Always Vigilant

by TheScotsman

Chapter 13 - Survive - Unedited

Border Of The White Tail Woods
Equstria, San Prancisolt
August 2nd 1000
0640

The warm autumn breeze flowed freely between the trees, bouncing from one oak to another giving a fresh feeling to the surrounding area. The air was peaceful and quiet, a perfect day for a pleasant outing with family and friends. Just beyond the forest walls, the faint noise of the city could be heard as ponies of all kind went about their daily business oblivious to what had been unfolding in the capital.

The silence of the forest slowly began to fade soon to be replaced by a low winning sound that echoed an animal in severe pain. As the time passed the whine got louder and louder before a small section in the forest shone brightly with a blue and white flash before completely dissipating as the forest quickly returned to its natural state of peace and serenity.

I was thrown back a fair bit by the force of a pony slamming into me mid transport, I couldn't notice much about my surroundings only that it was a lot brighter than it had been in the castle which clearly indicated we have transported outside.

My sudden feeling of momentum came to an abrupt halt as my back smacked against the hard surface of an oak tree causing my breath to suddenly be ejected from my lungs making me wheeze uncontrollably as my head ricocheted back onto the tree acting as a final punishment to my body.

My mind was clearly rattled as I struggled to even see what was going on. I could feel my body being pinned to the ground and noises around me however they all appeared to link together as if it were one hive mind of voices.

Trying to break free of whatever was pinning me down I was only met with more pain and resistance as once again I was slammed onto the ground causing my vision to blur even more as my coughing fit continued.

Finding it harder and harder to resist I eventually was forced to concede as my head continued to roar with pain, I could only have imagined what injury would have been sustained if I hadn't been wearing my combat helmet.

Whilst I was lying on the ground I tried hard to recollect my thoughts of the past few minutes while I recuperated physically.

I remembered stunning Luna before reciting the transport scroll and then it all had gone white? Right? No.

The guard! I thought to myself. As my inner thoughts searched the picture became clearer and clearer. A Solar Guard (who'd probably come to collect me) had entered the room mid transport, they'd obviously seen me and Luna and put two and two together.

From what I could tell said guard was still on top of me pinning me down with all their might. These ponies might not look that tough but I can tell you they're hardly what I would call light (especially when they're wearing solid gold armour).

"Stop Resisting!" The first clear voice I'd heard since arriving rung throughout the air and into my ear. Assuming it was the guard on top of me I tried to push up against them as if to say 'Fuck You' to them. I had expected them to push down even harder however they didn't apply any additional force.

Seems like I'm not the only one starting to wear out. I thought as I began to create a quick strategy in my head. Stopping my attack on all fronts I rested myself for a few seconds before bringing my left knee up as hard as I could. My knee clearly hit its target as the guard cried out in pain.

However just as I was about to go back on the offensive and push them off the entire weight of the guard pinning me down vanished followed a millisecond after by a strong breeze of wind and a thud sound nearby a second later.

The absence of pressure on my body allowed me to rest for a few seconds as my vision slowly began to clear revealing a thin canopy line above me. Between the gaps, a clear blue sky illuminated the sky with help from the shining sun that was burning directly behind me by the looks of it.

"Are you alright sir?" A female voice sounded off in my left ear as I was slowly lifted up from my sunbathing position.

Coughing again I rested my back against the tree I had just been pinned against a moment ago before answering. "Uh, yeah I think so.." realising I hadn't caught the names of my bodyguards I turned my head slightly to make eye contact with them coming face to face with the smaller guard.

"Corporal Astra, sir," She replied, as she pulled a small medical bag out of her uniform. I continued to keep eye contact with her until I saw her pulling out an old WW2 looking bandage. Clearly she could see something I couldn't.

I knew I only had limited "advanced" medical supplies and hitting a tree didn't really qualify as a good reason to use any of them even though I would have loved to stab myself with an auto-injector right about now.

Astra slowly began to wrap my head with a thick feeling bandage as I slowly came back to my senses after having the shit knocked complete out of me. "Wheres the golden guard pony?" I asked in between taking breaths of air.

"On your right, sir," Astra replied automatically not taking her eye off of the bandage work she was currently doing on my head.

As I shifted my eyes to the right they widened at what I saw.

The male guard had the solar guard pinned against the tree and trapped in a telekinetic field with what appeared to be an arm, or well hoof blade held up to the guard's chin.

The day guard in question was squirming around within the aura however due to the tree they were being pinned up against they hardly had enough room to manoeuvre. Nevertheless, the guard was definitely trying their hardest to get out of the aura they were entrapped in.

My mental capacity was slowly beginning to recover however I felt very light and quite sick to the stomach. I felt like at any moment I was going to lean over and spew the contents of yesterdays lunch out onto the forest floor, however, when no such event happened I was left trying to get my eyes to better focus on the day guard.

My 'bodyguard' that had been pinning them down had clearly had enough of their squirming as he pulled her towards him before slamming her down onto the grass below and pushing the blade right up to their neck. "If you so much as squirm again I will slit this knife right across your throat! Do you understand?!" The guard asked.

The guard never raised his voice to a noticeable level yet he spoke with such intensity he reminded me of those interrogators that would try and break you for 10 minutes during basic training back in the UK.

The guard he had pinned down coughed harshly as they were thrown against the ground before trying to reply. "Your, your night... Your Night Guards! He attacked the princess!" The voice was shaky and weak however I recognised it in an instant even in my semi-lucid state.

"Golden?" I shouted, "Golden, is it you?" I began to shift my back so I could get a better view however a hoof blocked my path causing my advance to halt.

"Sir, you must stay still your losing blood!" Astra insisted but my own instinct overrode hers as I continued to push my way up.

"Is it her?" I asked trying to crawl my way towards her. The male guard simply looked at me before looking back to her.

"Well, you heard him, answer the question!" He ordered.

"... Yes, it's me! I don't understand? What's going on!?" Goldens voice was clearly on the verge of tears either out of confusion or pain. Either one made me feel equally shitty inside as I knew I was going to have to explain this to her somehow, something I wanted to avoid at all costs.

"Listen to me Archer I can explain..." I began before being cut off by an enraged Golden.

"You attacked the princess!" She yelled trying to push her way towards me with no avail. It was clear that we had both knocked lumps out of each other and were still in no condition to continue the fight.

"Because SHE asked me too!" I yelled back at her.

If Golden could have looked me in the eye at that moment she probably would have given me some sort of crazed look however her current predicament only permitted her words to reach me and not her glare.

"Ponyfeathers!" She cried, "the princess would never ask you to do that!"

Sighing slightly I tried to calm myself down as I slowly lost the will to shout at her anymore. "Look I don't know if you just tried to swear at me but that aside I'm telling you the truth here.

"And I sai..." Goldens reply was cut off as a thud sound followed.

"Shes lost consciousness," the male guard called over to me.

'Fan Fucking Tastic! I screamed internally. Clearly myself of any wrongdoing wouldn't be that tricky. All proceedings that led up to this moment would have been captured by my PDA that was hooked to my chest plate.

The PDA was designed to record everything you did whilst you were out in the field to ensure that you weren't fucking about with the locals or anything although I'd say on this occasion I'd gone past that particular protocol.

Slowly I pulled out the PDA to check the recording to see what id be showing Golden when she woke up however what displayed on the screen shattered that hope.

"Power Cell Depleted, Going Into Emergency Mode, Essential Services Only For Remainder Of Cell Reserves, Recharge At Next Opportunity Available"

"Fuck!" I shouted out loud causing both of my guards to go into attack mode before realising I was just pissed off.

"Sir?" Astra asked as she put her medkit back into her pouch.

"Peace of shit recorder didn't record shit corporal,". I said stuffing the PDA back into my vest.

"And that's a bad thing?" The male guard scoffed as he walked over to me.

"Yes, you fucking moron, it's a bad thing!" This would have contained all the proof I needed to show Golden that I didn't murder one of the fucking princesses!" I shouted at him as I threw my combat helmet onto the grass causing it to bounce and roll over towards another tree. The situation had officially gone from bad to worse in a matter of seconds.

The guard still didn't seem sympathetic to my plight instead opting to lower his head towards me before unleashing a dark blue beam in my direction causing me to jump up onto my feet in surprise. The beam only lasted a second however I still managed to throw a punch his way causing him to fall back in surprise.

"Fuck!" I yelled. "What is it with you Fucking Ponies that you can't stop shooting shit out of your horns for 5 fucking minutes!?"

"You fool! It was a small healing spell to help You!" The guard yelled back getting back on all fours before trying to push his face into my own.

"Vesper stop it!" A third voice entered the foray as we both turned to see Astra standing between us with her wings extended. "The Captain is still not use to our magic, you should have at least warned him,".

'Vesper? Well, at least I know his name now even if he is an arse'. I thought to myself.

"Whatever," Vesper grumbled before grabbing my helmet in his magic and throwing it over in my direction. Luckily I caught it before it could impact my stomach but the I could feel the hostility from his throw, not that I particularly cared. "We need to move further into the forest, we're far to close the edge, I'm surprised we haven't been discovered by somepony already,".

"Well, for once I'd say we're in agreement, I'm assuming you guys know the area?" I asked as I fixed my helmet back onto my head.

"I know the forest well enough to lead us inland to some rougher terrain, nopony is going to find us in there sir,". Astra replied a confident smirk on her face.

"Good," I replied. I'd had just about enough close encounters with ponies to last me a lifetime, I certainly didn't need any more today.

"I guess I'm carrying our dead weight then," Vesper commented annoyance laced through his voice as he peered back to a still unconscious Golden.

I looked back to him with a smirk. "Fuck me, you catch on quickly Seargent, if I'd known you were so clever I probably wouldn't have gone for the head. After all one of us needs to have the brains around here right?"

The Seargent didn't respond although his expression told it all which was enough to satisfy me as we began the long trek deeper into the woods.

Author's Note:

Hello everyone!

This chapter was originally going to be longer, however, after some consideration, I have decided to split it into two separate chapters so I can release more frequently for you guys.
As always feedback is appreciated.

Comments

[Xblaster]

Nice this was good

[Andhera Hollow]

I need more, please. Love the story so far.😀😀