Is this guard duty?
“Get up on your feet!”
Someone is yelling at me. I have no idea where I am, but I do know that I am with someone else. I attempt to get a bear on my surroundings but something strikes me in the face. The object hits me, but I don’t feel anything. I know it struck me because my face jerks away.
“I said get up!” The voice yells at me again.
No matter how many times you say that it will not make me get up any faster.
I wish I could see whatever creature is yelling at me. They sound close, so I’m guessing that they’re the ones striking me with whatever weapon is preventing me from getting up.
Their next set of words are distorted. However, something deep inside me is telling me to feel insulted.
Suddenly I feel a hot sensation rising inside of me. I feel angry all of a sudden. Then my body starts to move on its own. My body gets up and starts to charge in the direction of the voice. I have a boost of confidence as I get closer.
No matter how often I experience these dreams, I never get used to the feeling of having my body move on its own or the emotions I can feel. These 'dreams' feel too real as if I've actually lived them.
The opponent that my body was charging at, dodges at the last second. The feeling of frustration runs across me.
There is a standstill. Neither of us moves an inch. In the silence, my vision was starting to get better. So now I could make out the outline of their body. They sure weren't a pony, but they’re not human either, or any creature I can recall.
Then a quick pain in my head interrupts my thoughts. My opponent’s expression turns horrified. My vision blacks out.
“Wake up!”
I’m woken up by somepony rudely shaking me. I look over to see that it’s Resonance, she finally looks like she’s calmed down from earlier.
“It’s time for you to join us.” She then lets go of me.
I get up from my bed and head outside. It’s still dark out, so the only light sources are the torches around the camp. I head towards the guard that had escorted us here. She’s standing entirely still almost like a statue, except for her ears. I see them slightly twitching. But then she suddenly turns to face me. Her sudden movement causes me to jump back a bit. I can hear Resonance trying to hold back her laugh.
“Did your highness have a pleasant nap?” She asked. There was no concern behind her question, instead, it sounded like she was obligated to ask to which I guess she was. I nodded in response. “Very well, you will replace Resnonace’s place.” She then pointed at the other side of the entrance.
There was nothing else to do for me besides doing homework, so I made my way over. Also, this was my punishment, so there was no getting past this. We stood there peering a the edge of the forest. No light could reveal what was behind the first line of trees.
Wait, shouldn’t I be wearing armor for this?
The guard took notice of this too. She scowled under her breath. She turned to Resonance.
“Where is his armor?”
Resonance groaned in frustration before leaving for the tent. When she came back out she was dragging something with her teeth. It was a metal box with mom’s cutie mark engraved into it. Once she was close enough, she tossed it with ease and it landed only centimeters from my hooves.
I looked up at the guard and she nodded at me. I unfastened the straps that kept it shut. I lifted the top and inside the box was a full set of armor. It wasn’t like the regular night guard armor, or even like the elite armor, the bat pony was wearing.
For starters, my armor looked like it would cover my entire body instead of just my chest. The leg pieces looked like they would cover not just my hooves but also at the joints. I think there’s a piece that would cover my flank.
Let’s try this sucker on then.
I lift the chest piece out of the box and slip it on. I expected it to fit like a shirt, but it rotated around my body like an unfastened saddle on a horse. Resonance chucked at this and the guard just rolled her eyes and helped me up on the rest. In the end, I was surprised at how light it was, despite being completely metal.
Resonance noticed this and suggested that it was simply magic, a spell that made it lighter but kept its toughness. The guard nodded at that, confirming her suspicions. She then mentioned that most armors were like this, but had to have the spell cast again at regular periods. MIne however seemed to be cast by a powerful unicorn.
Or alicorn.
After having my armor put on was over with, The guard then instructed me to resume standing in place.
“Um… miss? What do I call... you by?” I asked. All this time and I haven’t gotten her name yet.
She stood there for a while before speaking. “You may refer to me as Reverb.”
Of course, it is. Bat-ponies always need to have something relating to sound in their names.
“Very well, Reverb. How long will... we be standing here.” I asked.
“I will not be joining you, instead you will have Resonance alongside you.”
“Wait. What!?” Exclaimed Resonance.
“My orders were to watch over you until your shift. And now yours are to watch over the forest edge.” She said pointing at me. "And yours are to watch over him now." She then pointed at Resonance. She pulled a couple of crates from nowhere and laid on top of them to rest.
Both of us stood there speechless.
This is so boring.
Resonance and I were just staring at the trees. Eventually, there would be something shuffling within the trees or tall grass, but it would end up being a small nocturnal animal.
“Why do I have to get dragged into this?” Resonance complained.
Because it’s your job and you’re my bodyguard.
“And what’s up with her, Isn’t she supposed to be the most devoted to her duty out of all the guards?
She sees this job as babysitting. We are only five years old after all.
“Why do you get a cool-looking metal armor?” She stared at my armor, “All I have is this leather one.”
She turned her head to look at me. I brushed it off thinking she was just bored as well. A few minutes went by and she still kept her gaze on me.
“Hey!” She yelled at me. She was probably tired of me not saying anything back. “Why don’t you speak more? It’s boring to be the only one talking here.”
Even though I can talk perfectly without a problem, it’s a force of habit. Talking used to be a big problem. Every time I spoke, I felt a growing pain in my vocal cords with every word, so I had to stop at regular intervals.
“I just don’t… feel like it sometimes.” I finally said to her.
“Sometimes? SOMETIMES!? More like every bucken time! You hardly engage in any conversation.”
“I do join in. I just do not see... the point in most of them.”
“By Luna, you’re impossible.” She whispered but since it was dead quiet my ears were able to pick it up.
We said nothing more after that.
“Sister Luna, please calm down. Ev'rything shall be fine with little Lunar.” The solar princess urged her sister.
Celestia was trying her best to calm her sister down, currently, Luna was pacing back and forth between the throne room and her room. It had been this way the moment Lunar stepped foot outside the castle walls.
“I wast a fool to listen to thee, sister.” Luna snapped at Celestia.
It was Celestia who suggested send her child away for a week. All Luna suggested was getting rid of the book that caused Lunar’s outrage. She should probably remove similar books while she’s at it too.
“Tis is for his own good. Tis only seven days-, nights.” Celestia tried again to reassure her sister.
“What if he gets harmed! Breaks his legs, or worse: Dies!?”
This went on for a while longer.
What was that?
There was a sound of a branch snapping. It could have been a small animal whose weight had caused it to break up in the trees, but this sound came from down on the ground. As if something stepped on it.
“Hey,” I whispered to Resonance, but she ignored me.
When somepony deliberately ignores you it’s best to not press on as it’s what they want. So I turn back to the edge of the forest. I tried to figure out where the sound originated from. My attempt was futile as I had no hunting/tracking skills, so I just gave up.
Maybe it was just my imagination.
“What was it.” Resonance finally spoke, realizing that I wasn't going to fall for her little game.
“I heard a... snapping sound.”
“Probably just an animal.”
“But did YOU hear one crossing by?”
Since she was a bat hybrid it was obvious that her hearing would be as good or better. I don’t know if they’re former ponies or are born like that. Either way, they surpass any regular tracker.
Resonance took a moment to process what I had said, and once she did she took up her spear and took on a defensive stance. Before I could say anything I felt something pulling me by the neck. I was knocked to the ground and dragged closer to the forest edge.
“LUNAR!” Resonance screamed.
There was a rope lassoed around my neck. Following the rope, I saw where the other end led made my blood turn cold. It led into the forest and I could make out a pair of glowing yellow eyes in the shadows. I tried to get up, but whoever was pulling was not giving me the chance.
Why did no pony give me a weapon!?
If I had a spear or small knife I could probably cut myself loose, but no, apparently I wasn’t old enough or experienced enough to weald a real one. I have been training with a spear and sword for the last year, and a real one for the last three months!
And not being old enough was just being hypocritical. Resonance was around the same age as me how come she was allowed to hold one?
Wait. Why isn’t she using her’s!?
“Resonance! Cut me… free!” I yelled.
She pulled out her spear and charged past me. I thought she was being stupid but it looked like she was heading straight towards the culprit. She pointed the spear tip into the dark, while I couldn't make out anything besides the glowing eyes, it was clear that she could.
She thrust her spear, seaming to hit her target, but then she stumbled forward. She quickly fixed her posture and stood her guard. The tension between me and the assailant on the rope was gone. I quickly took it off and looked at where the eyes were. They were still there, looking at me.
Resonance was readying her spear again to strike. The eyes’ glow disappeared as if a candle had gone out. Resonance relaxed her posture but still held on to her spear, telling me that whoever was there standing here had left.
“What was… that?” I asked.
But then Resonance tensed up again. She pulled up closer to me. I looked around us and noticed that we were now deep into the forest. Whoever it was, they had succeeded in getting me into the forest, away from the camp.
However, that wasn’t all. I had suddenly gotten a chill up my spine. Two pairs of glowing green-yellow dots illuminated in the darkness and many more followed shortly. Before we knew it we were completely surrounded.
What are these things?
“Get behind me.” Resonance ordered.
“We are surrounded. It will not... matter where I... stand.”
“Tch.”
One pair made their way closer to us and once out of the darkness, we could make out its details. It was a woof, but it looked like it had bark for armor around its body. Others followed their leader. Each one is revealed to be the same as this one. However, the key difference was that their armor was in different places around their body.
What’s holding the plates in place?
One of them made the first strike, but Resonance countered and skewered it. She brought up her spear vertically, presenting it to the rest of its pack. I could hear it whimpering, it was still alive. The wolf struggled to get free. Resonance swung the spear and the wolf slipped off.
The wolf got up with a small limp, indicating that it was in pain. But then, bark began to spring from its wound, covering it up completely by both ends. It then walked up again, moving as if nothing had happened.
Now that I got a better look at the other wolfs their armor didn’t match up with one another. On one, its face was completely covered in bark, and another had its left leg covered. Every time they got seriously wounded, their injuries would be heald and replaced by wood.
Are these… timber wolves?
Is this how they were before? Ordinary wolves who somehow gained the ability to heal and grow back lost limbs with tree bark. How many times did these get injured to get to the point where they’re completely wood in the present? Or was it a slow process through generations?
Now the entire pack was closing in on us. There was no way we could make a break for it. The only way now was to go up.
Wait a minute.
“Resonance!”
“What!? I’m busy trying to save our necks!”
“We can fly.”
I can only assume that she was mentally bashing her head against a rock for not noticing due to her expression.
Moments later we were high above the tree line. We had gotten away from the wolves, but that didn’t mean we were out of danger yet. The reason being that we have no idea who had yanked me into the forest in the first place.
“Which way back... to outpost?” I asked.
Resonance looked around before spotting the campfire back at the outpost. She pointed over to it, it looked like it was a little ways off. I nodded in response and we began flying over.
“Did you see... who or what it was that... pulled me?” I asked.
“No, she hid behind her hood.”
“She?”
“The shape of the muzzle.”
“Oh.”
“Clever, very clever, this is what I hate about you hybrids.” A new voice rang.
What the-?
I felt a pinch on my neck before feeling drowsy and my vision going into a haze, and before I knew it I had lost consciousness.
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Yay update
Good chapter. Love to see this updated again!
Ima blame Celestia for this.
"Death waits for the slightest slip ups." wonder what happends next
Good chapter
10876746
luna will too
Well, if nothing else we get to see mama luna rampage
ok. first of all. i wish to strangle Celestia. HE IS FIVE YEARS OLD! what kind of faking training program is this? is she honestly trying to get him killed? to sabotage the relationship between him and luna? get him killed and destroy luna's self confidence and prove once and for all that she was right?
10877476
This is all part of the set up for causing Luna to go NMM and seek vengeance against Celestia. Luna already has it out for Celestia, and will likely see this as Celestias plan in getting rid of her son, which it very well could be.
That's a great story, can't wait to see what's to come next