Guarded Emotions: The Final Season

by Alabenson

She's All Yak

“So, explain to me again why we’re doin’ this?” Sharpshooter asked as he and Silver Streak stood at the entrance to the School of Friendship, eliciting an exasperated sigh from Silver Streak.

“For the last time, Princess Twilight’s throwing a big dance tonight, I think she’s calling it the Amity Ball or something, and the captain wants us providing extra security,” Silver Streak growled.

“No, Ah get that,” Sharpshooter replied. “What Ah can’t figure out is why in Celestia’s name does the Cap’n want us guardin’ some school dance.”

“Well, for one thing you’ve got that bunch of foreign students in there and it’s be a serious diplomatic incident if anything happened to them,” Silver Streak said. “And besides that, the captain crunched the numbers and it turns out most monster attacks happened whenever there’s a party or a festival or something, so he doesn’t want to take any chances.”

“Uh huh. Now, y’ know Ah ain’t exactly one to second guess the Cap’n, but Ah have a few thoughts about that last bit,” Sharpshooter said after a few moments.

Silver Streak rolled her eyes. “Oh, this should be good.”

“Hold on, hear me out here. Just how many holidays and festivals and what have y’ do y’ reckon they’ve got in this town? And not just the big holidays, but all the little local stuff,” Sharpshooter started.

“I dunno, I’ve never really paid all that much attention,” Silver Streak admitted.

“Well, Ah’ll tell y’, they’ve got a whole durn lot of ‘em. And that ain’t even countin’ all the parties the Princess’ friend keeps throwin’. The Puddin’ Appreciation Day party, the National Funny Hat Day party, the Throw a Random Party Day party…” Sharpshooter listed off.

“Okay, I get it, Pinkie Pie throws parties like my old drill sergeant ordered hooflocker inspections. Is there a point to any of this?” Silver Streak asked irritably.

“Mah point is that Ponyville has got so many dang parties and festivals that y’ can’t throw a dart at a calendar without hittin’ a day that’s got somethin’ happenin’. So, maybe the reason monsters keep attackin’ on days when there’s some shindig goin’ on,” Sharpshooter concluded.

“That’s…actually a fair point,” Silver Streak reluctantly concluded before an evil grin crept over her face. “So, do you want to be the one to tell the captain why we shouldn’t bother with guard duty, then?”

“Y’ know, this ain’t that big a deal,” Sharpshooter quickly replied. “Like y’ said before, it’d be a real problem if somethin’ happened to the princess’ students and Ah reckon the Cap’n’s already thought of all that anyway.”

“The numbers are actually quite a bit more significant when you consider that I omitted Miss Pinkie’s ‘day that ends in a ‘y’’ celebrations from my calculations.” Sharpshooter and Silver Streak immediately shot to attention as Moonwhisper casually trotted into view. “At ease, both of you, this isn’t quite a formal guard posting, at least not yet anyway.”

“Does that mean that Princess Twilight hasn’t agreed to your suggestions regarding security for the school, sir?” Silver Streak asked.

“Officially, no. But, it seems that Princess Twilight isn’t so much opposed to the idea as much as that she dislikes the notion that the school might need security to begin with. And, on a certain level, I can appreciate her position. That said, between Cozy Glow and…the other recent incident, Twilight seems to be coming around to the idea, as a practical necessity if nothing else,” Moonwhisper said. “Of course, before we can realistically discuss assigning security personnel we’ll need to finish work on Fort Everfree.”

Any further conversation was forcibly put on hold as a series of crashes could be heard coming form within the school. As the three guards moved to investigate, a sobbing yak ran out the front door of the school, soon followed by a young, green earth pony stallion.

“Is everycreature alright in here?” Silver Streak called out as she poked her head inside the school.

“I don’t think anycreature is hurt, but where you able to see where Yona ran off to?” Twilight asked as she helped magic away the mess that had been made of the room.

“Going by the direction she was going I’d say she was probably headed for the Everfree Forest, most likely towards the clubhouse at the castle ruins,” Moonwhisper replied before turning to Silver Streak. “I want you to do a flyover of that part of the forest, see if you can verify Miss Yona’s location. I’m also fairly certain that the earth pony we saw run after her is Sandbar, one of other students responsible for defeating Cozy Glow, so most it’s highly likely that he’ll be headed after Miss Yona as well.”

“Yes sir, I’ll make sure they’re both brought back safely,” Silver Streak replied.

“Actually…once you have visual contact I want you to stay airborne and out of sight. Intervene if you see that’s they’re in any potential danger but otherwise just maintain observation distance,” Moonwhisper said after a moment’s thought.

Silver Streak looked at Moonwhisper with a confused expression before saluting. “Yes sir, understood.” With that, Silver Streak took off into the air in the same direction Yona and Sandbar ran off in.

“What was that all about?” Twilight asked as she watched Silver Streak disappear into the air.

“Given that Sandbar was chasing after Yona, I suspected that whatever prompted Miss Yona to run off was part of some sort of friendship problem, in which case its best to minimize any potential interference,” Moonwhisper replied.

Twilight smiled and nodded in agreement. “You’re probably right. In the meantime, maybe you can help me with something for when Yona gets back.”