Failure
As any research text on the subject could tell you, Lupi are large magical creatures falling into the category commonly known as "celestial beasts". Standing slightly smaller proportionately to wolves than Ursa Majors stand to standard brown bears; Lupi range from about sixty-five to one hundred and fifteen feet tall. With razor sharp fangs, claws the size of tree trunks, and a running speed far beyond any terrestrial creatures, Lupi are not a very good creature to upset.
Stonehoof knew all this was the case and was using the utmost care not to make any noise as he entered the cave where his prey lay. The cave was absolutly gigantic on the inside, but only contained a single chamber as best he could tell. Despite this though, amid all the rocky obstructions and rubble, he couldn't yet find the Lupus.
Allowing his vision to further adjust to the dark, he switched his strategy of searching. No longer was he looking for a giant wolf creature, now he was searching for a the distinctive star-scape coat of celestial beasts.
His change in strategy was well timed, as less than twenty steps away he could see pinpricks of light spilling off a stone ledge.
The star scape had no distinct form and simply poured in an ephemeral mess down to the stone floor of the chamber as if it were a static version of princess Lina's mane or tail. Upon further inspection though, he realized that what he saw actually was a tail, a Lupus tail.
He saw, off to the right side of the chamber, a slope that curved up from his level up to the high plateau the Lupus lay upon.
Making his way silently up the slope, he finally saw the true enormity of the creature he was about to confront.
Despite that he trusted the princesses with his life, he still found himself questioning whether or not the sleeping potion on the end of his blow gun would really be effective on such a massive beast.
Putting his fears aside, as all soldiers must, he drew the gun with his magic. He considered just tossing the dart with magic, but at long range unicorn magic became less stable, and he doubted that he could throw it perfectly enough that by the time it reached its target the needle would still be at proper angle to penetrate the inherently thick hide of the beast.
He divided his attention to preparing his simple weapon and locating the optimum spot to shoot the beast.
Finding what he could best tell to be the neck he leveled the tube to his mouth...
"PRINCESS?ARE YOU IN THERE?"
The magically amplified call broke Stonehoof from his delicate concentration. He re-leveled the tube, but it was too late, the Lupus was awake. And pissed.
A giant paw came down at him.
Managing to dive out of the way, he allowed equine instinct to take over and he ran like tartarus towards the entrance of the cave.
"WHAT THE NAME OF CELESTIA ARE YOU DOING!!!" Twilight screamed from behind the two guards she thought to be long gone.
"Princess, I am sorry for my misconduct, but I am under orders to-"
"I don't care about your orders right now! What are you doing here! I told you to go home!"
"You don't have the authority to override-"
"ARE YOU LISTENING? I don't care about authority! That's not what's important right now! Do you even realize what you've just done!!!"
"I know that disobeying your orders is not typically permissible, but I am confident that Celestia will see it my way when-"
"When you're a pile of Lupus dung like the rest of us? We can only hope that Stonehoof managed to-"
At that moment a pony sprinted from the mouth of the cave running straight for the group.
"Run! Now!" the stallion hollered.
It was immediately evident why he was running as the very earth beneath their hooves began to shake and a great star-scape form filled the area behind him.
"Buck!" Twilight shouted as she quickly turned to the group, "Ok, everypony run. I'll hold it back as best I can."
"But prin-"
"I order you to go home!"
They complied. They ran, Zecora leading the way.
Twilight turned to face the beast.
Bastion sat reading a book by candle light on one of the couches that was substituting as his bed. The party had ended about an hour previous and Bastion decided to wait for both his fellow guards and to see if the Princess would spend the night at Zecora's.
He rose from his book as he heard the door to the library open and hooves race in.
"Oh, good, there you are! I was beginning to worry something was-" he looked over the back of the couch to his companions, "Where's the princess?"
Bastion watched as the newly returned members of his squad, out of breath and with fear on their faces.
"Fetch the Dragon!" Shouted Blue Blazer as he grabbed a random scroll off of Twilight's writing desk. Dasher immediately sprung into action, running out the library's front door.
"What's going on?" Bastion asked, not even pretending to hide the fear he felt.
"Stonehoof, Go to the hospital and have them prepare for anything. Tell them the situation and to stay ready to receive the princess."
That was confirmation. Bastion grabbed Dasher before he could run away, "What happened to the princess?"
"She-"
"Go! I'll fill him in."
Bastion released Dasher and he went off to his task, leaving Bastion with Blue Blazer in the library.
"So what's going on?"
"The princess... We had to leave... We accidentally..." every time he would begin he would stop as if what he was about to say was wrong. He sat, thinking, for a moment before continuing, "The princess covered our retreat from a wild Lupus in the Everfree."
"What? Why-"
An out of breath Dasher crashed his way back into the library, "The Element of Generosity and the Dragon were not at her home! What should we do sir?"
Blue Blazer froze. "Ok- OK- Contingency- the princess is in danger and we have no direct contact with the palace... Ok, we should- uh..."
"What Sir? What are we going to do?"
"We'll send a pegasi with a message to Canterlot!"
"That'll take all night at best!"
"Then we need to find a fast flier! Quick, who would be the fastest flier in a town like this? The guard would be the fastest, but this town doesn't have any stationed guard pegasi, so who's left?"
"Civil servants... This town's mailmare!"
"Good thinking! Bastion, take the message to the town's mailmare! Ask the mayor where she lives if you must, you remember where she lives from the briefing?"
Bastion nodded as he quickly retrieved the letter from the out-of-breath Dasher and exited the library, leaving Dasher and Blue Blazer alone.
With nothing to do in these tense moments they sat on the couches, still warm from when Bastion was laying comfortably only several minutes later.
It wasn't long before Dasher caught his breath and broke the tense silence.
"Sir, did we... kill the princess?"
The silence before was tense, but now it was crushing.
Blue Blazer opened his mouth to speak but no words came. He swallowed hard and looked Dasher in the face, "No" he said.
"But we!- if it wasn't for us!-"
"No- She- ...This is no one's fault."
"But sir! If we hadn't followed her! Or gone into the forest when she told us to go home! Or if we would have talked to her before we... If we wouldn't have been there then she- ... Sir? Did we... Did us being here to guard her get her killed?"
"No, we didn't, and besides we don't know anything yet, she may have beaten it easily! I hear she beat an Ursa before!"
"Yeah, I heard that story... She lulled an Ursa Minor back to sleep. This is different... This was a Lupus out for blood, do you really think-"
"Are you TRYING to take the blame? Because if you want it you can have it! I don't need you moping around disrupting me while I lead."
"Lead what! What this time? 'Oh hey, let's not listen to the princess about the pink one! Let's tackle the princess at the mere sight of another pony! Let's ransack the farmhouse without real reason! Let's arrest the element of honesty! Let's disobey orders and spy on the Princess at a party with her friends! Let's assume that everypony is a bucking assassin out for her head! Let's follow the princess into the woods we know nothing about without telling her! Let's kick down the door when we see the princess donating potion supplies!"
"But!-"
"I'm not done yet! Let's go after her after the she SPECIFICALLY TOLD US NOT TO FOLLOW HER! Let's go yelling into random bucking caves at the slightest chance the princess is inside!"
"You know as well as I that we are the ones with real combat and guarding experience! She doesn't realize that we have to assume everything is dangerous or else we aren't doing our jobs!"
"DOING OUR JOBS! There's the real kicker of the night! Do you want to know about doing our jobs? The whole bucking day we're hurting the princess and her friends because we're trying to keep her out of danger, but when there is clear and present danger in the form of a giant bucking monster looming over her, we retreat to safety with our tails between our legs!!! We didn't even stay to protect her friend! We just ran straight home like frightened fillies!"
"She ordered us to ret-"
"She ordered us? SHE BUCKING ORDERED US? What was that all about 'doing our job despite what she wants?' 'Buck what she wants!' was what you said! And look at you now! You bucking hypocrite!"
"Well you ran too!"
"..."
"..."
"Goodnight captain. Call me when Celestia arrives to recover her student's body. I'll start trying to sun-proof my armor."
Contrary to what he said, Dasher did not attempt to sun-proof his armor, instead he went straight to bed. Why not? At best he would wake up and find out he was still six years old, dreaming about his crazy adventures in the royal guard. Worst case he would awaken to the infinite hell-fire of the Goddess of the sun enraged over the death of her dearest friend, possibly leading to the death of the whole planet.
Either way he was tired and was going to sleep come tartarus or planetary destruction.
When he did wake though, his anticipation was dashed as neither case came true. In fact the room he was in looked just like it had as he went to sleep, other than the additional three slightly rising and falling forms cast in the orange hue of the morning sun.
*Knock**Knock*
Oh goodie! The Princess is here to murder us!
He opened the door, and immediately felt that he was right.
Stats
Page generated in 0.033 seconds
Total duration
947 users online
1,196,534 hits today, 1,822,946 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.®
I have NO words to express my GREAT pleasure in that I am NOT those witless guards
oh this gonna get good I wonder if twilight will turn all white furred and flame mane again that would be way more intimidating than just yelling at them
MORE!
2413124>>2413140>>2413146 I'm interested to see, Would you rather the guards get a verbal beat down again (Serious style this time), or resolve this more peacefully (and probably more humorously)?
This needs to update again. Now.
2413222
that should depend on what kind of physical punishment?
Sorry couldn't help it I had to get that joke out of me.
2413222>>2413260 While typing a legitimate response to your comments I had a brainwave for where I could take this later...so... uh... watch left field for a new set of antics... (And guess who the character I'll be bringing in is!)
2413275
This mare
2413275 Excuse me? Punish them? What for?
If anything, those guards deserve a commendation. While they're supposed to follow Twilight's orders, it's also their job to protect her, which happens to be precisely what they so enthusiastically did.
They were given contradictory orders, and everything that happened is at least partially Twilight's fault. If she had let them do their jobs, heck, if she'd just kept one around, they wouldn't have felt the need to go off following her, and all this could've been avoided.
Realistically, who were they supposed to listen to? The princess who not a week ago was a bookish unicorn, or the all-knowing immortal sun god? If Twilight had gotten hurt while they were taking a break, ordered or not, it'd be their asses on the line.
They were just doing what they thought was right, and I really don't see why anyone would give them more than a slap on the wrist for disobeying orders. Wrist? Do horses have wrists? Outta look that one up.
2413164 well what would get it through their heads better? all in all, Ponyville more than anywhere else in the series SHOWS that a guard is nothing more than scenery when the big boys and girls come out to play, all that they could ever hope to do ESPECIALLY in Ponyville is get the citizenry to safey while those that know how to fight and NOT fall over themselves take care of the problem
if you're taking suggestions, have Celestia just have everypony sitting in a room until somepony cracks and the hollering and screaming starts. let them settle things and let them figure out just how useful they are like Dasher has done
Cliffhangers. I hate them. You are an evil evil bastard
Thing is he is about to be schooled by the purple princess not the white princess.
Some how...the expression "You're royally fucked!"...just doesn't quite cut it here for the guards.
2413482 The word you're looking for is noose.
If I were Twilight I think right now I'd be saying to the guards "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't fire your sorry plots! Name one good thing you've done for me or this town since you came here!"
2413300
The FIRST lesson learned in Any military unit is how to follow orders ...
agree or not, understand or not ... orders are orders. PERIOD.
Would Any of them ignore Celestia's orders? no?
I do not have to remind anyone of the things Twilight did Before becoming a princess ...
Maby its time that they gave PRINCESS Twilight proper respect? ...
2413164
Want a funny idea for punishment?
Give em to Shiny and tell him what happened ...
Pure
Comedy
Gold
!
2414138 The things Twilight did to become princess? With the help of her friends and a collection of magical objects without which she couldn't do ANY of that? Explain to me how she defeated Nightmare Moon with the power of being really good at magic. Or how literary knowledge defeated Discord. Maybe it was her study of Albert Camus's novel The Stranger that allowed her to destroy Sombra!
No matter who they obeyed, they'd be disobeying someone, and this way if Twilight got in trouble they could help. It's their fucking job. Or would you like to explain how you were sleeping while the PRINCESS as you so eloquently called her was being torn apart by a star creature?
Relevant scenario: you're a secret service agent. Ninja assassins are trying to kill the vice president. He's grabbed a gun and is fighting them off. Regular president says to go help him, but he says he doesn't want any help.
Ignoring the improbability of the situation, what would you do?
2414175
A good bodyguard will try to figure out what the principal's routine is, as well as who's a threat and who isn't a threat.
Avoid pissing off the vice-president badly earlier on to the point where he's less telling us he doesn't need our help and more thinking that he's safer with the ninja assassins.
Meanwhile, interesting choice in who to send a message
Although I do see their logic.
2414272 When I don't know who the vice president is, I default to Teddy Roosevelt. You see, while his vulnerability to kryptonite is well documented easily countermanded, his crippling fear of ninjas causes him to operate at half-capacity which, while far above that of any mortal man, is still not enough to defeat the evil that are ninja assassins. Hence the need for Agent Khatre to absorb some throwing stars for him.
2414175
Chill out! no need for profanity
When your commanding officer (Princess Twilight) tells you to do something You Do It.
The fact remains that they did not follow the orders that PRINCESS Twilight gave them and THAT is what put Princes Twilight in danger.
I was in the Navy. What would I do? I telly the VP that my mind powers tell me that ninja assassins are going to try to kill him then I Follow Orders (whatever they are).
The first lesson all military personnel learn ... Follow Orders.
The Guard is no exception ...
2414371 Navy, huh? Well how about this: If you were ordered to fire on civilians, would you do it? There's no such thing as orders, just very strong suggestions. It's your own decision whether you follow them or not.
They decided that maybe letting their boss, a civilian with little to no training or experience, go gallivanting around doing who knows what with no protection, was a bad idea. They were correct simply because of the situation she found herself in.
They screwed up; I'll admit that, but what happened wasn't entirely their fault, and some of the blame most definitely falls on Twilight for not at least taking ONE SINGLE GUARD if only to ease their consciences.
2414415
If those civilians were armed and shooting at me? HECK YES!
But i was a BT ... If anyone decided to shoot at me all i could do was light off a boiler at them.
Their boss ...Element of Magic... The only one capable of beating Discords brain powers by willpower alone... The only one capable of seeing through Chrissie's magic ... and one of the only 4 alicorns in the world ... need their protection?
sorry but they have zero experience in Ponyville and zero experience in the Everfree forest. They were not qualified to protect her from those dangers. Twilight? been there done that got the element of T shirts ...
maby they could go back and try to arrest Pinkie and AJ again?
guards have their place BUT when they start thinking they are above the orders of their Princess? That is one clue that they need to be in a new line of work. They are there to serve Twilight, she is not there to serve them...
relax, this is not life or death. It is a (very enjoyable) fan fiction.
Well, time to send them to the moon. I heard it should be a very quiet place to gather your thoughts of what you did wrong. XD
Though what i´d like to see is a) the Captain to be demoted, after all he´s the leader of the guards and responsible in the end for whatever happens, and lot of shit had happend b) that they WON`T get send home, somehow i think that´s too cruel even if they made lots of mistakes they made them with good intention, it would feel like kicking a puppy which already feels sad/ashamed cause he peed onto the floor and c) Twi needs to give them a stern talking of who leads here who and who has to obey who´s orders no mater what. And maybe give them an embaressing order to make them prove to her that they can follow every order she´ll give them from now on.
And as i said, new rooms for them and her hoofmaidens. Expect you want them to continue sleeping in Twi´s bed, i sure wouldn´t mind. ;)
2414604 I know, I just like debating things. Besides, you did kinda start it.
And now I'm gonna escalate it. I'll regret this in the morning I'm sure.
At Nuremburgs, a lot of Nazis claimed to 'just be following orders'. Following orders from superior officers is what caused the holocaust. Now I know what navy you were in, it was the Kreigsmarine, don't you deny it! Heil my short shorts!
2414780
nazis? really? 
2414791 Yep, ad you were the guy who ordered My Lai! That's right, I'm onto you Alfred E Neuman Lookalike!
edb.utexas.edu/faculty/salinas/students/student_sites/Fall2005/My_Lai/otherlampoon.jpg
Now some over here and fifght me like a mans!
It was kind of sad, watching the guard quartet come to pieces. I do wonder just how young and inexperienced they might be. I'm also seriously wondering at the bottom of what barrel Celestia found most of these guys. They're not incompetent but they are a bit... unimaginative. Certainly they're not good with the ol' 'common sense' thing.
I'm not sure what is waiting at Dasher's door. I suspect a battered and very annoyed Twilight, possibly with either the other Elements or the other three alicorns.
I'm wondering whether Derpy has reached the Changeling Wastes yet. No offence but entrusting a vital message to her is basically to run it through a shredder.
oh great, is that THREE princesses arriving?
although i wonder how twilight handled the lupus, shouldn't be next to impossible, not only was she way more powerful as a unicorn at her ascension than she was when she LIFTED the ursa minor home to its cave, but she also went through with said ascension to become an alicorn, which promises a slight powerboost...
2413164
I'd have Twilight and Luna ready to spit nails. However, Celestia (being Celestia) is incredibly motherly, conciliatory and gentle, 'suggesting' that everyone have a cup of tea and calm down before saying anything and gently reassuring the guards that, whilst they had made errors, nopony had been hurt and they should treat the whole thing as a learning experience.
"Sister! Your student could have been killed!"
"But she wasn't, Luna. I agree that they could and should have handled this better but there is no need to start acting as if anypony was killed."
I still say that Twilight should have some bruises, abrasions and be limping slightly due to the fight, which only makes the guards feel worse.
Eventually, they come to a compromise where the guards have to do something really dangerous and humiliating like baby-sit the Cutie Mark Crusaders for a week as punishment. However, despite Luna's insistence, they won't be sent back to basic training so that they can learn to obey orders. I also think that Celestia will back up Twilight's insistence that they have compulsory lessons with Zecora, Pinkie and Fluttershy so that they can familiarise themselves with the challenges of Ponyville and the Everfree.
2414791
Well, he just drove himself into the ground as hard as he could didn't he? At least when I had this going on with James it stayed civil.
2414780
The Nazi were given the choice to kill or not.
It was like that (or so we learn in class):
Nazi chief: Kill those animals (Jews).
Nazi: I'm not comfortable with killing them.
Nazi chief: OK. You are a member of the superior race, your choice is to be respected.
And that's one of the reason the Nazis killed the Jews with gas shower.
2416841 Well I dunno, where did you go to school? Up in the great white north, it's a little more like this.
Nazi officer: Kill those Jews.
Soldier: But that's murder! They're just innocent peopl- *bang*
Nazi officer: Members of the master race must do their duty! Hiel Hitler!
Refusing to kill people was a great way to get sent to the same concentration camp as them. They used the gas chamber not because some people thought killing was immoral, but because it's a very efficient way to kill a lot of people very quickly.
2416873
You do have a point here, and I must admit moral matters were not the most important reason for the gas shower. Unfortunatly, or fortunatly, we were not there and could not have witnessed it for ourselves. Since the former Nazi were either killed during the war, execute for crime against humanity or are too prideful or ashamed to admit wether or not they willingly killed innocent for political and religious belief (like in the holy crusades) and since most of the Jews are either dead of marked to life by that experience of life, we can't prove what really happend (except if we made lifelong research that could or could not change the face of the world forever).
Anyway I think I went a little hors-sujet about the gas shower and stuf.
And since I forgot in my last comment:
May the lord have mercy on those guards (at least Dasher, he was the only one to really call himself and his pals a bunch of idiots).
Also great chapter and great story. Have a virtual cookie:
kokomojr-tvchimp.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/chocolate_chip_cookie.jpg
2414157
THAT suggestion gave me cold chills
2416984 My opa says he wouldn't have done anything if he hadn't been ordered, but he still kept his knight's cross for his service in the Balkans. I think we've gotten a bit off topic here, haven't we?
2417026
).
Want Really Scary?
Cadance!
Intentional or not they put her Little Ladybug in danger ...
Over the millenia Celestia has learned patience. Cadance? she is still young (as far as I know anyway
I shudder to think of what an angry element of Love could do to those poor poor guards ..
Where was Spike and Rarity if they are not in Twilight's home?
2415109
Actually, I see Celestia doing that, but also poisining the tea for a slower death then quick vengence. She seems more like the type that smile as she kill you inderectly before going into a self pity of student death.