“And this is the Guard training compound,” Sunset said as she led the group along the pathway from the Wraparound to one of the bigger structures, “The barracks are right next door, but most Guards live with their families, at least some of the time.”
“Are most Thestrals?” Celestia asked, walking next to her.
I hung back, walking next to Luna, letting Sunny handle this part of the guided tour, she was the one with by far most experience with it after all.
“About three quarters,” Sunset explained, “The rest are mostly what used to be Page’s personal guard. It’s not the same third that is his personal guard now however, we had to mix things up. We’re keeping the personal guard all female, but the rest of the Nocturnis Guard is mixed. We don’t have enough ponies that want to join to be overly picky, it’s still a mostly mare force, but we have a dozen or so stallions.”
Celestia nodded as we walked out onto the training platform.
Everypony of the guard not currently on other duties were standing reading for inspection, their dark green armor, specially coated not to shine seemingly absorbing the lights floating around us from Sparks horn, the torches around the training grounds flickering adding to the scene.
The style of armor was similar to pegasus armor, but not as covering, making it easier to move in. A necessity in the jungle. Designed by Midnight and Sunset together.
Most present were Thestrals, but there were a dozen other ponies as well, fairly even split between earth ponies, unicorns and pegasi. Two of the unicorns were even stallions.
“Impressive,” Celestia said softly, “Very impressive.”
What was really impressive was the way she said it. Softly like it was meant just for our ears, but it still carried clear across the field.
“They are the shield and sword of Nocturnis,” I said as I walked out next to them, “They keep everypony in Nocturnis safe from the dangers of day and night. From the things that stalk the woods. And the things beyond it.”
I might have imagined it, but it seemed like they were standing a bit straighter.
“There are plenty of dangers in these jungles, because it’s dark and full of terror,” I continued and looked up at Celestia, “These are the ponies that make it possible for us to live here, even in the trees. Without these brave ponies… there would be no Nocturnis.”
She nodded seriously, “There is a reason nopony has settled this far south into the jungles in the past.”
“It’s not ju-” I started to answer before a horn sounded far in the distance.
Everypony froze as the sound seemingly drifted through the leaves around the area, slithering along the branches, the ethereal tone climbing along our spines. It started to sound again.
I looked to Sunset, giving her a nod before I turned to look towards Midnight and Sparks, only to see the tail end of their teleport spells as they flashed out of existence.
“You all heard it!” Sunset shouted, “To your stations!” before she wrapped herself into a teleport field of her own and was gone.
Everypony rushed into action, unicorns starting to quench torches. Behind us, lights across the village started to die, leaving us in nothing but the light of the moon above.
“Page?” Luna asked quietly as she moved up next to her sister, “What’s happening?”
“That,” I answered quietly, “Is the Rexosaurus alert. One of them has been spotted heading in the direction of the village.”
Celestia looked around, “But… we’re high in the trees. To avoid those is why you built here.”
“Yes… and no…” I said quietly, “While nopony has ever seen one use them, they do have wings. This is not to keep out of their range, this is to not be in easy biting and spotting distance. And there are other things on the forest floor that do not have wings that are almost as dangerous.”
“What happens at the alarm?” Luna whispered, moving up next to me, her wing brushing against my side.
I glanced up at her, “No lights. Everypony keeps still and quiet. The guards mare the ballistas and their positions. Sparks and Midnight get ready to launch bolts of their own.
It had only been a couple of minutes, but the village was dark and quiet.
“Sir?” Amber said quietly from the side in a whisper, “We should return to the palace.”
I shook my head, “We’re staying here, nopony else here can fly at night,” I said and looked to Cadance and Shining Armor, “Everypony might as well settle down, this will last a couple of hours. And put a bubble of silence around Flurry, she’s not trained like the foals of the village.”
Shining nodded firmly and whispered something in Cadances ear before they and Sunburst quietly moved in from the edge of the platform and the trail to the compound before settling down on the wood, huddled up around Flurry as the little filly asked what was going on only to be hushed by Cadance. Shinings horn lit up for a second and a bubble surrounded the trio and Flurry before shimmering out of visible light.
“We might as well get comfortable,” I whispered to Luna and Celestia as I watched the trio and Flurry for a moment, “It will likely take a couple of hours for it to pass through the area, it’s usually gone in a hour or three,” before I moved to lay down on the wood of the platform, close to the middle.
Luna laid down next to me, glancing around in the darkness. Celestia settled down by my other side and I lit my horn for a second, casting a bubble of silence around us,
“There,” I said and sighed, “We can still hear, but nopony outside can hear us. We can talk now. Sadly, these things don't move or we could risk going back to the palace.”
“How much danger are we really in?” Celestia asked, her voice still kept low as she looked out into the darkness of the platform.
“Well,” I said and shifted my wings a bit, “As I said, nopony knows if they can actually fly, nopony really feel a pressing need to be the one to find out, so might be none. And ballista are set up so they can cover most of the village. Midnight and Sparks are in quick support as they can throw the bolts manually hard enough to hurt a Rexosaurus and teleport into place quickly if necessary. So even if one finds the village and decides to try to eat us and can get up here, the damage it could do would be limited before it was taken down. But nopony wants to take the risk.”
“How many times has this happened?” Luna asked, resting her head against the top of mine.
“This is the seventh time since we moved into the village,” I said and leaned against her, “So far, either they haven’t spotted us or can’t get to us. We’ll know when it has moved on by another blow of the horn.”
“And if it attacks?” Celestia asked as she glanced around.
“Three sharp blows,” I said and sighed, “All we can do now is wait.”
“I would have thought you would be joining the defense?” Celestia asked as she turned to look at me. It’s amazing, even in moonlight she was very visible with her pure white coat. It almost seemed to shine in fact. Alicorn of the Sun indeed.
“I did the first time,” I said and sighed, “After which both Sunny, Sparks and my guard commander yelled at me as Amber glared in disapproval. Sparks and Sunset for putting myself in unnecessary danger and Moon Glow for distracting the guards that had to try keeping up with me. So it was decided that it was better for everypony that I stayed somewhere safe until or if I was actually needed.”
I didn’t like it. I didn’t like it at all. But I couldn’t throw ballista bolts as hard as Sparks and Midnight could, not enough to hurt a Rexosaurus. Well, at least not reliably enough to be worth getting in the way and my teleporting wasn’t anywhere near as good either.
Better for everypony involved that I stayed out of their way.
Luna looked out into the darkness, wings half raised.
“I know what that is like,” Celestia said softly, her pose almost mirroring her sisters, “Everytime I send my guard.. or Twilight and her friends into danger…”
She shifted a bit closer and then looked out into the darkness the other way. I shifted position in turn, resting my head against Luna's neck as her wing settled across my back.
And there was no more talking. Just waiting and listening.
Nice. This is the other foot. It has nkw fallen
Finally the excitment begins, now, I wonder how long it takes until Rexi decides to have some alicorn for snacks.
Emergency shelter/bubble Cuddlepile.
I feel the danger is a bit over rated at the Moment im guessing a Rexosaurus isn’t that resistant to pure flame in case Sunshine gets unhappy.
And I don’t want to know what cadance is would do to it if it breaks up a romantic moment between Page and Celestia. It might be hoping to be speared by a ballista instead.
Rexosaurus wings are probably useless if they didn't use them at this point, or they are only to help them keep their balance, and help getting a vertical short, little boost to help to move through obstacles.
So why not create deep pits traps?
That would also test their wings
10938915
with their prey comming closer they might be able to observe them use the wings for whatever they use them for. my guess is mabey for propelling fast at prey or mabey for swimming? we wont know untill the rex is forced to use them or is in the situation it will use them
10938901
pretty sure not even a dragon would survive if sunbutt got angry enough to throw the sun at it...
On a tangent, Its been two years now, and one of the stated goals was thestral population growth... how are they not positively loaded with foals?
10938941
A good question, but it’s not an easily solved problem. Just telling people that you want them to have more babies is not especially going to raise the birth rate a whole lot. Some, sure, but the starting population is pretty low, and it’s been previously stated that thestrals have a supernaturally low birth rate when compared to the main three races.
There dont need to be a major even. This hole city surviving day for day is a huge event...
10938901
Considering she obliterated the Treebary (instead of Tirek doing it), as well as causing considerable damage to the rest of Ponyville, pretty sure even a Rexosaurus would suddenly find a Head or Two just Gone.
The problem is the Collateral, because as Sunshine herself said (not in exact words), firing up the Sunbeam is an all or nothing sorta deal.
10938886
Nah, this is the shadow of the foot, getting ready to descend.
And all us little Ants are looking up at it and CHEERING!
10938991
Hmmm. Yes makes sense
Page, Luna, and Celestia nap through the end of the alert and are woken up by Fern wanting to play.
Forgot page's guard was all mares
"Quick protect the package with snuggles!"
"wait wha-" pompf
10938968
cursed thestrals, I think the decursed ones its assumed have normal rates but the curse made them recessive and have lower birth rates. Honestly maintaining population in a species with several distinct subsets is tricky at the best of times, there's not really an analogue in nature to turn to
I don't really understand why Page's personal guard is all mares, apart from it originally being some weird joke made by Sunset who made the decision based on the other princesses' guard forces being all stallions
At this point it seems ridiculous and doesn't really matter or make anymore sense than it did to begin with
“She shifted a bit closer.” This pronoun isn’t clear who it refers to as the previous descriptive sentence has Celestial talking while Luna is also referenced…
MEANWHILE...DISCORD WATCHING ANGEL BUNNY SETTING UP THE BAGPIPES...
Discord: You know...even I find this little too insane considering the possible consequences...
Angel Bunny: *gibbish*
Discord: Well of course I'll still join! Chaos is still chaos!
*Discord brings out the electric guitar*
Discord: "Glass of Water" in C minor! AND DA ONE! TWO! THREE!
short, clean and enough for the tree-hanger. Thank you for chapter
Page being unknowingly charismatic and then here comes the inevitable !!FUN!! of the large, sharp-toothed variety to rain on the parade. Still, seven alerts in two years isn't bad.
10938941
10938968
Two years of construction and colonisation in a hostile environment isn't exactly conducive to rearing offspring, and that process is still ongoing as demonstrated in the very first few chapters of this story. The population boom will probably happen once the colony is fully established and people feel secure (growing all their own food, are sure of not being nommed by monsters, etc).
As for the comment about low birth rates, that and assorted other problems were resolved by removing both the curses, which was the main reason at least one of the lilac geniuses was present at the colony in the first place.
Grammar jackboot, back for more, again:
'really feels a pressing need to be the one to find out, so might be none. And ballistae are set up so they'
10939156
There have been sillier reasons for traditions coming about in reality.
10939221
Just out of curiosity. Could you enlighten us with an example of a silly reason why a tradition has popped up?
10939209
I see what you did there
Just throw an iron ball at the Rexosaurus. Long tube with air removed, large tube behind it with high pressure air, iron ball at opening where large tube meets small one, release air. Result hole punched in one side of Rexie and out the other. Use softer metal for larger exit hole. No complicated machining needed. tubes and seals produced with telekinesis. If you don't think the idea is feasible check out the 1000/MPH baseball cannon in this vidio.
https://youtu.be/cqidD7kVnxY
10939499
One comes to mind involving the mayor of High Wycombe, a town just north of London. Back in the seventeenth century the office was filled by a drunken wastrel who pretty much ignored his job in favour of partying. After he eventually got the sack, it became traditional to weigh the mayor annually in order to see if they have been doing their job rather than lazing about. If the mayor is found to have gained weight 'at taxpayer expense', he or she is pelted with rotten fruit and jeered at on the weighing scales.
i2-prod.buckinghamshirelive.com/incoming/article5254895.ece/ALTERNATES/s1200c/0_The-mayor-of-High-Wycombe-is-weighed-for-his-inauguration-according-to-the-regional-tradition-Ph.jpg
Uh oh, is it time for witches?
10939893
Omg that's hilarious
10939156
Part of it too was that there were Mares that wanted to Serve, but couldn't in the Royal Guard because of The Tradition.
So, if Celestia and Luna let Mares serve in their Guard, there'd be less pressure on Page's Guard.
10939208
It was high time to start re-reading the comment section. I missed a lit of fun there
10938900
Perhaps the Rex Skull on top of the City helps the decision making?
10938901
Its always a good time for Emergancy cuddlepile
10938915
Probably to avoid water poisening. To many corpses piling up? Perhaps that might tip off the Predators?
Or it would be to mutch work on the ground and risking attacks?
Hard to say...
10938921
Indeed. Best idea to study the most complicated problems running around.
10938941
I like the comment for its adorable result in getting everyone swarmed in Batfoals
But the still work on making space. Also i think foal need 1-2 years to learn the rules of the Jungle so they beed prepared room for not so silent foals?
10938990
A jubglefire wouldnot be good
10939063
Yesss Guardsnuggel pile
10939064
Yep. Thestrals might have Unicorn or Pegasus or Earthpony despite the curses removal... Perhaps a spell to improve the chances of the Thestrals getting just there own subspecies?
10939156
EYE-CANDY
But seriously they have a high mare to low stallion ratio.
Im re-reading at the moment.
2-3 mare to 1 stallion if im not mixing it up...
Got to love they comment section every chapter ♡
10939219
Reminds me of 'Civilisation V' if you dont have like two military units out per wirker group thing do down south fast.
Nothing more complicated than keeping oredators spawning in the vacinity up in check...
10939499
Eatch stallion can impregnate multible mares but one mare can only carry one or two foals at a time...
Who is more vital becomes clear rather fast.
Still genetic variations will be tricky...
10939812
Well shit... That imoressive
Love it 👍
10939893
That logic
Still funny as hell
10943764
Making and placing em or carving stuff out on place... Magnificent ♡
10939192
"Which princess is thirsty for Page?"
"Yes."
Der Feind sieht dein Licht!
Verdunkeln!
They are the shield and sword of Nocturnis. Do not fear the night, fear what walks within it, Remember that which walks within fears us!
MARINES, DROP COMMANDOS. Bravo TEAM [MASTER CHIEF] OOOHRA