Unmovable
Roc stood there, straight and firm. It was the dog days of summer. The heat was unbearable, yet Roc bore it anyway. He didn’t waver an inch. The sun beat down. He was sweating, and it was dripping down into his eyes, stinging them. He only blinked it away. Horseflies had been showing up in the last few weeks. They bit him hard, but he didn’t flinch. He always stood his ground.
The sun was blocked out for a moment. Roc looked up. It was the cloud, her cloud, the one he had been waiting under all this time. It was drifting and giving him shade. He felt almost instant relief from the heat.
It started to rain. It took him by complete surprise. He still didn’t flinch though. It was an odd rain. One of those mid-summer deluges. It came down in those great big round raindrops. The kind that made great big wet circles on the rocks. It drove away the horseflies. Even better, it was icy cold. He could feel it seeping, penetrating into his white coat, at least in the spots where he wasn’t wearing his bronze armor. It was one of the most refreshing sensations he had ever experienced.
He kept peering upwards. This must have been the work of a pegasus pony. A weather pony? His normally keen eyes strained in the unexpected gloom of the blotted sun. Was it her? No. It was some other pony. Her friend. The yellow one with the pink mane. She must have seen him. Must have felt sorry for him, and pushed the cloud over. Given it a little kick in sympathy.
It wasn’t her. Roc’s gaze drifted back down to the original position, staring straight forward. Oh well. He would wait. He was good at that. His thoughts drifted to her. Memories.
5:00 AM. Reveille. Up quick, made the bed. Morning gallop, morning flight. Simple breakfast; it gets worse every year. Oh, well. It’s what I signed up for. I’m in the Royal Guards now.
By six o’clock I made it to my assignment. Another day spent with the princess herself. I was at the top of my game. The elite of the elite. No unicorn guards today, we’d be paying a visit and leaving them behind. A visit to some little farming berg called Ponyville. Hardly even on the map.
We were supposed to take off at nine. There were the standard head-of-state delays. Emergency discussions. National security. The kind of thing we’re not supposed to be listening to, even though we’re in the room at the time. Usually, I don’t. Sometimes they’re bad enough to frighten me, those things I don’t listen to. Long live the princess.
Today wasn’t one of those days. Minor business. We took off fifteen minutes late, something we could make up easily while airborne. The princess rode in her chariot. She could have flown herself. Hell, she probably could have teleported. But it was tradition. Tradition is important. It’s 95% of what we do. It’s what the ponies want. The tradition goes back a thousand years. Besides, she was bringing the bird.
I wasn’t pulling the chariot, of course. Better. I was working security detail. Honor of honors. Buc and I were twenty yards off her flank, perfect formation, the whole flight. It was a perfect by-the-book landing in the middle of Ponyville’s main street.
I can’t even remember what she was doing there. Politics, probably. I think it was a meet and greet with the Mayor. She was having brunch at some yokel’s restaurant or sweet shop or something. The chariot ponies were relieved for the time being, while Buc and I handled the door.
It was all for show, of course. You could hardly call us guards in the technical sense. I’ve read the annals. In the last thousand years, there’s been a half dozen times when the princess has been physically attacked, either by foreign enemy, domestic, or monstrous, not counting the Solstice Incident. Each time the princess took care of herself. She’s taken on things that could have, and did, wipe out whole regiments of Royal Guards.
It’s a show. All a part of that tradition. We don’t guard her, we manage the crowds. We clear the paths. We keep the fanatics from bugging her. We look big, and shiny, and intimidating, and stoic. That’s our job.
There were VIPs for this brunch. All locals, except for that old student of hers from Canterlot. I’d always wondered what had happened to her. There was almost an incident when one of them showed up late. The yellow pegasus with the pink hair. Her friend.
Her.
God, she was so obnoxious. Who did she think we were? Amateurs? We’re just going to break down because some screwball pegasus pony is making faces? As if we’re not the toughest, most rock-hard, stone faced professionals in all Equestria? As if we were going to sherk our duty for her?
Did she really think she was better than any other goofy kid or heckler who tries to get us to react?
Because I didn’t. Not then.
Damn.
The weather was changing. There was no doubt about that. There had been a long, hot buffalo summer, but that was long gone. The sky was still clear though. It brought a chill wind. The leaves were beautiful out here in the countryside.
The Running of the Leaves event had come stampeding right past him a few days ago. It had almost left him covered with red and yellow and orange leaves. The trees by the road were bare, but there was still plenty of color left in the hills.
He’d seen her there. She was a competitor. Of course she was. She had her wings lashed to her body, so she wouldn’t be tempted to cheat. Of course she would. Roc smiled. That was her in a nutshell. He realized that he was smiling, and his face returned to its usual glare. It was an old habit.
That night the rains came. There had been a beautiful sunset, but then the stars started to be blotted out as a massive front started to roll in. It was the first real rain of the season. It came down in buckets. Roc was soaked in the first few seconds, but it lasted all night. Roc didn’t mind. He liked this kind of weather. It happened every year, and marked a turning point in the seasons.
Roc remembered a time when he was a foal. This was before he had been old enough to fly. An earth pony friend of his had convinced him to go on a hike up Saddleback Mountain. It was more of a glorified hill, really. Forested, with a big open meadow on top. It had been raining all that morning, so Roc had expected to get wet, but his friend hadn’t told him that was the day the big autumn storms had rolled in. They went up the hill on the lee-ward side. All they got was soaked. As they approached the summit, they heard a powerful roar. At first they were scared to go on, they thought it might have been a dragon, or some other horrible monster. They pushed on, though, and when they summited, they realized it was only the wind. Hurricane force wind. They could barely stand up at all. The rain was driving sideways, it bit when it struck. They only stayed a moment at the top before heading back down into the relative comfort of the forest, feeling refreshed and exhilarated. On the way down, their path was blocked by massive cedar trees that had blown over, crushing the trail they had just came up. Roc could still remember that pure, wet smell of the wood, and the moss that had been shaken loss when the titanic tree had fallen over. It was the first time he really appreciated the power that pegasus ponies hold.
There was no smell now. Everything was being washed clean by the rainwater. In the small hours of the morning, Roc realized he was standing in a puddle. It was ankle deep and flowing away from the overfilled ditch that had been clogged with leaves. Next time he came here, he would find higher ground to stand on. For now he stood his ground and waited.
Just before dawn, the rain began to peter off, but it remained overcast. It was the work of weather ponies, of course. Vast teams of them, working in lines that stretched all over Equestria. That would mean that she would be with them. Probably a team captain.
It wasn’t that much longer before he saw her, just after dawn. She was a little blue speck in a bone-colored sky. She was returning to her home from her long night of work. She wasn’t alone. She was bringing somebody with her. A date. Her lover. They went into her ornate cloud house together. She didn’t even look down. Roc waited. Neither of them came back out. They’d both probably be asleep now, together. Roc didn’t have time to wait for either of them to come back out.
Roc took off, heading on the long flight back to Canterlot. He’d have to get in the usual few hours of sleep, then report in for duty. His real duty. He flew tired. He had a waking dream as he flew.
It wasn’t to meet the mayor. That’s right. I remember now. It was just a social brunch. Then the princess got called away to meet the mayor over an emergency. That wasn’t on the schedule. We almost always stick to the schedule. Still, we wouldn’t be effective if we couldn’t adapt to any given situation, no matter how unexpected.
Buc and I stayed on security detail, naturally. We escorted the princess to the town hall, the mayors office. We stayed outside the door. The chariot pullers were called back on duty. Nobody gets to rest when the schedule changes.
I knew something was wrong when I saw one of them trotting down the hallway to tell us the news. They had lost the bird. Unbelievable. Stolen or escaped, they didn’t even know. They had already started going door to door by the time they thought to tell us. Buc slipped in to tell the princess, then left to help the pullers with the search.
I stayed behind, the sole guard. The princess is never left unattended.
I can remember standing there. I can remember staring at the wall on the other side of the hallway. There was really bad wallpaper. I remember the wallpaper. And I was thinking how I wished Buc had stayed behind to guard the door. I could have been out there. I could have been leading the search and getting something important done. Fixing the problems.
Then she poked her head around the corner. I didn’t see her directly, but in my peripheral vision. I could tell it was her by that amazing mane of hers, not that I needed a good look. Who else would it be that would be following me and harassing me?
She obviously had a lot of spunk. She hadn’t given up at the cafe. Pastry shop. Sweet shop. Whatever.
She started making faces again, just to me this time. It hadn’t worked before. I don’t know she got the idea it might work this time. It was just the two of us there in that hallway. Maybe that’s why she decided to give up with the goofy faces. Maybe that’s why she... decided to try something else.
Roc wished the snows would come already. He hated the waiting. Either the skies were clear and it was biting cold, or the rains would come in and the temperature would raise just above the melting point. Either way, it was cold. The rain was worse. It seeped into his coat, made his flesh shiver.
Maybe things would be better once it snowed. It wouldn’t seep in. He could brush it off. Then he would be a little more comfortable.
Not that he complained. He never complained once. This kind of thing was what he was trained for. This was what he did. He was unmovable.
She changed her mind while she was sticking out her tongue. I still wasn’t looking at her, of course, but past her. The thousand yard stare. But I saw the expression on her face change. She was giving me a raspberry. Her face was all scrunched up. And then she paused. Her face went blank, the tongue still out. She pulled her tongue back in and got a naughty little smile.
She stuck her tongue back out. Only not very far this time. Just a little bit. She sort of licked her lips a little. The grin was still on her face. She opened her mouth a little wider and stuck that tongue out a little further. She moved just the very tip of it, as if she was waving me forward.
I don’t know if my face betrayed me. I guess it must have. Maybe just my eyes. She saw me watching her. That was probably all it took. She saw me breaking, and that only encouraged her.
She got up close. Real close. She moved up past my muzzle. I could feel her hot breath on my coat. She moved up to my ear and kept licking. She didn’t lick my actual ear here, just licked her lips. I could hear it. I could hear the wet rough skin of her tongue rubbing over her wet lips. She was that close.
My ear twitched. It flicked across her face. I’m not supposed to do that. We’re not supposed to touch the civilians, unless they touch us first. Say, for example, if they try to push their way past us. And when that happens we’re supposed to use sudden, overwhelming force to gain control of the situation. I didn’t know what to do in this situation. They didn’t train us for this. I did nothing. But my ear twitching made her giggle. God, she’s got such a wonderful laugh.
She backed up a bit. Her grin was wider than ever. She turned herself around and raised up her tail. She looked at me over her shoulder. She caught me looking into her eyes. And she caught me looking at her ass. I could smell her. My nostrils flared. I snorted, and that surprised me. I was losing control, and that wasn’t something I was ever supposed to do. I steeled myself and stared back at the wallpaper again. She started to flick her tail across my face. That was assault, technically. I could have taken action over that. I didn’t. I let her do it. My vision was obscured in rainbow. I shut my eyes and took a deep breath through my nose.
When I opened my eyes again, she had stopped. I stood at attention, as always. Not the slightest expression on my face. She turned back around. She was still smiling, but it wasn’t the sinister grin before. It was a real smile, relaxed and honest.
She kissed me. She just pressed her lips against mine and closed her eyes. I kept mine open, like I was supposed to, but I looked down at her, like I wasn’t supposed to. She was so beautiful. She broke the kiss. My eyes were straight ahead again by the time she opened hers.
“You’re a pretty tough guy, Mr. Guard,” she told me. I remembered every single word. Even the inflection in the way she said it. “But I like you anyway.”
Then, she turned and walked away. I heard her clopping hooves as she moved down the wooden-floored corridor of the Town Hall. That’s the kind of thing everypony hears every day and you never pay attention to. I listened, though. I counted ever single hooffall.
The snow was three feet deep. It had piled up several inches deep on Roc since the last time he had shrugged it off. The sun had risen and he’d only be here another hour or two. It was a brisk, cold morning. Clear, despite it having snowed all night.
Roc was still there when the brown pony came by with the snow plow. Winter Wrap-up was still many long weeks away, but the roads still needed to be cleared. The plow stopped in front of Roc.
Caramel turned to look at the guard. Roc didn’t look back. Caramel had seen him around before, of course. It was hard to miss him standing there all the time. He had heard the rumors, but he didn’t need to know the back story. He knew the look. Unrequited love. He knew it very well himself.
Caramel turned the plow and cleared a patch just to the side of the road. It would be enough. Caramel got back on the road, and continued on down, plowing the rest of it.
When the brown pony was down the road and out of sight, Roc moved. He took a few steps over into the cleared patch, shook the snow off of his body, and resumed standing at attention. It was OK. He could move a few steps. It’s not like he was on official duty anyway.
She came back. I heard her hoofs on the floor again, just a few minutes later. I knew it was her. I just knew. I started counting again. Her pace was different though. She was hurrying.
Then she came into view. The smile, even the innocent smile, was gone from her face. Her lips were parted, just slightly. There was a look on her face. It was part surprise. Part realization. Part determination. It might have been a look of someone who had just fallen in love. I don’t know. I’m probably just projecting.
She kissed me again. It was a heavy kiss this time. I kissed her back though, at least a little. My hooves didn’t move. It was her tongue that she was sliding into my mouth. She was the one kissing me. But I still kissed her back. This time my eyes were shut tight. I didn’t give a damn about the wallpaper. Or the door. Or the princess. Or my duty.
We were trained against this. Trained against distractions, anyway, never anything like this distraction. I’d heard rumors about this sort of thing. Rumors from barracks, rumors from showers. I had never really believed it though. Two kisses and my training was out the window.
I could feel my heart racing. I hadn’t been this excited since the Solstice Incident, and her lips felt a whole lot better than a lightning bolt. Not that they weren’t electric. She broke the kiss, but I wanted more. She took a step back but I didn’t dare pursue her. I remembered to stand my ground. I’m surprised I was capable of that much.
She wasn’t done with me. Not by a long shot. She moved around to my side. I wasn’t 100% certain of what she was doing until she actually ducked down underneath me. God. I didn’t think I’d ever be taken by surprise while on duty, but she did it. She started nuzzling up to me. Rubbing my sheath with her soft nose. For a second I thought I wouldn’t be able to get it up. I mean... the princess. She was right behind me, in the Mayor’s office. I had no idea what she was talking about. I had no idea how long she would be. She could walk out at any moment and catch me getting sucked off by this little pony. I’d never even heard of anything like that in all the history of the service. I couldn’t imagine what would have happened to me. I still can’t.
It was ironic then, that the fear of Celestia walking through that door was what got me hard. I could feel myself sliding right out of my sheath, hard as I’ve ever been. I slid down right into her wet, hungry mouth. I was sweating bullets. There was a conscious part of my mind trying to worry about the princess coming through that door. But the sensation of her lips moving up and down my shaft made it a little hard to concentrate. She was good too. Fast. She took it deep.
I wanted to tell her to stop. To tell her to go away before we were caught. To tell her that I’d find her later and show her a hell of a time. What am I saying? I didn’t want to tell her to stop. I wanted to turn her around and fuck her until she screamed.
I don’t know how long that blowjob went on. It sorta felt like it went on forever. It sorta felt like it only lasted a second. I remember her sucking it back in one last time. The whole thing. I felt her wiggling on it. I felt her choking on it. Still, she kept at it as long as she could.
Finally, she backed up. A part of me was grateful that it was over before we were caught. She didn’t look happy, at least not in my peripheral vision. I was still standing at attention, eyes forward. I suppose my cock would have still been hanging out, dripping with my pre-cum, and her saliva. I guess she was upset that I hadn’t gotten off. I had barely even reacted. And she had just given me the best blowjob of my life. Maybe it was the best she had ever given. I suppose it was like a game for her. If she couldn’t get me to react by making faces, then she’d get me to react some other way.
She was pretty determined filly. She turned her ass towards me. She started backing up underneath me. She had to get all the way down on her front legs, and bend down with her hind legs. She was actually trying to fuck me while I was still on all four hooves. She couldn’t do it. She just kept pushing my dick around with her ass.
She almost looked pathetic, struggling down there. If she really wanted me to react, I would react. I surrendered myself to her. I hopped up on top of her back and penetrated her. I just slid right in. I remember thinking that it was so easy, it was like we where meant for each other.
In that split second, we were both happy. I’m not going to lie to myself. I was fast. Real fast. That was probably because of the worry (excitement?) of Celestia being on the other side of the door. Still, it was the best damn sex I’ve ever had in my life. I think she liked it too. I think she came, but I’m not sure. Neither of us made a noise, except for the soft slapping of flesh. She craned her head back up towards me. Her eyes were shut. Her mouth was hanging open. I think I’ll remember that face until the day I die. I craned my own head forward and pressed my neck against hers, hugging her without using my legs. I think that’s when she came. I could feel her body shaking. I came not long after that, inside of her. I thrusted myself into her a few more times for good measure. I could hear her grunt softly.
Then I pulled out. I didn’t know what else to do but stand at attention. I was sweating so hard I had worked up a lather. I hoped I hadn’t dripped too much cum on the floor as my cock retreated into the sheath. She had her tail tucked up between her legs, maybe she was worried about the same thing. Maybe she was looking out for me now that we both got what we wanted. She turned to face me one last time. Her smile had returned. She kissed me on the lips again. I didn’t kiss her back this time, but I don’t think she was upset over it. And then, in a dash, she was gone. It was later that I found out how fast she liked to go. The princess didn’t come back out of the office for another half hour. Nobody ever knew.
Except for me and her.
Technically, it was spring. Winter Wrap-Up had come and gone. That didn’t mean it was warm. The snow was cleared from the streets and the fields and the meadows. There were still patches of snow here and there, though.
There was a large one next to Roc. It had melted and then refrozen several times, forming a hard crust. Snow drops had broken through. And crocuses. They hadn’t bloomed yet, but they were there. Roc had inspected them every day since he had first seen them. They were probably his favorite flowers. That might have been because they were always the first to come up after long, hard winters.
Nobody ever knew he cared about these kind of things. Nobody would have guessed it from looking at him. He wanted to garden, though. He had a natural green-hoof. Someday he’d have a garden of his own.
Not now, though. Not any time soon. The rains had returned. His coat was soaked. He shivered. He just wanted one day of warm and sunshine. That would do him a world of good. The weather stayed cold. But he didn’t complain about it. Roc stood his ground.
He looked up, later that morning. He saw her there, briefly, perched on the edge of her cloud. She took off without looking down. She was accompanied. They had spent the night together. It wasn’t the same one as last time.
Roc shivered again. He thought about going home earlier. He waited until the normal time anyway.
“Hey,” I told her. She turned around. She was surprised to see me.
“Omigosh!” she squealed. I knew she had that grainy, high-pitched voice before, but that was the first time I heard her squeal like that. My heart skipped a beat. “It’s you! I didn’t know if I’d ever see you again!”
“Ha,” I laughed. “Actually, I wanted to come out sooner. But, you know. Duty. It wasn’t easy to get away. And... to be honest... I wasn’t exactly sure if you’d want to see me again.”
“Omigosh, yes!” she said. I think this was the point where my heart stopped completely. “I’m so glad you came back. I’ve wanted to see you again ever since...” She blushed. “Oh wow. I still can’t believe I did that. You’ve got to believe me, I’ve never done anything like that before.”
“Heh, neither have I,” I admitted
“I guess I got carried away.”
“You and me both.”
“I can’t get it out of my mind, though.”
“Me neither.”
“I never even asked your name,” she said.
“Roc Inante,” I said, extending my hoof.
“Rainbow Dash,” she shook it. “You Royal Guards are amazing. I don’t think I’d ever be able to do anything like that. I mean... I mean...” We both laughed. “I mean stand there and do nothing while other people make faces and things. To distract you.”
“Ah, that’s not so tough. You get trained for that kind of thing. It’s no big deal,” I said.
“Oh, I don’t know. I think I’m way too hyper to do it. Even though I kinda wanted to be in the Royal Guards when I was a filly.”
“No kidding?” I heard that a lot, actually. Everybody wants to be in the Royal Guards when they’re a foal.
“Yeah, I guess I still kinda do. But mostly I want to be in the Wonderbolts. Guarding is cool, and I love the outfits. But they’re way more my speed. I’m the fastest flyer in all Equestria, you know. And one day I’m going to be with the Wonderbolts.”
“Wonderbolts,” I said. “Yeah, they’re a good outfit.”
“Boy, you got that right.”
“Yeah, I flew with them for a couple of seasons.”
“The way I figure it is, some day I.... what did you just say?”
“Two performance seasons. It was a lot of fun. I’d just been discharged from the special forces when they recruited me. That was before I joined the Royal Guards.”
“No... way.”
“Sure. Looks good on a resume. That’s just the sort of disciplined flying experience they look for in the Royal Guards.”
“That... that... I think I need to get to know you better.”
“Can I buy you lunch?”
So I bought her lunch. Some nice Ponyville restaurant that had outdoor seating. It was particularly nice, as it was early summer. I couldn’t take my eyes of her. We talked for an hour or more. She did most of the talking. Me? I don’t talk much. Her? Hundred miles a minute. I didn’t mind a bit, though.
I started getting nervous as the conversation wore on. I felt like a colt in school again. I had to ask her out. Eventually. We couldn’t just talk for ever. I don’t remember what we said, word for word. But I did manage to finally force it out of my mouth.
I saw, based in the reaction on her face, that she was going to say no. She surprised me. She didn’t say no. She said she couldn’t. She was already in a relationship. I apologized and told her I didn’t know.
“That’s alright,” she told me. “The thing is...,” and then she explained the relationship was on the rocks. She didn’t think it would last much longer, but she wasn’t sure. I got the sense that she might have been more interested in me than the other pony.
“I can wait,” I told her. She told me no. She told me she wasn’t worth it. Not worth my troubles. I told her that waiting was what I did. It’s what I was trained for. I told her I couldn’t get her out of my mind, and that I could wait a million years for her. She reddened and smiled. She told me that was sweet. She told me that was romantic. I told her I wouldn’t wait if she didn’t want me to, if she thought it was creepy or something. She told me no, it wasn’t creepy at all, she really meant it when she said it was sweet and romantic.
Then she told me a story. It was about how her grandfather courted her grandmother. She was going to marry some other pony, or something, but he was madly in love with her. So he would stand underneath her cloud house every day after work until he finally started to attract her attention. And then he got her to fall in love with him. It was the most romantic story she had ever heard, she told me.
I told her that might have been romantic in the old days. But these days it would likely get a stallion arrested for stalking. She laughed and told me her friends said the same thing when she told them the story, but she didn’t care. She still thought it was the sweetest thing ever. She said she wished somebody would do something that sweet for her someday.
I don’t remember how long it took her to see the gleam in my eye. I guess I mentally drifted away from whatever it was she was talking about. I think I said out loud that flying out after my shift everyday from Canterlot wouldn’t be too bad. I do remember her faced dropped when she realized what I was intending. I told her again that I’d forget it if she thought it was inappropriate of me. She said no, again, that wasn’t the problem. She said she really wasn’t worth it, it would be too much trouble, she really didn’t know how long it would take, she didn’t know what was going to happen in her current relationship.
“I don’t want to break your heart,” she told me.
I told her that wasn’t a problem. I’m made of pretty stern stuff.
It was late spring. It wasn’t exactly warm yet, but it wasn’t freezing any more. The only way to describe the weather was “crazy.” It changed every few minutes. There would be bright sunshine one minute, a heavy squall the next. There would be a gleaming white cloud in the sky, with an ugly, bruised blue-black cloud right next to it. The grass in the meadows was growing long and green. It looked like the waves of the ocean when the wind blew through it.
The weather just couldn’t decide what it wanted to do. Which might mean that the pegasus ponies couldn’t decide either. Maybe his pegasus pony couldn’t decide. Maybe that explained the chaos. He kept looking up. Sometimes he saw her. Sometimes he didn’t.
Roc began to wonder. Roc began to doubt.
It was a typical day of security detail. The princess was in residence, which meant the unicorn guards were by her side, and we were guarding the balcony entrances. It was the end of the shift. Changing of the guard. The tourists were snapping their usual photographs.
I got back to the locker room and was in the shower when the new recruit came in.
“Hey, Roc!” he said.
“Yeah?” I asked.
“The major wants to see you,” he told me.
I wondered what it was about while I toweled off. I stowed my armor in my locker and went trotting down to his office and knocked on his door. “Come in,” he barked.
I entered and saluted. “Captain Inante,” he saluted back.
“Major,” I said.
“At ease,” he told me. He showed me over to his desk. “I suppose you’re wondering why I called you here.”
“A little,” I told him. I was hoping it was a promotion. I’d figured I was about due for a few months now.
“Well, captain, I’m transferring you.”
I was shocked. I didn’t know what to say. “Sir?”
“I’m taking you off of security detail. Starting tomorrow, you’re going to be pulling her majesty’s chariot.”
“Sir... Sir... I... but my last performance evaluation... Have I don’t something wrong, major?”
“No, no...,” he said.
“I don’t understand...”
“Listen, captain. Don’t take this the wrong way. You’re not being demoted. You’re not going to get a pay cut, or anything like that. I’m just rearranging the staff a bit.”
“Permission to speak freely?”
“Granted.”
“There’s a matter of honor, sir. Not being demoted? I don’t see how anybody else couldn’t see it that way. There’s got to be some reason. I must have screwed the pooch somehow.”
The major sighed, and took off his glasses. “Captain Inante,” he said. “Roc. Listen. I don’t know if anybody has really told you this before. It’s something we don’t often talk about here in the Royal Guards. But the princess? She can pretty much take care of herself. We’re kind of window dressing.”
“Major?”
“Important window dressing, Roc. We go back a long time. We’re part of a long and noble tradition. The ponies look up to us. When grandparents from all over Equestria bring their grandfoals to Canterlot, they expect to see the guards looking exactly the way they did when they themselves were foals. Stern, and taciturn. Emotionless. Unmovable.”
“And?”
“And I don’t know if you’re even aware of it, captain. But sometimes? When you’re on duty? Sometimes hours into your shift? I’ll see you smiling.” He saw the look on my face. “Oh, yes. You do. Sometimes it’s a little smirk. Sometimes it’s a grin from ear to ear. It sure stands out.”
“I know you’re not happy with my decision, captain. But believe me, I mean it as no slight on your honor or your character. You’re as good a guard as any whose ever served for me. I mean that.”
“I don’t know what it is that makes you smile, captain. But whatever it is... Who ever she is? Well, I dont know. But I’m sure whatever it is must be pretty damn good.”
It was the dog days of summer. The heat was unbearable. Biting horseflies were swarming all around Roc. His hooves hurt. His knees heart. His heart hurt.
Roc broke. He couldn’t do it any more. His head, for the first in a very long time, bent low. He took a step forward, and then another. His muscles were stiff. He turned down his road.
When Roc had come here earlier today, he hadn’t expected to leave until much later. Now, it really didn’t matter any more. He was through.
Roc stretched out his wings, loosening them up for the long lonely flight home to Canterlot. He didn’t look up at the cloud. It didn’t really matter anymore.
There was a thump of something heavy landing behind him. He turned around.
“Hey,” Rainbow Dash said. “Were you leaving? I hope you’re not busy. I wanted to talk to you. I mean, really talk. It’s hot down here, though. Would you like to come up to my cloud?”