The Equestrian Royal Guard

by Elusive Phoenix

Saturday- 3 days until Day: 1

3 days until Day: 1…

I sat on Twilight’s couch reading the most recent Daring Doo book. I noticed Twilight constantly glancing my way. ‘Why? Is it that she’s envious of sitting on the couch reading? The fact that I was bleeding on her brand new couch last night, and is worried about the stains? Or just straight up worried about me?’

My eyes followed her around the room, as she organized scrolls and books on their shelves. I heard whispering outside the library door. Twilight knew my plan, and had realized my inability to make it to Sugarcube Corner to do things with Pinkie, and invited her over for me, and it was most likely Pinkie outside the door. I lay on my left side on the chouch, facing the door, and extended my good wing, ready for Pinkie’s ‘think fast!’.

The door burst open and revealed a pink pile of energy, which yelled to me, “Hey, Dashie! Think fast!” A blue beach ball flew toward me, and was sent back to sender as I hit it with my wing. Pinkie caught the ball in her hooves, then shoved the thing down her throat.

‘That can’t be healthy.’ “Hey Pinkie, how’s it going?” I asked.

“It’s good! But I was thinking: Is my mane really pink? Or is it light-ish red?”

“You know the name for light-ish red? PINK.”

“No, because this isn’t really pink! This is a lighter than red, but still red-ish red than pink.”

“Right… yeah, whatever.”

Twilight entered the room, and was surprised that it wasn’t destroyed or had party supplies and decorations scattered around, “Oh, hi Pinkie! Umm, if you’re doing stuff together today, can you PLEASE try not to make a mess?”

“Well, I can’t do that without possibly hurting poor Dashie! Oh, and what do you think? Is my mane light-ish red? Or pink?” Pinkie replied.

“The definition for the color pink is light-ish red.”

“Oh, you guys are no fun! You and your science!” Pinkie bounced over to me as Twilight trotted out the door on her daily errands, “Twilight didn’t tell me what happened! How did you get hurt?”

“I hit my leg on a branch and landed on my wing, which is fine now.”

“Then why aren’t you flying around?”

“Are you kidding? Flying for extended periods of time is tiring! Plus, my posture wouldn’t be very good, and would take more strength than usual.”

“Okay!” Pinkie replied cheerfully, “So, what are we going to do?”

“Pinkie, do you know why we’re hanging out today, despite my disability?”

“Because you need cheering up because you can’t fly! And I’m the best pony for it!”

I chuckled, “Kind of. Pinkie, I’m joining the Equestrian Royal Guard.”

“Oh boy! Now you can guard Sugarcube Corner!”

“No, Pinkie. I’m going to war.” Her face fell slightly.

“You mean you’re going to go fight other ponies?”

“Well, I’m not exactly sure if they’re ponies. Actually, I have no idea what I’ll be up against!”

“Well, at least we’ll still see you!”

“Yeah, but every like, seven months!” Then her face fell. It was as if the whole world had decided to take away her very being. Her hair deflated.

“Why? Why would you do that? How can you just leave us behind like that?” She whispered in sadness.

“I’m sorry. It’s already hard for me to do anyway! But… I could save lives! Prevent things like what you’re feeling right now from happening!” Pinkie’s frown lessened, “And it’s not like I’m never coming back! It may be long periods of time, but I’ll still be here!” I smiled at her. She smiled back.

*POOF*, Her mane regained its Pinkie Pie-ness, “Well, I need to throw a ‘Goodbye Rainbow Dash good luck in the military see you in six or seven months’ party!”

“Can we do that tomorrow?” I asked.

“Of course silly! So, wuwegonnado now?” She asked.

“…Board games…?”

“…C4?...”

We sat on the ground, me having shifted from the couch onto the ground. We had been playing board games for a few hours. Now, we were playing BattleCloud.

“…miss…J2?...”

“…You hit my cumulous…”

“OH BOY!!!” Pinkie began to prance around the room in joy, “I finally beat Rainbow Dash at BattleCloud!” You’d think with Pinkie being Pinkie, she’d have won already. Well, every time she played this against me, it was as if she couldn’t tamper with time and space. She won Chess, checkers, Monopony, everything! She beat me every game we played to that moment, today, or ever! And yet, she just never beat me before on BattleCloud. Now she had, “Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!”

“Yeah, yeah,” I said depressed. ‘I finally lost… it was bound to come someday.’

“Oh, cheer up Dashie! It’s not like having your wing broken again! You can still fly around and have fun! This was just one small loss!” I glared at her.

“Oh, right! You ARE injured again!”

“Yeah.”

“Do you need a song! I know a song that I heard from a gypsy a few days ago that would work perfectly in this situation and make you feel better!”

“I don’t really feel like it, but I know it will help anyway; so why not?”

Pinkie inhaled a giant breath:

“When you’re rife with devastation there’s a simple explanation,
You’re a toymaker’s creation trapped inside a crystal ball,
And whichever way he tilts it,
Know that we must be resilient,
We won’t let them break our spirits as we sing our silly song!

When I was a little filly,
A galloping blaze overtook my city,
So they shipped me off to the orphanage,
Said ‘Ditch those roots if you wanna fit in!’
So I dug one thousand holes and cut a rug with orphan foals,
Now memories are blurred and their faces are obscured,
But I still know the words to this song!

When you’ve bungled all your bangles,
And your loved ones have been mangled,
Listen to the jingle jangle of my gypsy tambourine,
Cause these cord are hypnotizing and the whole world’s harmonizing,
So please children stop your crying,
And just sing along with me!”

“… I’m not really sure if that made me feel any better. Because I felt joyful from the song, but the lyrics were really depressing.” I said, slightly more depressed from the song.

“Honestly, the only word I could understand was ‘mangled’, and your leg is mangled, so I thought it would be a good song! The rest of the song’s words didn’t make proper sentences though!”

“It was an… interesting song… does my leg really look that bad?”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it!” She said, completely ignoring my question, “Do you feel any better now?”

“It didn’t really make me feel any different.”

“Do you want me to sing it again?”

“No, I’m fine!” I said hurriedly. I didn’t want to feel any more depressed.

“Okey, dokey, lokey!” Pinkie smiled, “So, what are we doing now?”

“What do you want to do?” I asked.

“Oh, silly Dashie! You’re leaving soon, so we need to do what you want to do!”

“We always do what I want to do! Which is exactly why I want to do what you want to do!”

Pinkie thought for a second, “Sounds legit. Okay! We’ll steal all of Twilights food and make experimental cupcakes!”

“Can we do something that doesn’t involve stealing, or me moving?”

“There was a song that I heard the Gypsy sing to Applebloom! I could sing that!”

“Pinkie, I don’t want to feel depressed!”

“Oh, Dashie! Even in the darkest of days, there is always something to be happy about!” She said, confident that it was true.

‘And it probably is. I’ll have to remember that.’ I thought, then said, “What else can we do?”

“Think fast!”

“Wha-” I barely said before a beach ball was hurdled my way. Without thinking, I smacked the ball with my hoof, directing it toward Pinkie’s face. When they collided, I was glad it wasn’t something heavy, because just the force of my blow was enough to push Pinkie onto her flank.

“Dash…”

“Oh my gosh! Pinkie I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to hit it that hard-!”

“That was AWESOME! Do it again!” Her grin stretched from one corner of her face to the other as she threw the ball at me again.

Still not understanding her joy at suspected pain, my reflexes worked faster than my brain, and hit the ball again, straight at Pinkie. She expected it this time, and bumped it back, full force. Now understanding this predicament, I let my reflexes do the talking, and hit the ball. Pinkie ducked as it came at her face once more, and the door to the library opened. The ball impaled itself on Twilight’s horn, and let out a low whistle.

“Oh, Twilight, you popped our ball! Now we can’t play bounce the ball!” Pinkie said sadly.

“That ‘game’ had a name?” I asked.

“Does now!”

“Are you two little fillies? Don’t hit a ball like that INSIDE! You might break something!” Twilight fumed.

“Twilight, it’s a beach ball! I don’t think we can break a bone with that! Especially not anymore!” Pinkie replied.

“UGH! I’m going to my room to take a nap!” Twilight trotted up the stairs, angry at us for roughhousing.

“Okay, Dashie! I’d better go, before Mister and Missus Cake start getting worried! I had fun playing though!” She smiled widely.

*Click*. Picture taken.

“I enjoyed it too Pinkie! When is the party?”

“Tomorrow at three!”

“Alright! See you tomorrow!”

“Bye, bye, Dashie!” She waved to me, and I waved back as she left the premises.

‘Two days left. Two days of freedom. And one I’ll be spending learning the military grounds. Tomorrow will be my last day in Ponyville…’

Comments

[Elusive Phoenix]

Six hundred more words than the last one!
Slightly better.
BUT NOT ENOUGH.

Finally have this chapter out!
At points, I think Pinkie was too Pinkie, and others I think she wasn't Pinkie enough.

I'm bad at capturing personalities.

CIAHFOBIA.

[Literature]

Oh wow I like this chapter. Dialogue is getting better and you captured Pinkie perfectly. I like that bit of foreshadowing with the reflexes. I can't wait for the training to start!
This story has been boosted from an 8.3 out of 10 to a 9.1 out of 10.
Which is amazing. I have very high standards. I only have 2 stories with a 10 out of 10.
My Little Dashie
Tiny Wings
Both made me cry. A lot.
And of course Wild Blue Yonder, which is a 9.8
Great read as well.
So this story is AWESOME.

[Elusive Phoenix]

1076644
Wow, thanks!

I don't know why I just thought of this, and why I didn't think of it until now.

Later in the story:

*Boom*.

'nuff said.

[Silverstein]

Great story! The dialogue is really good and I absolutely loved how you used the song from 'Friendship Is Witchcraft'!

Keep it up!

Silver out!

[Elusive Phoenix]

1077060
If you paid close attention, you'd notice I referenced Pinkie's brew!

[Silverstein]

1077070

I actually saw that line, great work again!

Silver out!

[Elusive Phoenix]

I wrote the first half of this chapter three days ago, and totally forgot about the RVB reference I had!

Light red is TOTALLY NOT PINK.