"The spear represents a defensive weapon, it is used to fend of the enemy in tightly packed formations to defend a point. The sword is an offensive weapon, it is used by getting up close with the intent of killing the enemy."
After the Royal Guard's failures at the Wedding of Shining Armor and Princess Cadence, Flash Sentry must overcome the shame he and the rest of the Guard was faced with for letting the changlings breach their security, and scar many innocent lives. Everyone and everything in the Guard had changed since the attack, recovery was a long and painful road. On his journey to recovery, A dark and cold Flash Sentry sets off to find his true identity after witnessing the strange actions of the changlings in battle. As Twilight becomes more curious about Equestria's history, She discovers new and surprising, hidden facts that she would've never guessed. Why was Celestia hiding secrets in history? And how did Equestria become a powerful empire ruling a whole continent? This is a story of Flash Sentry, a pony who lost his sanity, a pony who killed to survive, a member of the Royal Guard, a member of a long lost family, a pony who'd been scarred for life, on his journey to recovery.
"I say again! This is an important day! A Princess' wedding; first in over a thousand years, everything must go to plan and it is our duty to ensure security over the entire procedure!"
Flash and his platoon were at attention in a single file the parade ground of the barracks as their Sergeant explained to them their task at hand , whilst casually strolling up and down the line giving his final remarks before their upcoming task whilst waving around his infamous "stick of doom" (baton) stuck to his hoof behind his back. His whole body was still besides his mouth shouting and limbs taking him up the hallway and back again. It was like his brain was the Sergeant of his body as well; he head seemed relaxed with a stern face, but his hooves were buckling as he strolled.
"I know that I look stupid walking up and down this hallway, barking things that you already know, but I cannot stress enough about the procedure going to plan with all these dangers lurking around Canterlot conveniently taking place alongside a royal wedding!" He boomed as he stopped and looked at an unfortunate guard straight in the eye, causing him to sweat profusely, before heading back on his usual walk; allowing the guard to take a breath, and continuing on his speech.
"Unfortunately for some of you arse-hats! Saying 'Don't Be A Fucking Retard' isn't enough for some of you to be... A Fucking Retard!" He glared at the crowd.
"However, unlike the plan explained previously, you will not be stationed at any of the wedding halls unfortunately for any of you young guards who wish to take a mare into bed tonight and use those little dangy things between your legs!" he shouted sarcastically and then eyeing Hoofguard and leaning forwards to him before adding "Or mares for those with the likes of you!" then leaving a flustered Hoofguard trying desperately to hide his blush as he continued his walk.
"I don't give a shit if some of you get STDs or that you got a mare pregnant without the intention of doing so, as long as I don't have to fill in paperwork to your family, the Captain or the Princesses, informing them why my platoon is made up a bundle of sticks!"
Soothing his harsh glare, his face returned to calm and well-kept as he continued.
"But we would be taking the most second most important emergency position. This is due to the decision that was made by the Captain to have the richer guards to take the public positions, meaning that none of you will be exposed to the public until you are off duty at 1830. You will be relieved by the 23rd platoon for the rest of the day!"
He paused then marched to the front of the centre of the platoon, continuing on: "For now, you will be dismissed by your commanders and awaiting further orders at the start of the wedding on 1100 sharp!"
He'd then halted and raised his baton up to his chest and handed over the command to their Lieutenant before marching off. Lieutenant watched their sergeant march away before whispering to the platoon, "I know it's actually my job to tell you guys that but frankly, that was a long speech and I'm not bother to repeat that, I've got better things to do. So... if you weren't paying attention; May Celestia help you."
After getting a few chuckles from the guard, He went on, "So pretty much just report here midday tomorrow, you can do anything you want as long as you are not going to be a bunch of dickheads..." He gave a quick grin before going on.
"Platoon, Officer on Parade, dismissed!"
The whole platoon turned to their right and started marching off in unison, and heading of in formation towards their living quarters.
"Some times I think we've turned them from colts to stallions within less than half a year. Remember the first time we met them?" Corporal Ironclad chuckled at the memory as the remaining guards left.
"Yeah I'm impressed alright, but I think their just better than the other recruits." Corporal Silver Spear chuckled, wearing a smug smile on his face whilst wiggling his eyebrows at Lancer.
"If you're that easily impressed, you have no idea of what discipline is," muttered Lieutenant Lancer before adding: "And no, I still think they need harsher training, Sergeant made it very clear," and then heading down the hallway, followed by the corporals to report to Captain Shining Armour.
"I can't believe it, we're going to miss out on the wedding!" snapped Hoofguard, his face was still red from being humiliated by Sergeant Gale Winds in front of everypony to see. The band of mates were in their small room which just had two bunk beds, four old desk cabinets and a small window; quite a cramped space, so they usually go out to do something when off duty rather than staying in their rooms.
"Well, we had no choice, they never wanted 'untrained young recruits' in any position which required any sort of importance," muttered Tappenfield, who mocked the sound of Prince Blueblood from an incident in the castle.
"Hey, we can watch a recording of it, my family is going to be the official photographer for the wedding, I'll just have to remind them to give us a copy of the ceremony."
"Snapshot, I'm fine without a recording, but at least we would be allowed to go off duty once the initial wedding is over." beamed Hoofguard.
"I honestly think their going easy on us, we may as well guard the area all day! Besides, we are in a quite important position for a bunch of guards out of recruitment! Or maybe the reason why your so pissed is so you can..." joked Flash as he bumped Hoofguard's helmet.
"Shut up, Flash," he snapped, face full of anger at the joke, clearly not taking the joke well.
"I have to make up for missing three dates with Yellow Star, I bet she'd kill me if I'm not available with her at the wedding." Hoofguard added, whilst sorting his armour out.
"Three dates! Dude! You could off done 'it' by now! Third times the charm!" Snapshot teased, while mocking Flash when they practiced archery, earning a chuckle from Tappenfield.
"I swear a javelin is much more accurate than a bow, how do you even shoot a bow with a pair of wings and hooves?!" Complained Flash.
"Two pwnages with a sentence and earning a snicker from Tappenfield, that's an academy record," mocked Snapshot, re-enacting Soarin's representation of Spitfire at the Wonderbolts Academy.
"Shut your F-ing mouth up, Snapshot." before heading out of their room with the intention of getting ready to meet his marefriend again.
"Three," whispered Tappenfield to no one in particular, earning a chuckle from Flash and Snapshot.
"I heard that!" exclaimed Hoofguard, getting an even louder laughter from Snapshot.
Tappenfield was the oldest of the group. He came from a family in Las Pegasus, and joined the royal guard to help bring in income to his family. That's just what they know. Ever since the time they tried to pry a little, he would just ignore them give a hint to back off. He is very stoic, stubborn and diligent and doesn't chat as much. He has a dark blue coat, a light grey mane and a cutie mark consisting of a map.
Snapshot's family is made up of artist and photographers, he had great eyesight and was an expert in aerial combat. He the opposite of Tappenfield; he chats a lot, is very laid back and a cutie mark of a spear with wings.
Flash, on the other hand came from a little-known family that was active in Equestria's military. He doesn't pride himself on his family history, but prefers to appreciate the things he himself had achieved. He's not do sure about his talent but he's sure it has something to do with protecting others. It's funny to think how a mark on your flank really effects and controls one's life, it seems silly to stress out about something so little in life when there is much more to do.
Hoofguard was the youngest of his platoon. He had red coat and a blue mane with a cutie mark of a pair of crossed spears. He was recently planning to propose to his marefriend who he had been dating for one and a half years. She always supported him when he was in the guard and never wanted him to give up. Even though he was the youngest, Hoofguard always protected his friends to the best of his ability and had the biggest attitude.
Hoofguard looked at his watch impatiently as he hurried down the street. He was dressed in his armour excluding his helmet and spear.
Sidestepping into a specific house on the side of the road. He walked up to the doorstep and hesistantly knocked on the door and waited, it's been so long since he was free to spend some quality time with her.
"I'm coming!" a voice rang out, muffled from behind the door, followed by hooves rapidly hitting the floor before the unlocking of the door. As it opened a mare was casually opening the door before noticing the stallion at the doorstep. "Hoofguard?" She uttered, both shocked and surprised to see him.
"I um.. err..." Hoofguard stammered, "Thought is was appropriate to drop by," he said giving a dumb smile to the mare, hoping to cheer her up. A slap blew across his face, he wished he had brought his helmet.
"You've got a lot of nerve in that tiny head of yours to drop by now!" she yelled, "Seriously, it's been 9 months since our last date! Which was only half a date since you had to leave halfway through!"
Hoofguard rubbed his cheek and smiled dumbly, "Uhh... yeah I deserved that, umm..." She looked at him, unimpressed, She bet he was going to desperately make up to him in another cheesy yet stupid way.
"I was thinking if we could dance together at the end of the wedding," he finished.
She smiled, before giving him an unimpressed frown, "Really now?"
"Yeah, um.. yeah?"
She sighed, then sarcastically said, "Only if you make it to the end on time,"
"Uh... yeah sure!"
She smiled, and brought him in for a hug, "Sorry for ranting earlier, I was agitated,"
"No, it was my fault, sorry for missing out on hanging out with you, you know how it is with the royal guard and stuff."
She smiled and pulled away, holding his hooves "Just promise me it will be back to normal,"
"It will, security would drop after the wedding, that's what the huge fuss was about.
They smiled and were locked into a kiss as the promise was made.
As they broke off, they looked into each other's eyes in their embrace in silence. Both had never felt so relaxed and comfortable for a long time.
"I... uh..." Hoofguard chuckled as he awkwardly broke the silence.
"Come on in. You big goof," Yellow Star smiled. "You can stay the night." She winked.
"I got an assignment early in the morning... so I think I'll just..." Hoofguard said before being interrupted by another kiss as he was dragged into the house, closing the door behind him.
No pony knew, but after the wedding, life as they knew it would change dramatically.
Flash grumbled to himself. Lost in his thoughts and dreams in his sleep. He woke from his slumber as he felt the ground around him and pulled himself up from it, before looking around him; it was pitch black in every direction, gouging his eyes out wouldn't make a difference in visability. He was wearing his guard combat armour with bumps and scars all over and holding a spear in his hoof. It seemed like he was fighting something before he woke up. Looking around himself again, he lowered he spear and stood on his hind legs.
Suddenly, a flash of green light from behind blinded him and he stumbled back in shock, gripping his eyes with his hoof before squinting around him whilst pulling up a defensive stance. Without a warning, a limp body of a royal guard fell from above and crashed in front of him. The sound of the armour hitting the floor echoed through his ears, leaving them ringing at the sudden crash. The blood of the body splattered all over the floor and a dark figure faded in behind it from the dust caused by the impact. It looked like a dark unicorn with transparent abstract wings with blood dripping from the horn to the ground, like the horn was used to impale the pony in front. It looked at him with heartless blue eyes. Flash looked back, his eyes locked onto the figure's with a strong glare.
Something's familiar about this, can't quite put my hoof on it though. He thought to himself as the eyes became glowing red and the figure began to advance towards him; fangs unleashed from under it's muzzle and the wings flared outwards as the horn glowed green, readying to strike.
Flash suddenly realised the situation he was in and stepped back away from the figure quickly, reaching behind him for his weapon. after feeling nothing he realised that he was unarmed and unarmoured.
I swore I had armour on! He mentally screamed to himself. Flash looked at the Figure before looking at the corpse on the ground.
Something was very familiar.
"No... No! NO!!!" He cried out.
Flash ran forwards and lunged at the figure before his movement was halted midair. He felt something behind him and turned his head at a shadowy figure behind him. This one was much more taller and slender, its eyes glared at him before starting to grin, the bright white fangs exposed themselves from the darkness.
He stared back at the figure with a confused frown, then he felt a tingling, numbing sensation in his chest. Looking down at his body, he saw a blade sticking out of his chest from behind, his blood slowly dripping out from his body and running along the edge of the blade.
What? How? He murmured to himself.
Suddenly the large figure pulled the blade and flung him the opposite direction over a bottomless ridge, leaving the Pegasus flying off the blade, paralyzed as he watched himself plummet down helplessly.
"AHH!" Flash fell out from sleep, after feeling like he was falling off the bed. He looked around himself to see that he was still safely on the bed, clutching his pillow tightly as if he was hanging from a cliff.
"Bucking hell," he cursed under his breath.
He got up and looked around. He was in a small wooden cabin that consisted of a window, three beds and a chest. Tappenfield was resting in his bed next to him, staring at the ceiling.
"Glad you're awake," Tappenfield muttered. Flash rubbed his eyes and then the back of his head, scratching the itch on his neck. He looked around and saw Snapshot's empty bed.
"You sounded scared, what hap..."
"Where Snapshot?" Flash cut him off, trying to change the subject to save his embarrassment of yelling out for later, which earned a groan from Tappenfield.
"He went out," he moaned, pointing at the window.
A massive blizzard had hit the crystal empire, winds sweeping the vast expanse of snow and ice. Flash and some of his mates including Tappenfield and Snapshot had been moved to the crystal guard a few months ago, and a blizzard had conveniently struck as their new sergeant told them to 'make yourselves at home,"
Flash looked out the window, the blizzard had seemed weaker than before; or that they were getting use to the weather of the winter front (the border of the Crystal Empire that faces north into nowhere). He hopped out of his bed and place his covers back neatly on the bed, preserving as much heat as possible from the night's rest. he grabbed his cloak from his bed and started putting it on.
"I'm going out now," he informed Tappenfield, who looked as if he had no intentions to even get out of bed.
Flash looked at him and gave a sigh, "If the headache's that bad, you should probably tell somepony," he said before grabbing his body armour.
"It's fine," Tappenfield weakly said before rolling over to a side.
Flash rolled his eyes. Good O' Stubborn Tappenfield, he thought, buckling up his chest piece before grabbing his helmet.
"Watch over Snapshot for me, he seemed like he needed somepony to talk to when he left," Tappenfield muttered.
Flash then slipped on his helmet and hoofguards, grabbed his spear and tied his scarf around his neck before heading out to the storm.
"That's the reason why I'm heading out."
Flash marched through the snow and ice to where their usual post was, where he saw Snapshot standing on the edge of the cliff face, looking down at the vast snowy landscape. He approached him slowly, wading through the thick snow, until he was right behind him.
"Hey Snap," Flash blankly greeted the stallion as he halted next to him.
"Oh, Flash!" Snapshot greeted in surprise. "Thought it was about time you got up."
"The clock was broken, what's the time now?" Flash muttered, adjusting his gear.
Snapshot looked down at his small pocket watch and replied. "It's just pass mid-day."
"Doesn't look like it," Flash commented on the snowy weather. "I forgot what it feels like to touch the sun now."
Snapshot chuckled, "We'll be back at the empire soon. The week went fast; it only felt like yesterday we arrived here."
"Yeah..." Flash replied in thought, before another thing to ask about; it seems Snapshot is the one who knows everything today.
"Yeah, By the way, where's Corporal Stone Cut? He wasn't at the cabin."
"He's gone back to Empire to make final checks about our relief force." Shapshot replied.
"By himself?"
"Yeah, you and Mr Headache over there were fast asleep, and somepony... "He gestured to himself, "had to keep watch over the post, as well check out the difficulties back at the Command Post, so he decided to take matters into his own hooves."
Stone Cut wasn't a stallion who followed direct orders, nor was he a complete rebel; he would stick to his duty no matter what, but the way he does it is questionable to a few. One time, according to a few members of the Crystal Guard, when a filly was stuck in a cavern, he hopped down into it and dragged the filly out while everypony else was busy preparing their safety harnesses despite being a wingless, crystal pony, there was also once when he was in a escort, he demanded the pony who they were escorting to apologise to his mate for demanding too much from him. In the end, despite his somewhat reckless acts, he was promoted to Lance Corporal.
From what Flash could tell, some of the Crystal Guard despised his ways of doing things while others, especially his commanders as well as Shining Armour, thought of him as intelligent and a pony who will always takes the initiative.
"So... What are ya planning to do once we get back?" Snapshot chirped out of the blue.
"I don't know.. Maybe find a doctor for Tappenfield," Flash joked.
"He's probably not gonna go with that," Snapshot replied, stating the obvious.
"Then what do you suggest?"
"I think he just need a rest. I mean... we all need a rest. How do you feel about going to the club? I heard they got some great food there."
"From where?" Flash asked with a frown on his face. "Where do you get all this information from? We've just been training since we got here."
"I have my ways," Snapshot boasted.
They both stared out into the flat expanses of snow and ice. Watching the snow being pushed about like waves from the wind. Snapshot took off his helmet and fore-hoof guards and grabbed a lighter from his sack as he sat down onto the icy ground.
"It's about lunch time, don't ya think?" He said happily as he pulled out more supplies and rations.
Flash chuckled back as he watched Snapshot go to work on a vegetable stew. He looked out at the flat expanse again before deciding to sit with his friend, grabbing out his own supplies.
They sat and ate for a while before packing up everything and burying the hole they dug, making sure that there are no traces left behind. After another hour of patrolling, A figure appeared from the distance behind them.
Snapshot instantly recognised the figure and watched as it closed in with them.
"Corporal," He acknowledged as he approached.
He's got really good eyesight. Flash though as he tried to recognise the figure from a closer distance.
"Corporal," He said once he was close enough.
The figure halted and looked towards them. "There you are," He said and walked towards Snapshot. "New changes, we're leaving in thirty minutes. Get your gear from the cabin ready. Flash, you stay guard; Tappenfield will relieve you once he's done, then get your gear."
"Corporal!" They both acknowledged.
Snapshot gave Flash one last grin before heading with Lance Corporal Stone Cut towards the cabin.
After a while, Tappenfield arrived at Flash's location with his own gear.
"Hey," He solemnly greeted.
"What's up?" Flash said back.
"Not much," he muttered as he took over Flash's post.
"See ya," Flash said before heading towards the cabin.
Back at the cabin, Snapshot was packing away the last of his belongings while Stone Cut was dressed in all his gear, waiting outside.
"Hurry up, we haven't got all day." He muttered as Flash trotted in the cabin.
Flash packed up his few belongings into a sack and strapped on his saddlebags before taking off the bed sheets and pillow, tucking them into his sack.
"Need help?" he asked as Snapshot was having trouble packing the rest of his possessions.
"Nah, I'm good," he replied as he rammed his pillow into his sack.
After having finish with their items, they went outside with their gear, and waited along with Lance Corporal Stone for the relieving force. After a few minutes of waiting and limited chatting, a squad of five ponies appeared form the distance.
"That's them," Stone Cut muttered, pointing his left hoof backwards, commanding the two to form a line before marching forwards to meet the ponies in front.
They halted in front of the squad and Lance Corporal Stone Cut stepped forwards towards their commander and told him, "We got a guy at the post, send one of your guys to relieve him."
"Acknowledged," The pony replied, before gesturing to one of the ponies to fall out.
After Tappenfield got back, they took a quick check before marching back to the empire's gates. When they arrived, they put their blankets and pillows in the laundry to be washed and headed to their room. After sorting out the rest of their gear, they washed their utensils and placed them down in the barracks.
After that, they went on the parde ground to be briefed, very briefly.
"Good work on your first day, your commander has been speaking well of you," Sergeant Steel Sapphire told them as they stood lined up in ranks. "For now though," he continued. "Your services are not required until the 15th of June on 1200 hours. At that time, I recommend that you come early to prepare your squad, Corporal."
"Sergeant!" Stone Cut replied.
"Squad! Dismissed!" He boomed, followed by the turning and then marching of the squad.
"We got three days!" Snapshot cried aloud as they made their way towards their room.
"Yeah," Flash monotonously acknowledged.
"What should we do now?" Snapshot wondered aloud.
"Maybe just walk around. It's been a while since we really relaxed." Flash answered.
"Yeah sure, but where? Oh! I know, how about we go to that place I was talking about! We can walk around and have dinner there, after all, we did get our pay!" He responded excitedly whilst jiggling his bit-bag around, sounding a bunch of coins clashing against one another.
"Sure, why not," Flash agreed monotonously.
Tappenfield just groaned in response.
"Are you sure you're fine?" Flash asked him.
"Yeah... It's fine. Don't worry about it." He muttered back.
"Alright, how about we go the jousting! It'll be fun!" Snapshot chimed.
"How about tomorrow, it's pretty late." Flash replied for both him and Tappenfield.
"Okay... Let's see... What about the mines?"
"That's too far out of town, we can do that tomorrow."
"The farms?"
"It's closed now."
"Um... The circus?"
"Don't think Tappenfield's in the mood."
"The clinic, then."
Tappenfield just shook his head in response.
"How about... the strip club?"
The last comment made both Flash look at his friend with disgust and Tappenfield doing the same but with disapproval.
"...And then he went BUCKING Berserk!!! And said; Oi!!! Ya littl' SHIT!!! COMERE!!!! And... then he chased him... ON THE THIRD STEP HE TOOK TOWARDS HIM, HE TRIPPED AND BROKE HIS MUZZLE!!!!!!!" Snapshot rambled about laughing with such intensity, he fell off is stood spilling his cider all over the ground, attracting a lot of unwanted attention from bystanders in the bar.
His friends were not so impressed.
"Snapshot? Snapshot?!" Flash poked the broken down stallion. "Is he alright?" He asked Tappenfield.
Tappenfield gave Flash a glare of 'are you serious?' before taking another small sip of his own cider, causing Flash to turn his attention back to Snapshot.
"Far out Snapshot! Get yourself together!"
"HAHAHAHA! OW IT TICKLES! HEHEHEHE!!! O! HAHHAHAHAH!!!! MY LUNGS!!!!"
"Bucking Hell!" Flash muttered as he smacked Snapshot hard across the face, shutting him up slowly.
Flash sighed before he noticed all the ponies around him was staring silently at the exchange.
After ten long seconds of the awkward silence, it was cut with a: "Hehehehehehe..." from the stallion on the floor.
Flash lost it.
"I FUCKING SWEAR I WILL SMACK YOU SOO HARD THAT IT'LL TWIST YOUR TRACHEA SO YOU WILL STOP LAUGHING!!!!"
"Argh... my head hurts. *hic*" Snapshot moaned as the trio stumbled down the street. "Why the hell did you *hic* slap me?!" he whined.
"I think the real question you should ask yourself is why wouldn't he slap you." Tappenfield calmly interrupted.
"Great! Just bucking great! Now we are banned from what is considered the best bar in the Empire!" Flash burst aloud. "Where are we gonna stay then?! You'll think they would let us stay at the barrack, but no... They want us to get a 'real' home. Pretty much using rent! Rent is nothing but just money going down the toilet!" He rambled on.
How am I friend with these bastards? Tappenfield thought as Snapshot continued to stumble every few steps as Flash was rambling something about the Empire's economy.
After a few moments of walking down the quiet streets, the stallions were interrupted by a mare in the alley.
"Hey... Colt's... Havin' a tough night? Whatcha think about a great night with us?" a mare interrupted from the alley, posing along with her 'friends' in 'clothing with very limited coverage'.
"No, not interested." Tappenfield muttered emotionlessly and headed down the street.
Flash cut his rambling a stayed silent as he followed Tappenfield, giving the mares a few stern glances. And then his eyes widened and shouted as loud as he could, "SNAPSHOT!!!"
"Hey... *hic* watchcha think of a..." Snapshot was interrupted with a choke hold, which then started dragging him down the street.
"You think they would get rid of the prostitutes all ready." Flash huffed as he caught up with Tappenfield as Snapshot continued to gag in his choke hold.
"They wouldn't change that quickly. Equestria was in tough times a thousand years ago," Tappenfield said with no emotion in his voice. "There would be brothels, prostitutes, illegal trading all operating in open daylight under Sombra's reign. Be thankful the brothels were destroyed and repurposed as soon as the princesses seized control."
"Yeah... but the ponies here still have the same mindset despite the changes the princesses are trying to impose." Flash stated.
"Well the place only reappeared a few weeks ago. These 'crystal ponies' don't even realised that they had been gone for a thousand years."
"It's a miracle *hic* that we haven't *hic* encountered a fight or anything. *hic*" Snapshot added before coughing violently and then began to cover his mouth as his cheeks puffed and faced turned green.
Tappenfield and Flash both quickly skipped forwards as Snapshot began to release a torrential downpour of things he had consumed an hour earlier.
He paused, moved his jaw to speak, but was interrupted with another phase of expelling waste from his mouth.
"You think he's alright?" Flash asked.
"He'll be fine." Tappenfield continued to step forwards.
"Oi mate. I don't want any trouble, just leave me be." A voice came from around the corner.
Flash squinted curiously at the direction of the sound.
"Hah! tryin' to get away? No such luck!"
"What... Do you..." Flash was cut of as Tappenfield waved a gesture at him, telling him to shut up.
Tappenfield instantly transformed from a stallion casually walking down the street into a silent guard on patrol as he ran quietly towards the corner.
Flash followed in suit, closing his wings to prevent any sound from the wind as well as the ground.
"Let's hav' a deal, shall we?" a sinister voice echoed.
"Look, just let me go." a voice said calmly.
Tappenfield peered around the corner, facing his muzzle away from the sound so that the first thing that will enter possible line of sight was his eyeball.
"Give us your money, your clothing and we'll leave you be."
Flash waited in silence behind Tappenfield as he continued to observe. There were four ponies in the alley, three of them were armed with clubs and knives and all were masked with a variety of cheap masks to hide their faces. There was also a white Pegasus stallion in the corner who had a Wonderbolt woollen jacket on him who was clearly trying to sort out the situation.
"How about you leave me be, and I'll leave you be." The white pegasus said without hesitation.
"Gettin's cocky are we?" one of the masked ponies said, jabbing the white stallion further into the corner with his club.
Tappenfield knew what he had to do, but he could risk the innocent stallion to get hurt. He turned around quickly towards Flash, without making a sound and gave him a bunch of hand signals.
Flash stared at his commands as he translated it in his mind: There's three offenders and one victim. Offenders are armed with clubs and knives and are masked, and one offender is watching the alley every once in a while. Victim is a white, pegasus stallion. The alley is blocked from the back. Go the top of this building and swoop down, not dive, onto the two when watch-pony looks. Engage the two, protect the stallion. I'll engage watcher when he is focused on you.
Flash nodded, he had full trust in what Tappenfield was planning to do. He silently flew up the side of the building and landed softly on top, hugging the surface of the building and stealthy peered down towards the alley.
He immediately identified who was who and watched the situation from above.
"Let's see how 'cocky' you are, WITHOUT A COCK!!!" a pony armed with a knife stepped towards the pegasus.
The watching pony looked towards the opening of the alley.
"Look, It doesn't have to be that way," The stallion said calmly.
The pony looked back at the pegasus.
"If we left him, he'll notify the guards." a masked pony said to his comrade.
"Then let's loot his dead body shall we?" The other said with a blood dripping from his voice as the offenders step forwards.
At that moment, the watch-pony looked back.
Flash jumped down at the ponies in a vertical dive as he opened up his wings slowly as he fell towards them. When he was 4 metres (13 feet) above the heads of the ponies, he thrust his wings out swooping down at the ponies, transferring all his downwards momentum across the offenders.
Tappenfied waited until he could hear a 'Swoop' sound and waited for a second before silently charging in the alley.
The fight had begun.
Flash's swoop attracted attention from the ponies as they looked up towards him; the white stallion couldn't help but let out a grin.
Although the masked ponies turned towards Flash, they didn't have time to react to his attacks. For Flash, everything when slow-motion.
Flash placed all his energy from the dive into his right hoof which connected with an offender's jaw and neck, knocking him out. The pony next to him wind his club back and swung it towards him.
Using his spinning momentum from the punch, Flash duck and spun towards the pony under his club and placed a blow under his jaw. The pony fell back as he took the uppercut and placed a hoof onto his jaw. Out of nowhere, a powerful roundhouse kick from the white stallion was delivered to the back of his head, stumbling the pony over towards Flash who performed an strong elbow strike square on his forehead, finishing him off.
The last pony charged towards Flash with a machete which he drew from a hidden place in his cloak.
Flash stood at the ready as the pony got closer and closer. Before he gets a chance to swing, a hoof struck him in the back, knocking him towards the ground. Tappenfield grabbed the pony from the ground by the neck and threw him towards the wall, causing a large crack to echo throughout the alley, from both the wall and the head. He quickly finished him off with a knee strike in the stomach and a powerful hammer fist into the top of his head, causing another painful crack, leaving blood tricking onto the ground. Dead.
"You didn't have to kill him," Flash muttered, only to enter a grunt from Tappenfield as he shook his hoof.
"Wow," The stallion muttered in astonishment. "Never thought that there was a secret police in the Crystal Empire," The stallion joked.
"We ain't," Flash replied. "We're from the Royal Guard in Canterlot. We just transferred here a few weeks ago."
"Pleasure to meet yall," The stallion chuckled and stuck out a hoof. "Name's Soarin, from the Wonderbolts."
"And that big guy here's Tappenfield." Flash pointed at the stallion.
"Nice to meet ya both."
"Are you of Appleloosan decent?" Tappenfield asked out of curiosity.
"Oh! Sorry about the accent. We did a show in Applelossa before we came here, the accent usually sticks for a while... as well as the taste of pies." Soarin licked his lips.
"You were awfully calm for a pony being mugged," Flash stated the obvious.
"Its not my first time in the Empire. Crime is astonishingly high, and with all the guards moved to the castle, the streets run wild."
"They say that they moved the guards to the castle for a good reason," Flash told him.
"The greedy bastards were too pussied out to spare a few guards on the streets," Tappenfield muttered. "They'd never seen any trace of action in their lives, and are not willing to ever will."
"That's pretty deep," Soarin thought in his head as his grin grew in size.
"Speaking of action, are you guys implying that you've done action?" Soarin asked, only to meet Tappenfield's signature 'Are you serious' look and Flash's 'It happened right in front of you'.
Then Flash's face turned solemn and serious and muttered, "We... don't want to talk about it..."
"Okay... Just confirming."
"Who are you here in the Empire with?" Flash calmly asked.
"I'm here with my platoon to do a tour to 'enlighten' the crystal ponies," Soarin replied. "Apparently the feelings of the crystal ponies, somehow, indirectly reflect across the all of Equestria."
"Speaking of friends, where's Snapshot?" Flash suddenly asked.
Tappenfield's eyes widen and ran off towards the street, muttering aloud, "That ARSE BETTER BUCKING NOT..." expecting the worst.
The ponies' ran out onto the street, looking all around in search of their comrade.
Only to have their eye's meet with an exhausted Snapshot in front of a pile of unconscious pegasi with their masks either broken or on the ground.
"*Huff**Huff**Wheeze**Phew* You... *Huff* Better owe me... *Huff* At least a 'thanks'..." He wheezed out before dropping to his knees, revealing a group of six knocked out pegasi behind him.
"I think your friend's right there..." Soarin commented.
