65536: 13
Nighttime in Canterlot is almost over and so is the shift for Nightguards without their own lodgings in the city who met up earlier to have early morning dinner and a few drinks before returning to the castle. As they head up the many flights of stairs, their conversation revolves around the food they ate recently.
“No offense, but I’d take chineighese over any traditional Hollow Shades cuisine,” Pink Sunset shrugs.
“I will bite you!” Gloom hisses at him.
“I can understand local pride and whatnot but you have to admit it’s an acquired taste at best,” Sharp Biscuit tries to avoid this turning into yet another culinary lecture from Gloom.
“Race traitor!”
“Whoa there, Gloom. Let’s not go crazy,” Night Hunter joins the ‘discussion’.
“My grandma would make you a blood pudding you’d never forget,” grumbles Gloom.
“Show of hooves - fruit bats?” Sharp gives her a smug look when every present Nightguard barring one but including Gloom quickly raises a hoof, “Good. Now, what does our resident vampire bat have to say about grandma’s blood pudding?”
“Overrated,” Steel Glimmer shrugs.
“Why, you tattooed-?!”
“Gloom, you’ve never been to the Griffon Empire, have you?” Glimmer calmly shoots her down.
“No...”
“Those guys know how to work with giblets,” Glimmer’s wings perk up, “Hey, how about I order some proper meat next month from this one amazing shop in Manehattan? We can do some grilling on the castle roof.”
“Only if you want a weather patrol raining on your parade, literally,” Sharp shakes his head, “The east training grounds should be okay, though.”
“Great, that settles it.”
“Just don’t go crazy with it, Glims,” says Sharp, “I must admit I’m not big on meat either. Can I plus one, though?”
“Yeah, sure. Who?”
“I’m thinking Darky.”
“That means no alcohol, though,” says Night Hunter immediately, betraying a previous experience with the mare in question, “I don’t want to have to pry her off of myself again.”
“Duly noted,” Sharp nods, “But I think this time she won’t-” he freezes and quickly raises his foreleg.
They’ve reached the top floor of the castle, namely the Nightguard barracks. At this time of the earliest morning light, the castle is almost deathly silent other than the kitchens they passed on the way. However, the enchanted studs on Sharp’s armor send a chill down his spine.
The rest of the Nightguards, while slightly tipsy after a few post-shift drinks, immediately go silent, completely focused on their surroundings.
“Commander?” whispers Gloom, all bad blood over Hollow Shades food forgotten instantly.
“Magic directly ahead. The barracks door. Not Luna’s,” replies Sharp, “Get in position, standard entry procedure.”
“65536?” Gloom gasps.
Sharp scowls.
Of course that such a critical location would be stuffed with protective spells but Sharp’s armor is attuned to all of that otherwise he would never get a moment of peace while inside the castle. The spell on the door, whatever it may be, is fresh and from an unknown source.
Night Hunter steps right in front of the door. As a wing razor user, he’s strong enough to use the heavy variant which isn’t just a blade on the edge of the wing for both aerial and close combat, but a thick, sharpened sheath. With a flick of his wing, a set of lightweight metal sheets slide out, covering his entire wing and turning it into a shield. Sharp, Gloom, Sunset, and Glimmer take places by the door, two on each side.
“Go,” whispers Sharp, and Night Hunter quickly flicks the handle before kicking the unlocked door open and charging inside.
A few steps in, he begins scanning the area as Sharp jumps in second.
The others join them immediately, feeling somewhat foolish as all five fully armed and armored Nightguards straight up fail to see anything even remotely out of place. A moment later, Sharp realizes his armor stopped its magical warning bells. Whatever the spell that triggered the strange feeling was, it faded with them entering the barracks.
“Spell’s gone,” he announces.
“Perhaps just a new alarm or something?” asks Gloom.
“I can’t say,” Sharp shakes his head, “Do a full sweep of the area,” as the others spread out, he adds, “Permanently enchanted armors like this one are rare at best. As far as I know, there’s three of us in total inside the Nightguard who have them and Luna made them personally. They’re attuned to the magic of the castle defense matrix and every new added protection has to adhere to the same pattern or the already existing spells would nullify it. The best an armor like this can do for a non-unicorn is warn them, it doesn’t give me the ability to identify magic or anything.”
“No sign of ‘numbers’,” reports Night Hunter from the back of the barracks where his training equipment is.
“Crayons under the bed,” adds Pink Sunset quickly.
“...no no no no no...” Sharp grits his teeth.
“Commander,” Gloom calls out in a voice with just the tiniest bit of hysterical panic, “Get over here!”
The Nightguards gather around her bed on which lies a bulging sack stained with flour.
“I’m having flashbacks to The Godstallion,” growls Night Hunter.
Sharp reaches for the sack but his hoof is slapped away by Gloom’s.
With trembling hooves, the mare tries to untie the knot and fails. With a growl, she flick her fetlock and a blade slides out of her combat horseshoe. Carefully, she cuts the string and opens the sack.
“Stars above...” Sharp breathes out.
With a sudden precision strike, Gloom, baring her fangs at nothing in particular, slashes the sack open without the blade even touching the absolute mess of a changeling that’s inside and freeing it in one fell swoop.
“65536?” she whispers.
The quivering, curled-up, black blob whimpers quietly while covering its head with its forelegs.
“...it’s me, auntie Gloom...” she whispers again.
65536 slowly withdraws its forelegs and looks up, tears immediately pooling in its teal eyes. Gloom isn’t sure how to proceed but 65536 makes a move first by wrapping its tiny legs around her fetlock.
“Ablublbubbubluuuuuu!”
“Commander, look,” says Glimmer in a serious tone, pointing at the gaping wound in 65536 back caked with green goo and flour dust.
Without a word, Sharp begins examining 65536 while the drone is slobbering against Gloom’s leg as the mare never stops stroking its head. Its wings are bent and smashed, the terrifying back wound reveals a wound on the drone’s belly, its carapace is cracked, scratched, bruised, there’s flour dust caked on everything, mixed with green liquid which might be goo or changeling blood, and even its fetlocks seem to be bent out of shape and the flesh is clearly visible through the cracks.
Once he’s finished, he gestures at Steel Glimmer and Night Hunter, leading them away into a corner.
“I don’t need to say it, do I?” he glares at the two.
“I was due for a vacation,” Glimmer nods with a sadistic grin.
“Same,” says Night Hunter, his expression solid like a brick.
“No,” Sharp shakes his head, “Officially, you’re investigating an intrusion into the castle and an assassination attempt at a friend of the crown. Enlist anypony from the Nightguard you need.”
“Yes, Commander!” they salute.
“Get a good night’s sleep and start tomorrow. 65536 might be able to tell us something useful after some rest. I’ll sort out the details of your shifts with Darky. If you need gold, tell me.”
“Jail?” asks Night Hunter.
Sharp shakes his head which is all the Nightguards need.
There are times when law simply isn’t sufficient, and those who hunt in the night know that full well. The one responsible for 65536’s current state won’t do it again, and anypony associated with them will hear the warning message loud and clear.
Besides, nothing the Nightguards could do to the culprit could compare to what a master of magic like Luna would do once she found out.
***
Sunset arrives, although nopony in the pitch blackness of the Nightguard barracks would notice.
65536 slowly opens its eyes and lets out a little squeaky yawn. It feels warm, and all the pain from last night seems distant, like a bad dream. Warm is good, warm reminds it of the drone piles of the bad old days back in the hive. The good part of the bad days when drones cleared out a cavern early, the cavern wasn’t full of acidic munchers, and they could all just huddle together for an hour or two in a tight corner until further orders. Unlike then, though, the surface surrounding it is all soft and fuzzy.
After some resistance, it manages to peek its head from between Gloom’s forelegs and some more wiggling frees it from the blanket. Of course, the movement immediately wakes the lightly sleeping Nightguard as well.
“How are you feeling, buddy?” she whispers, unwilling to let the drone go completely.
65536 stretches its legs as much as it can in the tight space, wincing and twitching as it feels cracking, grinding, and pulling in all the wrong places. On the other hole, the mental fog of complete exhaustion is dissipating quickly and the lack of squelching means, uhh, probably good things.
All in all, it could be worse. It was worse just hours ago.
“...not leaking anymore… I think...” it mumbles.
“Do you think we could talk about what happened?” she asks, “It’s okay if you don’t want to but it would help the Commander figure some things out.”
*Whimper.*
“Alright, alright,” Gloom scratches the drone behind the ear, “I’m not going to push you.”
“No, bad 65536!” the drone pouts suddenly and tries to wiggle out of Gloom’s embrace again, “...ow ow ow ow...”
“It’s okay, don’t worry about it-”
“No!” it huffs, “I can’t be an honorific Nightguard if I’m all scaredy. We gotta warn other drones about spindly stranglers back home too!” it finally manages to free itself from Gloom's confused grasp and sits up on the bed, its chest puffed out in defiance to its own fear.
It still keeps the blanket wrapped around its back just in case.
“Eeep?!” its eyes bulge when, with a flap of wings, Night Hunter and Steel Glimmer land by the bedside from somewhere above just as 65536 notices that Sharp and Pink Sunset are sitting on the two beds neighboring Gloom’s.
“Spindly stranglers...” Sharp asks, “Did I guess wrong? Did more dreamscape monsters get into the castle?”
“Nu-uh,” 65536 shakes its head, “It was a horny pony.”
“What the-” Night Hunter’s looks of complete disgust turns into a sigh of relative relief when Sharp explains by saying:
“It means a unicorn.”
“Yeah, a unicycle!” 65536 forces a smile.
“Come on...” Gloom gently bops its head.
“It’s less scary that way,” objects 65536.
“We can take it, honorary Nightguard. Please, give the Commander a full report,” Gloom can’t help thawing as 65536’s mood is visibly improving now that it’s surrounded by friends.
“Umm.. umm… uh...” 65536’s jaw drops, “I just realized I can’t tell you everything, I promised. But I can say all the important parts, I swear.”
“What do you mean?” asks Pink Sunset, his face mirroring the confusion of everypony. Everypony other than Sharp, that is, who furrows his brows and simply states:
“Understood. It’s like that thing with the mirror, right?” he waits for 65536 to nod, “So what happened?”
“I was doing my drawing when a shiny floaty came through the door. I hid under a bed but the floaty found me. We played catch a bit and then… uhhh… I’m not allowed to say but I ended up feeding the changelings down in the dungeons. They were in a really bad shape but it was my duty as a hilarious Nightguard to help them get through the day or maybe even more. I had love to spare because all you guys are super nice!” it beams at the surrounding faces trying to piece together what they can, “I was told to wait in a different cell until… until a thing I can’t talk about happened. Then the thing happened but it was interrupted and I was left in the cell alone. As I was waiting, a unicorn stallion came in-”
“What was he wearing?” Sharp interrupts it. 65536 describes what it can, which Sharp concludes with, “Hmph, standard castle staff attire.”
“He said he was supposed to pick me up but when I crawled out from under the bed he...” 65536 lowers its head, “He stabbed me. I didn’t know what was going on so I tried to get out but he locked the door and then it got worse and I had to dig his leg when he pushed me into the corner and he stabbed his floaty knife with teeth in my back and I dug through the door and escaped but there were more guards coming and I had to run and I heard them talk to the bad pony and-”
“Slow down, 65536,” Sharp puts his hoof on the drone’s nose for a moment. Its eyes are wide, it’s shaking again, and it seems to be staring blankly into nowhere, “Take a deep breath. I know it must have been terrifying but we need to know.”
65536 takes a short break before continuing:
“I ran off, faked crawling up a small air vent but in reality I went into a different, bigger one hidden behind a slidy panel. I went up but I bumped into something heavy that fell on me and I crashed all the way down. When I dug up through the mess, I couldn’t fly anymore so I had to climb up. I found the first unlocked hole and got out but I was so tired I couldn’t even see. Someone grabbed me and stuck me into that sack,” it nods to the discarded flour sack on the floor, “I think I was floating but I’m not sure. It wasn’t bumpy like riding on someone’s back, I think, but everything feels so… distant now. I think that pony brought me here and told me to stay quiet so I did. The next thing I remember was hearing a really loud noise. hoofsteps, and then Gloom pulling me out.”
“Did the voice belong to a mare or to a stallion?”
“Stallion, for sure.”
“Thank you,” Sharp forces a smile while saluting to 65536, “Excellent job, honorary Nightguard.”
“For realsies?” 65536 blinks at the surprise praise, “I just got pummeled.”
“You survived an assassination attempt by an unknown enemy far surpassing your combat abilities. You proved that you can keep your cool in a difficult situation while heavily wounded. And, most of all, you revealed a hole in castle security which could be used to attack on of the princesses-”
“Oh no! Not Luna or Princess Sunbutt!” gasps 65536 in horror.
The genuine concern in the drone’s voice makes several things click in Sharp’s head.
Heh, I should have guessed where Luna’s mirror could lead to.
“Exactly. That’s why I said ‘excellent job’,” Sharp nods, “Hunter and Glims will be investigating it from now on. As for your reward, I have an idea but I’ll have to run it by Luna when she comes back. Right now, I think it’s time for a different kind of adventure.”
*...wibble...*
“Can’t we stay here?” asks 65536 in a once again shaking voice.
“I promise you’ll like it, and Pink, Gloom, as well as myself will be coming with,” Sharp smiles.
*Wibble.*
“What are you afraid of out there if you’re with us that’s worse than what can happen if you stay here alone?”
“Scary dream monsters...” mumbles 65536, “I’m too weak to help you if anything happens.”
“Easy. Today is the Summer Sun Celebration so almost nopony will be sleeping. No dreamscape monsters will be able to get into the real world, and there will be paladins out in the open looking for any signs of supernatural trouble.”
*Wibble!*
“Stop that!” Sharp faces the drone using the full power of its military grade puppy eyes on him, “Ponies will be everywhere, you’ll have your Nightguard armor, you’ll ride on Gloom’s back, and we’ll be able to protect you if anything happens. We’ll buy you something nice just stop wibbling at me!”
*WIBBLE!*
Sharp takes a deep breath, refusing to lose the staring contest.
“My mind is an impenetrable fortress of peace and calm. I’ve been wibbled at by the wibbliest wibblers of all time. You should have seen Luna a year ago when I told her she had to go outside and socialize. I am completely un-wibblable and, as your Commander, I order you to stop or we won’t buy you a Luna plushie.”
*...elbbiW*
“Much better,” Sharp scratches the defeated drone under the chin-
*Blep!*
-and automatically its tongue flops out.
“Now let’s commence operation ‘Keep the peace and cheer 65536 up’!”
“Yes, Commander!” everypony salutes.
Stats
Page generated in 0.021 seconds
Total duration
766 users online
770,324 hits today, 2,561,572 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Not enjoying the story? Perish the thought! I can already see the drones wibbling for even thinking about it.
*gasp* How did the wibbles fail? What steely resolve Sharp has.
10923779
*WIBBLES*
10923779
His wibbly wasn't wobbly enough
“...not leaking anymore… I think...” it mumbles
Claptrap?
How does not have more likes?
10923756
Glad to hear that. I can never guess how interesting things really are since I'm the one writing them and things often feel drab and pointless but I don't know how to trim them into being interesting.
Great, now I'm making myself wibble.
10923779
10923839
Training, training, training on Luna. Have you ever tried to get a terrible introvert out of their comfort zone? I did. Myself. And I wasn't stuck on the moon for a thousand years. Plus, Sharp had to deal with Blazing Light, you can't get more apathetic than Blazing Light. It's his thing!
Sharp is the grandmaster of social support.
10923797
*elbbiW* now and stop melting the hearts of the comment section!
10923873
Nah, never played Borderlands. I'm a total potato at shooters, RPG shooters included.
10923895
I have no idea, I just write here. Possibly because I firmly believe that everything I put down on electronic paper is garbage and have zero confidence and skill to properly promote my stories.
10924135
65536 chapters are my favourite. Not only to we get adorable drones, but also political intrigue and racial conflict. With adorable drones. It's like dark chocolate cake with whipped cream. A huge block of tasty bitterness, and then suddenly SWEETNESS!
One line of dialog and a SWAT team?
Just wait till the nightguard find out what theyre dealing with, then it wont be SWAT, it will be The Full SAS clearing house?
Lets just say, Everyone knows when these guys Knock.
Yeah, I'll bet that the Nightguards approach is the merciful one.
Well...not totally wrong there. There is some hilarity involved.
Loved the wibbling part.
10924189
Great. Now I want cake. Caaaake....
10924209
They'Re the shadows of the night hwo strike fear into the hearts of criminals.
They're the batmen- batponies.
10924633
- And if not merciful, at least comparatively quick, since they don't know the magic to keep a soul trapped and screaming in a jar somewhere forever.
- I'm running out of words beginning with H, which means I need Sharp to promote 65536 soon.
- If I can't WRITE anything properly descriptive, I can always add asterisk wibbling.
10924850
They are the terror that flaps in the night!
They are the misaligned nail in evil's horseshoe!
They are Luna's batponies!
Let's get dangerous...
10924135
*WIBBLES HARDER with tears streaming down*
10925712
Ded
10924135
Can I get one?
10924850
Sounds even more like Warhammer
HOLY SHIT lmao