he smiled at. She gave the biggest grin when he put Dusk on his back, which made me wonder if he did that more out of the kindness of his heart or out of wanting to impress his mare friend.

Finally we came up on a small gated community, apparently a military installation of some kind. Once we got past security, we finally met up with another familiar face. Moon Shade.

By the way, Moon Shade was a dark green pony with a very dark red mane. He also have violet eyes and his wings were a little smaller than the general’s.

The general approached him. “Colonel, might I ask a few questions?”

“Yes sir.”

“How did housing the dragon go this evening? Did he request to see his children? Where is he anyway?” Moonstone asked.

“Torkuda hasn’t arrived yet sir,” he replied.

“I see. How strange. One would think this a pretty easy trip for a dragon to make,” Moonstone said.

“Dragons aren’t known to be very mobile creatures general,” the Colonel said back.

“But fathers prefer to be with their children,” Moonstone noted.

“I personally informed him where we were to be General. I assumed he did not need an escort, should I correct that error?”

“Torkuda is an adult. He is an older thing than any living pony save the solar sisters themselves. I would guess he can find one city that’s been here for quite a while.” He sighed. “Where’s Princess Luna?”

“Central facility.”

“Good.”

“With your leave general, I will show everyone here to their quarters… save for the DJ, I’ll have a sergeant show her to her quarters. No offence to her, but she’s not an MVP exactly.”

“Understandable. Where are their quarters however?” The colonel showed him a small map. “Good, I’ll have my quarters moved there immediately.”

“Is that necessary sir?” Moon Dust asked.

“Are you second guessing me soldier?”

“Of course not, just a strange choice.”

Thus we were underway again, now following a different bat pony. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom started swaying, looking very tired. Apple Jack confided in me that she didn’t feel up to carrying Apple Bloom. We would have turned to Rarity, but she was already carrying her sister by this point. Dusk had been handed off to the Colonel.

I offered my back to Scootaloo and that was pretty much all I could support. Thus Pinkie had to walk like a normal mare for once in her life. It was all pretty cute until Dusk stirred on the colonel’s back, stood up and slipped off, pausing like something was seriously confusing him.

“What’s up kid?” I asked.

“I… I don’t know… something… where’s daddy?” Dusk asked.

“I’m sure he’ll be here in the morning.” Moon Shade said.

“Something feels… wrong… I’m… I’m…” Dusk started shaking. Vinyl nuzzled Lightning. Lightning woke up, looked back at Dusk and was quickly by his side.

“He sometimes does this,” Lightning said. “I think we both have… issues from what Gray did to us.” Dusk leaned in against his sister, who put her wing over him. His eyes were wide.

Vinyl nervously walked away from them following a sergeant that was showing her to her quarters.

“Perhaps he’s not wrong to be afraid,” said the Colonel. We stopped. He looked into a small building. “That’s where your rooms are. There’s a nursery for the children, sorry if it’s too juvenile for most of them. You can choose your rooms, there are enough for everyone in there. Still, I might suggest someone stay with the children.”

“Why?” asked Rarity.

Moon Shade looked ahead, past the fence at a series of lights in the distance. “All night long, strange ponies have been gathering outside the gate. They’re too far away to be seen as a threat directly, but they have no reason to be there.” He motioned for to the doors. “Rest, we’ll guard you as you sleep, but be ready to head for the bunker if something goes wrong.” He turned to a small stone structure. “Made of very sturdy stone that. Only one way in or out. Easily defended and it would take a lot of firepower to destroy. We even have a few brig cells down there, but if we’re attacked, I doubt we’ll be using them.”

“Seems foolish for everyone to head into one spot if we’re attacked,” Rarity noted.

“No, all of you head to one spot and we will defend the outside,” Moon Shade replied.

“I see… Apple Jack I don’t like this,” Rarity said.

“I’ll be in the barracks just next door and there are sentries all over. Heck we’re nocturnal here. The night is the worst time to attack. Just get some sleep.” He walked away.

“Ah don’t like it either Rarity, but what can we do? Who knows what those ponies want, but we can’t just storm out there and demand to know. Besides, Luna is in the camp, didn’t ya hear Moon Shade? This is a night guard base. It would be stupid to attack at night.” AJ sighed. “Let’s just get some sleep.”

“You and Pinkie take a room together,” Rarity said. “Rainbow and I will sleep in the nursery with the foals.”

“Ah doubt they have beds for two full grown mares in there.” AJ contested.

“Then we will sleep on the floor. I will not have my sister with no protection with a group of strange ponies possibly staging an attack on this base. If I don’t sleep a wink I don’t care. Sweetie will be safe.”

“Well then why don’t we all sleep in there, or in the hall if it’s too full?” Apple Jack asked back.

“Because one of us couldn’t carry her charge,” Rarity said. Apple Jack’s demeanor dropped in a second. Rarity closed her eyes tightly and fought out the words I was thinking too, but didn’t have the courage to say. “Apple Jack, dear, I’m sorry, but if there is any fighting to be done, run away with the children. Please.”

“Ah can help. Ah’m not totally broken here girls…” Apple Jack said looking at us. “RD?” she said, looking at me for an ally. I looked back at Scootaloo sleeping on my back.

“AJ… I… we would just have to defend you as well and… if you stray from them, I will not leave Scootaloo to help you. I’m sorry, but I don’t have a choice here,“ I said. “I’m sorry AJ.”

“No, she’s yer daughter, course you defend her first. That’s yer job. But girls ah’m still part of this group.”

“AJ, you’ve been there for me during some of the hardest times of my life,” I said. “I wouldn’t trade your friendship for anything. You are always a part of things for us.”

“You are not part of battle anymore Apple Jack. Not everyone is,” Rarity said matter-of-factly.

“And if somethin’ comes fer ma sister?”

“Yell for help,” Rarity replied. “I love you AJ, but I am of the same mind as Rainbow. I will not leave the foals to defend you if you get separated.”

“Girls ah would rather die than you leave the kids to fight fer me-“

“That’s what we’re afraid of Apple Jack,” Pinkie said finally. “I don’t want a dead Apple Jack. Please let us fight for you.”

“Ah don’t run girls,” Apple Jack insisted.

I swallowed. “If something comes… please do.”

(***)

Well that shot my night. Try to sleep after a conversation like that why don’t ya? I wasn’t sure how seriously to take the possible threat outside the gate, but seeing that look on AJ face… needless to say I couldn’t sleep.

After a few hours in the nursery, all of the foals having beds and myself and Rarity having to sleep on the floor, I finally had to walk back outside. I figured I could always rush back in if needed. Besides, if there was danger, I was more likely to be able to fight it out here BEFORE it went inside to attack the foals. Whatever the excuse, I needed a walk.

I looked around as I came outside. I noticed the building I had been sleeping in looked both new and small compared to those that were around it. This one was made of wood, but those around it were made of stone and huge, all looking almost identical. There were several rooms in each building and each structure was five stories exactly. I knew they were barracks from my days at the academy, but these were bigger than the ones there. Course I hoped they also actually housed more ponies.

When I looked ahead I could make out a very tall structure that seemed to be made of three obelisks with a small building at the bottom. I guess that was the location of Luna, but it didn’t look as grand as one might assume. Just three spires.

Luna herself flew around the spires a few times as I watched them. I thought about calling out to her but decided not to. She had her own responsibilities.

The mare that had danced with me that evening walked by with another mare. They both stopped walking and the sage bat pony shot over to me. “Sheesh what are you doing up- hey would I be pushing my luck if I asked for an autograph… are you too tired for that kind of thing right now?”

“I’m never too tired for a fan,” I said, holding my head up high with a cocky grin. The mare pulled out a small note pad, her friend walking up next to her.

“I’m on duty in thirty minutes, but we can talk until then if that’s alright with you.” Well, if I wanted to feel better, this was what the doctor ordered that’s for sure. I signed her paper and then shrugged for her to continue.

However her friend spoke up. “Excuse my star struck friend, she’s admired you and your friends since you defeated Nightmare Moon and gave us Luna back. You have no idea how much that meant to us bat ponies. Luna respected us a thousand years ago and during her absence we were pretty well disregarded, we’re very happy to have our ruler back. By the way,” she shifted her wing to point at herself, “I’m Dark Echo and this is Night Blaze.” Night took her paper back.

“I’m sorry, I just have to say it, Rainbow you’re hot!”

“Um…” I said, not sure how to take that.

Dark looked at Night for a few seconds. “She also has a tendency to stick her hoof in her mouth. Like I said, star struck.”

“Oh please, like you’d do better if we were talking to Shining Armor. Compared to the element bearers he’s just another unicorn-“

“Just another unicorn!” Dark shouted. “The purity of his love, his amazing body he- oh hi you’re still here,” Dark suddenly remembered I was still standing there.

“It’s okay, you should have seen me when I first met a Wonder Bolt, I-“ I started, but Night interrupted.

“Race me!?” Night asked slash demanded.

“Um, when?” I asked back.

“You’ll do it?” he asked back.

“When?”

“Tomorrow, in the morning, just so it’s not during either of our sleep cycles.”

“Sure,” I said. No big deal to me, but the grin on her face started to remind me of my own at the Gala when I met the Wonder Bolts. And she squeaked, which was cute. She then suddenly flew away, yelling about who was going to race her.

“You have no idea how important that was for her,” Dark said, watching her fly away.

I smiled. “Okay, just curious, lovers or friends?” I asked.

“Hmm?” Dark said, seeming startled, but she continued. “Oh right, not like her preference is hard to figure out huh? However I’m straight, so we’re friends. She does find me attractive, but she’s pretty good at not going beyond just saying so.” She smiled, watching Night shoot across the sky. “Will warn you though, Night is NOT slow. I know your reputation, but my bits are still on her. Heck most of your friends can’t even fly, so how good can you be?” she said, giving me a mock evil grin.

“Heh heh, filly, you have no idea who you’re messing with,” I replied.

“Yes, a lot of that’s going around,” came the voice of Moonstone.

“Oh shoot!” Dark Echo straightened up and immediately saluted the general. “Aren’t you gonna- evening sir!”

“At ease. For the record, Rainbow is not under my command, so she’s not obligated to salute, just give basic respect.” Dark finished her salute. “Please inform sergeant Blaze she’s assigned scouting duty tonight. I want an eye witness report on that gathering group as soon as she goes on duty. No reason to raise an alarm, but I do want at least basic intel to know what they’re doing out there.” He smiled, watching the sergeant still shooting across the sky. “I’ll understand if you have a hard time catching her. Now get to it.” Dark flew after her friend. “Now as to what I wanted to see you about.” He continued. “I’ve heard mixed reports of your encounters with Gray, you and your friends. Of everyone, oddly enough, only young Lightning Strike seemed even halfway competent in battle.”

“Excuse me?” I asked. “She was courageous but she went down with a single hit in the first fight.”

“She’s still a child with a child’s endurance, I was referring to her approach not her durability. We could be attacked tomorrow and if you or any of your friends are going to join the fray, do what she did. Give no warning and hold nothing back. Had you and your friends done so when you first fought Gray, he wouldn’t have stood a chance.”

“Why are you telling me this sir?” I asked.

“You won’t be alone this time, but like I said, I’m planning on being attacked tomorrow. There’s a reason I’m sending my fastest scout to inspect that gathering. She’s the only one I’m fairly certain will get back alive if she’s discovered. You want to know who supported Gray? If I’m right, we’re about to find out.”

Author's Note:

Edited by EarthRainbow.

Good cool down session right everyone? Ready to ramp it up again? Stay tuned!

Comments

[SonicRPika]

Err...why get Moonstone attacked exactly??

[SciWriter]

6910051 Not sure what you mean. He wasn't attacked. He's expecting one because a large group of ponies are gathering outside his base on the same day as several VIPs just happen to be showing up. Also this is in the wake of the champions of Equestria being defeated several times by one pony, one who is very unlikely to have been alone in his efforts.

[SonicRPika]

6910133 I meant why is Moonstone getting himself attacked?

However, I get that he anticipates an attack.

[SciWriter]

6910233
You mean why is he on the front line? That one was not answered in story. I'm assuming Equestria is militarily like old Europe or the middle east way back when. Officers who couldn't hold their own in battle weren't considered good enough for command. Moonstone is a general not only because of intelligence, but he's also probably one of the best fighters in the country. The biggest mistake would probably be not putting him in the fight. Different times, different strategies. These days we pull our leaders back, which keeps them alive and keeps the troops organized, but often gives officers inflated egos and disconnection from their soldiers, often encouraging them to take unnecessary risks.