362 - Junior Juggernauts
“It’s okay,” murmured Feather Duster nervously as she rocked the crying infant in her forelegs. “It’s okay, sweetheart. Everything’s going to be just fine.”
But the baby didn’t seem convinced, continuing to cry loudly. Feather Duster couldn’t blame him; nothing seemed fine at the moment, and it was all she could do to stop from crying herself. Even now, she didn’t want to watch what happened next, but couldn’t tear herself away from where she was perched in front of a window inside the train station, biting her lip in terror. Please, Cleansweep! Please just get out of there! You’re going to get hurt! But her daughter didn’t seem inclined to leave, standing with her friends alongside Lex as they faced off against the Royal Sisters and their guards.
Feather Duster would have gone out there and personally retrieved her daughter – even though that would assuredly have meant facing Lex’s wrath – but she knew that even if she had, Cleansweep wouldn’t have gone with her. After all, Feather Duster had confronted her just a few minutes ago, right after Lex had killed that poor pony in cold blood. Everypony had been screaming and running away, but Feather Duster couldn’t bring herself to leave without Cleansweep, not when she’d been separated from her once before when Vanhoover had flooded. Miraculously, she’d managed to catch sight of her, racing toward the battlefield with her friends, and Feather Duster had flown straight for her, intent on taking her somewhere safe.
But she’d never had the chance. Cleansweep had seen her coming, and had barely glanced at her long enough to say “Not now, Mom!” before running right past her.
Of course, Feather Duster had been prepared to take matters into her own hooves…only for another filly, whom she vaguely recognized as one of her daughter’s new friends, to shove the baby she’d been carrying into them instead. “Please take care of my little brother!” called the filly, before turning and running after Cleansweep and her friends, their collection of animals in tow.
That one sentence, and the precious little bundle she’d been given, had been all it had taken to keep Feather Duster from her daughter. As badly as she wanted to go out there, to put herself between Cleansweep and danger, she couldn’t. Not while she was responsible for another beautiful little child, even if it wasn’t one that she’d given birth to. She’d desperately looked for somepony else to pass the baby off to, but by that point the Royal Guard had cleared the area. Nor had the idea of leaving the child alone someplace occurred to her; regardless of how safe an area was, infants needed constant supervision.
In the end, unable to put the wailing baby she’d been given in danger and equally unwilling to abandon her daughter, Feather Duster had done the only thing she could: she’d retreated to the train station. From there, she could at least watch Cleansweep while still keeping the child she’d been given safe…even if she couldn’t do either task very well. But there was nothing else she could do, except hope that the princesses would bring an end to the monster that was using her and her daughter both for his own nefarious purposes.
Please, Your Majesties, she prayed silently, blinking back tears. Please get rid of Lex Legis once and for all.
“I want all of you to focus on subduing those children,” ordered Princess Celestia, not taking her eyes off of Lex even as she spoke to her guards. “Don’t hurt them if you can possibly avoid it, but don’t think that they’re ordinary foals either. They’re very dangerous, and they won’t go down easily.”
“And whatever you do, don’t try to engage Lex Legis in battle,” added Luna, her voice still thick with rage and grief. “Leave him to us.”
The statement was enough to make Celestia glance at her sister, worried for her. Nor was her concern mere sisterly affection; if Luna lost control of her emotions now, she might end up making a mistake that Lex Legis would capitalize on. It hadn’t escaped Celestia’s notice that he was still telekinetically holding that scythe above their heads, as though just waiting for the right moment to bring it down on them again. “Once you've gotten those foals away from Lex,” she added, more for Luna’s benefit than the guards, “we’ll move in and take care of him.”
The additional instructions caused Luna to scowl at her, letting her know without words that she hadn’t needed the reminder. Celestia’s response was equally silent, a half-second look being all she needed to convey feelings of apology, concern, and love to Luna. The younger alicorn turned her eyes back to Lex with a huff, but that was enough to let Celestia know that she’d begrudgingly accepted her explanation. The intimate communication was enough to bring a ghost of a smile to Celestia’s lips, glad that she and Luna could still understand each other so well after a thousand years apart. That’s also part of what we’re fighting for, she knew, remembering how Lex’s first strike had been an attempt to kill her sister right in front of her. Luna and I are still just beginning to make up for all the time we lost. We need to protect that, as well as everypony in Equestria, from Lex Legis’s evil. That thought gave her strength, and without further hesitation Celestia pointed a hoof at Lex.
“Forward!”
“Here we go!” yelled Fruit Crunch as the guards around the princesses charged at them, bellowing wordless battle cries. Grinning, he rushed forward to meet them. “Lyden, you go low! I’ll go high!”
Understood! came the reply as Lyden rushed ahead of him, sprinting toward the earth pony guard that was at the front of the charge. The guard’s eyes widened at the sight of the snarling wolf bearing down on him, but he held his course, apparently trusting that his armor and greater mass would carry him through. He might have been right…but as they came within a few feet of each other, Lyden suddenly veered off-course, charging past the guard rather than straight into him. As they ran by each other, Lyden ducked his head low and locked his jaws around the guard’s leg, biting down even as he yanked his head back. The guard barely had time to give a cry of pain before he went tumbling, the wolf releasing his leg as the guard collapsed and rolled a few times before coming to a stop, dazed. The attack arrested Lyden’s momentum, however, and two more guards – a pegasus and a unicorn – rushed toward him, intent on taking down the creature that had just throttled their friend.
But both were so focused on the wolf that they’d neglected to take notice of Fruit Crunch, who had been following directly behind Lyden’s headlong rush. Not breaking his stride in the least, the earth colt instead made a powerful leap that carried him directly over the wolf’s head and crashing hooves-first into the unicorn guard. The impact sent the guard crashing heavily to the ground, Fruit Crunch landing on top of him with a smirk. “Hah! I wonder if I should change my name to Guard Crun-, whoa!”
Fruit Crunch had no time to finish his boast as the pegasus guard suddenly tackled him. A pair of thick forelegs wound around his torso and squeezed tightly, crushing him against the older stallion’s chest even as the guard brought his wings to bear, flapping them powerfully and taking them both into the air. Pulling his hind legs up in time to avoid a leaping bite from Lyden, the guard grunted as he started to turn in away from the battlefield. “By order of the princesses, you’re in timeout, kid!”
Fruit Crunch wasn’t able to reply, grunting as he tried to extricate himself from the guard’s grasp before they got too high, when another voice rang out. “Pick on someone your own size!” yelled Cleansweep, rushing by the pegasus guard as one of her hooves lashed out, hitting the armor on his flank. “Or, you know, me!”
The pegasus guard frowned at the filly, but didn’t bother to respond. His armor had easily absorbed the force of her punch, and she didn’t look like she was able to do much more than that. At most she’d be a nuisance, and if she followed him then it’d just mean one less foal on the battlefield, not to mention he’d be able to turn around and grab her after, after he’d taken care…of this kid…
Grinning, Cleansweep watched as the guard began to wobble in mid-air, his wings suddenly having a hard time flapping. “Wow!” she gushed. “I didn’t think it’d work through his armor!”
No matter what they’re clothed in, your magic can reach anyone that you can touch, commented Venin matter-of-factly from where she was still wrapped around her torso. That’s as true for your poison as much as it is for your healing.
“But he’s gonna be okay, right?” She couldn’t help but ask as she watched Fruit Crunch finally slip out of the guard’s grasp, dropping five feet to the ground and landing on his hooves. The guard’s landing was much less graceful, his wings seizing up and dropping him the last few feet to the ground, where his legs were doing the same, leaving him shuddering and twitching spasmodically.
He should recover gradually over the next few days. Venin’s voice was noticeably less warm than when she’d consoled Cleansweep about her distraught mother earlier that morning. Now, we should make sure to hang back in case any of our companions require us to heal them-
“Dust Bunny!” yelled Fruit Crunch suddenly. “Look out!”
Alarmed, Cleansweep spun in place, trying to see what Fruit Crunch was talking about…just in time to see another unicorn guard firing a blast of energy from his horn at her. Yelping, she reacted on instinct, closing her eyes and shielding her face. Except the expected pain didn’t arrive, and a moment later she cracked them open to see what had happened.
Straightlace was right in front of her, his foreleg still outstretched from where he’d knocked the beam of energy away. “You alright?” he asked, glancing back at her.
“Y-yeah,” she answered, letting out a relieved breath. “Thanks.”
Maintain vigilance! cried Altaer, rushing past the pair and swiping at the unicorn guard with his claws, forcing the armor-clad pony to abandon a follow-up attack, ducking and weaving to avoid being slashed by the eagle’s talons. Our enemies are not yet taking us seriously, but they will soon!
“Thanks for the encouragement!” grunted Fiddlesticks from where she’d climbed on the back of another earth pony guard. The stallion was currently bucking back and forth trying to fling her off, but Fiddlesticks refused to be dislodged. Instead, she grit her teeth in concentration as she reached down to the edge of the guard’s armor…and pulled. The metal instantly folded, bending in her grasp as she ripped it off the guard like a wrapper off a candy bar. The guard instantly came to a stop, shock written all over his face as he glanced at the tiny filly on his back. Fiddlesticks smirked in response, and then brought the twisted hunk of metal down on his head, clobbering him with it.
He’s right, added Nemel, looking up from the burrow that she’d been digging, which had tripped up the now-defeated guard long enough for Fiddlesticks to initially get on his back. A short distance away, the remaining members of the Royal Guard were hesitating, speaking in low tones as they looked at the foals warily. We should regroup and prepare to repel another sortie.
“You guys!” yelled Feathercap, the only one among them who hadn’t raced forward. Instead, he was standing a short distance away from Lex, his eyes closed as he looked over the battlefield through Ulespy’s eyes high above. “Fall back! I have an idea!”
Sharing a look, the others turned around and made their way to Feathercap’s side.
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I'll have you know that you took me away from replaying Starcraft for this.
9659402 I hope you found it worthwhile for having done so!
This line is oh so groan-inducing and yet it got a chuckle out of me.
Poor Feather Duster, stuck babysitting on the sidelines while watching the chaos unfolding outside. The only way it could get worse is if the baby also manifests some spirit animal but that would be ridiculous...right?
Anyways, this chapter makes me think of every other show/book/game that involved child protagonist going against older antagonists and seeing the guards underestimating the children even after what the princesses made their actions here all the more amusing considering how close Cozy Glow came to taking over in canon.
Of course, as Altaer stated, the guards aren't going to be holding back once they wise up to the Knights' capabilities and properly coordinate like the soldiers they're supposedly trained to be. Either way, this keeps them both out of Lex's mane while he deals with the princesses. Hopefully, he'll accomplish his objective before either party subdues the other.
9659426
Oh most definitely. My favourite author is always top priority.
9659426
You Took Me Away From School
THANK YOU
I kind of count this as a win for the guards, in that this is at least a few rounds in which the Knights were not engaging the Sisters. Also
is fantastic.
Poor Feather Duster. She really doesn't have a lot of luck.
I just realized, Sonata will be needed more than ever. Even if Lex wins, he's now declared war on the Sisters and the Royal Guard. Even if Lex wins, I expect a mass exodus of ponies leaving Vanhoover as they don't want to live under an enemy of Equestria. Unless of course. Sonata and Nosey give the speech of their lives.
Currently the kids are winning with teamwork, but that just means the Guards can get a huge performance boost by working the way theyre supposed to, team style.But theres more kids and spirit animals with a wider range of possibilities, evening things up?
I take it Lex couldnt break Severance even if he wanted to by weaking it against Celestia and Lunas attacks?
9659475 I confess that I enjoy myself a little too much when I make the Royal Guards look like a bunch of incompetent bunglers. That includes having them say lines that are cringe-inducing.
Slightly more seriously, it's actually somewhat difficult to produce one-off gags like that with throwaway characters, simply because the textual medium doesn't lend itself nearly as readily to such things as audiovisual media does. For example, look at Derpy's original appearance in MLP. She was just an animator's joke in the background of a single scene, and was easily overlooked. But in order to convey that in a written format, it would have to be explicitly called out in the text, which would automatically carry a presumption that she was being spotlighted for a reason. There is no "background" in which to work. It's much the same for the Royal Guards; if I want one of them to do something ridiculous, it's very hard not to make it the center of the action (even if only for a moment), as opposed to crafting a scene where one of them is acting like an idiot in an unobtrusive manner while something more notable is going on. It can be done, but it's surprisingly difficult (at least for me).
Of course, between the princesses' warning and getting their flanks whipped, they might try to step up their game now. But it's anyone's guess if that'll actually let them make a difference going forward.
9659512 And me too, right?
(I kid, of course. Thank you for such a wonderful compliment!
)
9659513 Always glad to be able to help out!
9659796 Now the only question is whether or not the Royal Guard knows about that too.
9661903
You trying to be the worst at self deprecating jokes?
9660841 At this point, the support groups on each side are keeping each other busy, letting the leaders fight each other. But I suspect each group knows that they're basically just tying each other up; the winners will be determined by how the Lex vs. Celestia and Luna battle ends, regardless of whether the Knights or the Royal Guard prevail.
But you make an insightful point with regard to what happens after this. Even if Lex wins the battle, translating that into an actual victory insofar as the rest of the populace is concerned is going to be beyond him. He needs Sonata and Nosey in order to regain the public's trust. Fortunately, they're in bound, but in order for them to help him fix things, he'll need to fix things with them first...
9661908 As Sonata would say, worser than worst.
9661207 I'm wondering if the Royal Guard can't really function competently without a leader directing them, like an orchestra without a conductor. That's what Shining Armor did, and yet once he married Cadance there didn't ever seem to be a new Captain of the Guard, did there?
As for trying to get Celestia and Luna to blast Severance, well...we saw that even their enhanced attacks were having trouble getting through Lex's dark crystals, and we know that Severance can cut through those easily (e.g. how it goes right through the black crystal armor that Thermal Draft was wearing in Chapter 104). So that probably wouldn't cut it, something I suspect that Lex knows.