-Disobeying Doctor’s Directions-

The train whistled impatiently in Canterlot's grand train station. The open air station boasted white polished walls and smooth edges like much of Canterlot's architecture. A plaque proclaimed that while it was not the largest station in Equestria it was the most popular. The station was busy despite the early hour, with many drowsy eyed ponies boarding trains or dragging sleeping foals off arrivals.

Unfortunately this did not hide the strange group sitting in front of the early morning Friendship Express to Ponyville. Six mares struggled to load their luggage with the help of the sleepy courier. A tall, cloaked pony escorted them but offered no help, his hooded figure rose over all but the tallest unicorns as he scanned the thin crowds.

The girls paused as a small group approached, laden down with more bags on two of them. It took a moment for them to recognise doctor Clean Cut in his jacket. The two other ponies followed him; an earth pony and a unicorn with a cracked horn, both looked sickly and weak like they hadn't eaten for a few months. Coalback greeted them from under his cloak and took their bags from them. The doctor departed with a bow and a wave just as quickly as he'd come.

They loaded onto the train in short order, but Coalback waited outside the door as they all settled into the car. The girls nervously took seats at the farthest end of the car as the two thin stallions took a seat at the front just in front of the door they came in. Both looked horrid and exhausted and were dressed in dark armor that fit far too loosely on them.

"Are those really his squires?" Rainbow hissed to the others with a glance over the seat backs. Neither of them were watching the mares, they had collapsed onto a bench and looked like they'd fallen asleep.

"Well, their coats are still dyed like a Solar Guard's," Twilight said. "But I don't understand why they look like that. Plus, that's Lunar Guard armor."

"Coalback did say that he couldn't move 'em last night," Applejack offered with her own glance to the seated ponies. "Wonder what he's up to cartin' around a couple a' fellers so sickly like." She glanced out the window where Coalback still stood in apparent anticipation for somepony else.

"Perhaps he finds the idea of body guarding us as ridiculous," Rarity said as she fussed with a brush through her mane. "I know I do. We can take care of ourselves, thank you very much," she said, though her attempt at a snooty raise of her nose was undermined by the lock of mane that fell in her eyes.

"He doesn't look like he's not taking it seriously," Rainbow said doubtfully. "You heard him walking earlier didn't you? He's got something heavy under that cloak and he is definitely wearing metal boots."

"Perhaps he likes to dress up," Rarity suggested. Pinkie met it with a giggle.

"I think we all know that's not what's happening," Twilight said. "He didn't have to agree with Luna, he could have just left if he wanted to. I think that he does want to help, or at least try-"

"Oh look!" Pinkie exclaimed from the window. "Coalback's got a friend with a present for him!" she tapped the glass in excitement and tried to wave to the pony Coalback was talking to.

The girls gathered around the windows and looked out to see what Pinkie was talking about. True enough, Coalback was talking with a brown unicorn and had something on his back. The package was a simple wrap of course cloth and rope, but it was long like a bundle of spears on his back. She handed him two smaller packages before they shook hooves and the brown unicorn departed into the crowds.

Coalback hopped into the car just as the train gave it's last whistle and began to roll out of the station, the car shook as the train sped foreward. He was in the cabin momentarily and dropped all but one of the packages with the two squires. He brought the last package to the back of the train but didn't bother to hand it to anypony, he simply tossed the brown paper package to Twilight who had to react quickly to catch it.

"Hey-!"

"Open it," Coalback commanded, indifferent to Twilight’s offence at the treatment. Twilight grumbled but carefully began to unwrap the package. "Each of you will take one of these, keep it with you at all times. If there is an emergency you can call us with them," he explained as Twilight revealed the contents of the package.

She pulled out six simple, metal whistles on thin necklaces. Each one was a simple cylinder of metal, almost slim enough to be called a toothpick. Twilight distributed them to the others as she examined it.

"Is this a dog whistle?" she finally asked, it seemed so pointless that she wasn't sure if he was serious.

"This is a dog whistle," Applejack said obtusely as she took one.

"Don't ask questions you don't want the answers to," was Coalback's deadpan response. "I have a few questions for all of you, mostly just to help me make sure I do my job properly," he growled as he pulled out a sheaf of paper from under his cloak with a flash of the armor on his hooves. "I need to know if any of you live with other ponies, family, or others; which home between you is largest, and which of you owns the most land; I also need a compiled list of all of your personal and shared enemies and where they are located," he read from the list, a fountain pen found its way to his lips.

"What in the world sort o' questions are those?" Applejack asked, her words swam in incredulous suspicion. She did, however, slip the whistle under her hat and around her neck.

"I am constructing emergency and lockdown plans," he grumbled around the pen, he spat it into an armored hoof before he continued. "I need to know whose home can hold all of you and the ones you want protected, and which of those choices is most easily defended against someone wishing to ... intrude. I also need to know who to get where and who to expect to cause problems. There is more to a defensive strategy than just standing around looking shiny and polished and impressive: Something I think the Guards of Canterlot seem to forget," he said somewhat loudly, the stallions at the other end of the train clearly heard.

“Preparation shall keep rats from being nailed to your doors, bricks away from your windows, and your loved ones from being kidnapped and raped," he added as a last thought.

The car suddenly felt much smaller to the mares. Not a single one of them had ever heard of a pony doing those kinds of things. The fact that Coalback had rattled them off like they were commonplace occurrences was the worst part of it though. They'd never even thought that a pony could be capable of that kind of hate.

"I take it," Rarity said, "that this is more recurring of a problem where you come from?" She fanned herself hurriedly, hoping to stave off a faint at the horrible images he had so vividly put in her head.

"Common?" His smile flashed under his hood. "Where I come from some of the most popular modern media entertains with things just as bad and worse," he chuckled at the green tinge that suddenly jumped into the mare’s face.

"He's just trying to scare you, Rares," Rainbow grunted from her seat on the back of the bench. "None of that stuff happens here, dude. Ponies look out for each other here." She scowled across at the other Pegasus with a growing irritation.

"Doesn't matter," Coalback said, his smile died quickly under his hood. "Look," he sighed, "I don't like our situation any more than you do. So I want to do this right the first time and then get out of this country as soon as possible. But that means you have to follow my orders; I will attempt to respect the petty thing you call a life here and disrupt it as little as possible but things are going to be different while I'm around. End of discussion." His head scanned over the mares and their myriad of frowns. "Now, the questions that I asked?"

They spent the next half hour explaining, in great detail, who lived where and how "defendable" it had the opportunity to be. At the end of it Coalback left them alone and went to sit with his squires, where he began to talk to them in hushed tones over a new sheaf of paper.

"You see," Twilight said to the other girls, "He's trying ..." her voice was melancholy in the wake of the depressing discussion. "The Princesses know what they're doing, they know best," she said, more as a reassurance to herself than anything

"Yeah," Rainbow grumbled as she tossed the whistle between her hooves carelessly. "Well I'm starting to have my doubts," she growled. It was, unfortunately, how they all felt.

"Filibuster, Iron Bar; take Applejack and Fluttershy to their homes and stay with them until I call you. The rest of you will come with me to your homes," Coalback commanded once they had gathered their respective luggages. The twigs that were his squires bowed to him shortly and hefted their charges' bags, a surprising sight considering that they looked like they could barely hold themselves up.

"Wait, all that talk about keeping us all in one place and you just want to take us home now?" Rainbow asked incredulously.

"Or your place of work," Coalback shrugged, he carried his bags and his squires'. "That is only for an emergency, I don't want to interrupt your lives any more than I have to. I don't think you all need a ... a sitter of babies. Besides, I have other work to take care of while I am here." He grunted and sent his squires on their way with Applejack and a very frightened looking Fluttershy.

They left with Coalback at the lead, surprising since they all knew for a fact he had never been to Ponyville before. Pinkie was dropped off without incident, though Coalback was forced to agree to come back for cupcakes and a welcome party at some point. And Rarity departed their company with a carefully aimed cold shoulder for Coalback. Everything went smoothly until Twilight realized the library's wards were activated.

From the outside, the Library looked perfectly normal besides the perfect line in a circle around it where no new snow had dusted itself across. That and the gentle shimmer of purple magic in the air. Twilight skid to a halt in front of them, her magic flared in her horn and a set of runes spun and interlocked in the air much like tumblers in a lock. With a groan of stressed wood the magic dissipated and Twilight darted inside.

Coalback followed with feigned calmness at the sight. "I had not realized she lived in a tree," he growled under his breath with a puff of fog. He followed the purple unicorn inside just behind Rainbow Dash only to find the librarian nervously dancing in place.

"Spike?" Twilight called nervously. She darted from one side of the room to the next, a careful eye examined every inch. She pranced up the stairs with another call to her scaly assistant.

Coalback lowered his head to the floor and sniffed, he examined the library much like one might expect an animal in a new environment might. "Does Twilight often use magic in her home?" he asked, and it took Rainbow a few moments to realize he had asked her.

"Huh? Yeah, I guess. Why?" Rainbow replied automatically.

"If she is as good as the Princess seems to believe she is then this may make the best lockdown location. I had been considering the farm before since it was more secluded from the town, but magic changes the game."

"Twilight’s the best there is," Rainbow said resolutely. "Why do you always question what the Princesses say?" she asked. She winged in front of him so he would talk to her face.

"Why don't you?" Coalback asked simply. He continued his examination until he came to the stairs where Twilight had disappeared.

"Because their thousands of years old and I trust their advice. Plus they've been happily ruling Equestria for much longer than I've been alive," Rainbow explained. It seemed obvious to her that if there was anypony to ask advice from it was somepony who was older than Canterlot was, and that narrowed the list down to two pretty quickly.

"Seems that that would be all the more reason to question them," Coalback growled. "After all, how can you know their intentions, what motivates them, or for how long they have been lying?" he explained. "Is anything wrong?" he yelled up the stairs.

"We all trust the Princesses, there's no reason to question them," Rainbow protested under her breath. She'd heard of stubborn before, but this ...

"Everything's fine," Twilight said as she came back down the stairs. "Spike says he turned on my wards because he saw some shady looking ponies going around town. He's upstairs in the blanket I made him," she explained.

"Can he describe them?" Coalback asked, suddenly very interested.

"He's not feeling well, he could barely tell me that. But do you think that this is the kind of thing that the Princess was talking about?" Twilight asked.

"Maybe. We shouldn't jump to conclusions," Coalback said with a thoughtful growl. "I think you can make your way home on your own, Rainbow Dash. Stay there or stay with one of the others, just don't be out in the open alone. I have to get started on something now," he said as he turned quickly back to the door. He ducked through the door quickly and left them.

"Is Spike okay?" Rainbow asked. She couldn't be sure but she felt like she had to hear it again. "Why did he get scared?"

"He's going to be fine, he just needs a few days of bed rest. He said something about bad guys but I feel like he could be suffering from delirium. It's probably nothing. I knew I shouldn't have left him home alone."

A howl cut through the air and vibrated glass, any continued conversation came to a halt as both of them looked out the window. Coalback stood outside with his hood down and face pointed straight up, a steady stream of fog billowed from his lips as he very literally howled to the sky. The sound rose and fell once before he cut off the howl. Then he was off at a run, headed toward the Everfree.

"What in the world?" Twilight sputtered, flabbergasted by the spectacle.

"You could say that again," Rainbow said, she flittered over to the window and peered out at the similarly confused looking ponies that had just started their day. "This guy keeps getting weirder and weirder." She shook her head alongside Twilight, both of them no less confused over the enigma that was their unwanted Guard.

"And what about his squires?" Twilight asked. Her horn lit and an Encyclopedia flew down from a shelf and opened in front of her nose. "I don't know much about Luna's Night Guard, but if I remember rightly ..." The book flipped pages rapidly in front of her.

"What are you on about?" Rainbow asked. She set down next to Twilight and resend attempted to catch a glimpse of whatever the unicorn saw. She couldn't make out anything among the blocks of text.

"Aha! Right here!" Twilight announced. Her hoof landed on the page, indicating a certain passage. "This says that before the Celestial Wars, when Celestia and Luna ruled from the castle out in the Everfree, that Luna’s Guard was actually made up from criminals and murderers. She recruited them and had them accept 'The Black Mantle' to turn them into Thestrals exclusively loyal to her. The tradition persisted when she began to reinstate her position in the Diarchy." Twilight slapped the book closed and nearly took her nose with it. "Coalback's squires were wearing Lunar Guard armor, but instead of looking like Thestrals they just looked malnourished."

"Twilight, you're starting to pace." Rainbow cringed inwardly. She'd failed to catch the lecture before it could begin and Twilight was quick to build a head of steam when it came to this sort of thing. She had the "I've discovered a conspiracy" look.

"But Coalback did mention that they used to be Guards recently, so that can't be the case; which only means that they must have had something else magical change them in different ways because there's no way that they could have had that sort of muscle degeneration-"

"Twilight!" Rainbow yelled, which was finally enough to break the Unicorn out of her rambling. "You lost me awhile ago, egghead."

Twilight blushed, but with a deep breath she tried to explain again. “I think that the reason Luna was so interested in having Coalback as our Guard is because he might have been able to change the Guards somehow, like how Luna does to her Thestrals,” Twilight whispered conspiratorially. "Maybe that's somehow connected to what we just saw."

"What are you suggesting," Rainbow had to ask carefully, "exactly?" She wasn't sure, but Twilight's textbook neat hair seemed just a bit mussed: which was not always a good sign.

"Maybe ..." Twilight paused and leaned in closer as if there were other ponies nearby who could listen in. "Maybe he's a werepony," Twilight whispered.

"Pfffft!" Rainbow rolled her eyes and had to bite her lips to keep a guffaw from flying from then. "Alright, Twi. Just how much sleep did you get last night? 'Cuz right now it looks like none," Rainbow chuckled.

Twilight deflated but a smile grew on her face. "You're right. What in the world am I thinking?" Twilight said, she put a hoof to her temple and groaned. "I'm not really sure to be honest, maybe I will go for a nap," she consented.

"I know I want one- Aw horseapples!" Rainbow groaned with a slap to her forehead. "I totally forgot! I gotta go talk to my manager about why I was a day late back to work," she grunted. She'd nearly made it to the door and out on her way to Cloudsdale but Twilight’s magic ground her to a halt.

"Where are you going? Coalback said not to go anywhere alone!" she said.

"Who the heck is gonna fly with me all the way to the weather office in Cloudsdale?" Rainbow protested. She tugged fruitlessly against the magenta magic. It was a short flight for her, but anypony else would slow her down.

"Couldn't you take Fluttershy?"

"Flutters has to take care of her animals, I'm not gonna ask her to go with me right after she got home," Rainbow said, an excuse but the truth nonetheless. She knew for a fact that that rabbit of Fluttershy's was vicious when he didn't get fed, and Fluttershy had missed a whole day's worth of meals. Rainbow shuddered to think of getting into that mess, she knew Fluttershy could handle the furball thankfully.

"Then ask Coalback, he's a Pegasus," Twilight suggested.

"What?!" Rainbow’s voice nearly cracked. "Why? So you guys can tease me some more?" Rainbow growled. "'On a romantic flight to have brunch in Cloudsdale with your new love interest, Dashy?'" she said in her best impression of Rarity.

"Okay, I'll admit that we dragged the joke along a little too far. But he has a point. You should have somepony with you, and right now he's probably your best option," Twilight said.

This time Rainbow caught the signs of an impending lecture however, and submitted. "Fine," she said reluctantly.

"The Princess seems to think our lives are in danger, the least we can do is-"

"Yeah yeah yeah!" Rainbow yelled to stop the Unicorn before she could start up again. "Okay, I'll listen to Coalback! Whatever! Just let me go!"

"I think we may have a problem," one of the ponies said from the darkened window of the abandoned bed and breakfast that the renegade group had "borrowed." He peaked back out of the closed curtains as two scrawny looking stallions barreled past the window to answer the howl from the strange, large Pegasus.

"We can work 'round it," one of his cohorts said confidently as he finished of the mini-muffins in the kitchen. "It's just a few Guards, we've taken out more with fewer resources than we have now. Plus, the Master said not to let anypony get in our way of getting rid of at least one Element."

"I dunno, that big fella looks like he could be real trouble," the stallion at the window said. "He was walkin' with the mares, they might be onto us," he shivered, a shard of his personality slipped through the orange tinge to his scleras.

"The gryphons can handle him, we can take out the two guards. And if the gryphons can't do their jobs, then the Master's children will," the Unicorn lounging on top of the bar said as he took a swig from a bottle there. "We go ahead as planned; watch them, lie low till they can be cornered, then slaughter them and be on our merry ways," he chuckled. "Besides, we only need to kill one Element for His plan to work flawlessly: How hard can it be to kill a bunch of mares."

The other two nodded and the Unicorn in the kitchen sent a signal through his horn to their camp in the woods: a green glow that would appear on another Unicorn's horn to indicate that the plan was a go despite the new complications.

When Rainbow spotted Coalback and his squires they had nearly finished setting up a camp on a clear hill just outside of the Everfree Forest. The squires worked together to set up the second tent while Coalback sat to one side and looked over a map.

She winged down and landed in front of him. He barely looked up at her before he returned to his map. "Yes?" he asked simply, in the most bored tone that Rainbow had yet to hear from him.

"I gotta go talk to my boss in Cloudsdale about why I didn't show up to work yesterday," she said simply. She hoped she could make the trip quickly and get back as soon as possible.

"You work in another town?" Coalback asked in the same bored tone. But he packed away the map and stood up.

"Cloudsdale is just where the weather manager for this region of Equestria is, I run Ponyville’s weather team," Rainbow explained. "Now come on, we gotta start flying now if we wanna get back before lunch."

Coalback grunted and pulled off his cloak. Metal armor glistened in the cold afternoon and a sword hung in a silver lined scabbard on his flanks. He pulled off the armor quickly, starting with the heavy shield on each wing.

"You've been wearing all that since we left this morning?!" Rainbow nearly choked. It would certainly explain why the train had rocked when he stepped on.

"Fortune favours prepared ponies," he grunted as he pulled off the heavy boots on each hoof and unhooked the plates around his hocks. He pulled off the ringmail jerkin and stood with nothing but a thick blue sash wrapped around his flanks. "But, if you say we must fly I will have to ... make do without," he grumbled, though he made sure to tuck a large knife into the sash’s folds. “Finish setting up the camp, then circle the edge of the forest at a fast-march,” he said to one of his squires.

“For how long?” the unicorn with the cracked horn asked as he pulled a rope tight with his teeth. Rainbow wasn’t sure which one was Filibuster and which one was Iron Bar, which she was pretty sure was their names.

“Until I get back,” Coalback said simply. He unfurled his wings and looked like he was about to take off, but in unison all three of the stallions turned toward the wall of frosted foliage behind them with raised ears. The big earth pony grunted at the back of his throat and started to step toward the forest. "Finish setting up camp. Go on your march," Coalback said slowly to his squires, "but under no circumstances go in the forest without me." The big earth pony turned around and continued with his tent, but Coalback and the Unicorn continued to stare expectantly.

"What's going on? I don't hear anything," Rainbow asked in as quiet a whisper as she could manage.

The Unicorn huffed through his nose and turned back to his work. Coalback turned around. "Nothing, just the breeze in the branches," he said. "I will follow you to 'Cloudsdale'," he grunted as he hefted his wings back up.

"Right," Rainbow grunted, perturbed yet again by his strange behaviour. "Let's go." She twisted her wings, a miniature tornado of feathers that served to launch her in the air and turn her around. She heard air rush in harsh wing beats behind her and knew Coalback had followed her into the air. She banked slightly over Ponyville to aim back toward the train tracks and began to climb gradually.

She glanced behind her as she flew, she’d flown the same path a hundred times before and wasn’t so. Coalback flew more like a clumsy vulture than anything, with one large flap and a long delay of glide before he would shunt himself up and forward with one big push. She nearly groaned, at this pace it could take most of the day.

She dropped back to fly just over him. "Hey!" she yelled over the wind, Coalback looked up at her immediately. "Keep your wings out straight and do smaller circles, you'll fly a bit faster and you can climb easier!" she advised. He tilted his head to the side, clearly confused. She demonstrated, though her wings weren't quite large enough to actually make use of the technique.

He stared, and rather than continue his previous pattern, locked his wings out and carefully imitated her. The tips of his wings dragged in long circles and he slowly began to rise.

"Yeah, now grab the air with the front of your wings on the pull to go faster," she yelled. She smiled despite herself as he did pull forward, finally at a decent pace. "Now if you really wanna go fast," she yelled over the brisk wind, "you just gotta do more of that." She grinned and sped ahead of him.

When she spun around and glided on her back to watch him catch up she was surprised to see that he had already sped up significantly. Almost enough to catch up to her. And wasn't that the ghost of a smile on his face? She made sure he saw the unimpressed look on her face.

“I have never flown before I came here," he called out over the wind.

"You gotta be joking," Rainbow protested and flipped back to fly right side up. "What did you do with yourself before now?"

"I told you, I fight. No way to get in the air before now," he yelled, his voice reflected off the clouds.

They climbed in altitude until they grazed the underside of the overcast cloud ceiling. Rainbow doubted that Coalback would be able to punch through with what she knew of his flying ability -of which she was certain he had none of at this point- so they’d have to find a patch of thinner stratocumulous. But this was practically the first time she'd seen the big stallion smile, and it was kind of nice.

"You know," she called, "I don't think it would be all that good for my rep if I was seen with a bodyguard who can barely fly better than a foal in flight school." She pushed the pace a little faster and forced him to keep up. "So if you've got time in that busy schedule, you know all that protecting you've gotta do, I could show you some stuff," she said with a roll of her eyes.

"About flying?" he asked as he caught up.

Rainbow raised a brow in surprise: by this point most ponies would at least be a winded. So it wasn't for a lack of stamina or strength that he had never flown before, that was for sure. "'Course. What else would I be talking about?" She pushed the pace forward again and switched back to her more natural pattern of flight instead of the one she'd shown Coalback. She spotted a beam of light through the clouds and turned toward it. "We can get above the clouds over here!"

Coalback took a wide turn to follow her as she disappeared through the gap in the cloud cover. One of his wings splashed into the side of the hole and he flipped through until he landed on the ledge of cloud. Rainbow’s laugh was muffled to him, but she couldn't help herself.

He dug his head out of the cloud only to stare around him in surprise. "Hvað í heiminum?" he spat, completely unintelligible as far as Rainbow was concerned.

She set down gingerly on a mound of cloud just next to him. "Are you telling me you've never been on a cloud before either?" she tried.

He stared at her for a moment before he pulled himself out of the cloud fluff he'd nearly been buried in. He stared at a clump stuck to his nose and blew it off before he spoke. "This is normal?"

"Dude, if this is surprising to you, then you're gonna flip out when you see Cloudsdale," she laughed as she directed his eyes with a hoof pointed behind him.

Rising above the hill of clouds they'd landed on was the flying Pegasi city. Spires of sculpted cloud speared up toward the upper atmosphere, grey snow clouds fresh from the factories circled in rings and spirals, and waterfalls of the famous liquid rainbows flowed freely off the sides of its main platform. Pegasi in droves and flocks flew between buildings, both chaotic and somehow perfectly in synch with everypony around them as they went about their days.

“Mikill grár drauga ...” he said breathlessly. He stood shakily on the clouds, the floating fluff gave way a surprising amount underneath him but it sprung back as well made clouds always did.

“I guess you could say that again,” Rainbow chuckled. She’d suspected the reaction; if he’d never flown before he’d never seen a Pegasus city. “All that tough talk and a trip to the city leaves him speechless,” she teased.

“Now. That soldier’s away.”

“What about the other two? They’re still here.”

“Couple of skinny kids off the street is what they look like, nothing we can’t handle.”

“We can herd the targets all together; it would be easy.”

“The pincer move. Divide and conquer boys.”

“Chaos eternal!”

Author's Notes:

Don't expect another update for awhile, I've got some major irl shit to clean up.