To Do Our Duty

Chapter Three –  Not all Wounds Bleed

By: Sturm Panzer

It's hard to tell who was more shocked by the appearance of Prince Blueblood leading the Royal Guard detachment: Twilight, or Rarity.  Certainly Rarity's memories of him as the self-absorbed fop back at last year's grand Galloping Gala weren't exactly kind, but compared to the confident, battle-tested leader that was walking up the road into town, he seemed like a totally different pony.  And there was no denying how handsome he looked in that armour, very much a true prince now as he led his troops.

As the column of Guardsponies made it's way into town, they seemed to be headed directly for the Town Hall, and they were in fact met in front of it by a middle-aged tan coloured pony, “Mayor Mare, for sure”, Twilight thought.

By the time that the they made it over there, the Royal Guardsponies were separating into different groups.  Some were entering the Town Hall itself, while others were separating to move out in different directions.  The Unicorn ponies were all filing into the spacious Hall along with about a third of the Pegasus ponies.  The rest of the Pegasus Guards were heading mostly east, with a few flying off to the north-east and south-east.

Twilight found Prince Blueblood talking to the Mayor, discussing the use of the Town Hall.  “The necessary improvements will be taken care of by Her Majesty's workers.  Thus the long-term improvements that will be made to the Hall will be quite adequate as compensation for the use of it that we will need.”

“I'm more concerned about the presence of the Guardponies here in town,” stated Mayor, in her typically dignified manner.  “Their presence will be disruptive to the residents of Ponyville, as nopony is really used to having armed soldiers patrolling the town at all hours of day and night.  Furthermore, there's the question about the weather.  With so many Pegasus ponies having been recruited into the Royal Guard, there's not enough around Ponyville for taking care of the weather.  We've already seen some problems occurring, and if we get another hot, dry summer, then it will just get worse..

The Prince thought it over for a few moments before answering her.  “There won't be that many around in the actual town.  Enough to make a show of arms in case the griffins decide to launch a raid down here.  Most of the others will be setting up a camp to the east.”

“How long are your Guardponies going to be here in Ponyville?  And what do you mean by 'not that many'? replied Mayor.

“That depends on how the war goes.  If things go well, 3rd Century, along with 8th Century will be moving east to support the 5th and 6th companies as they advance.  If things don't go as well, then we might be sitting here for a while.  If things go badly, as if they would,” Prince Blueblood added with a dismissive snort, “Then they will regroup to the east with 3rd Century.  In any case, we should be pushing these uncivilized brigands out in short order.”

“That is all well and good, Prince Blueblood, but Ponyville may not be able to supply all your ponies.  With the Pegasus shortage such as it is, things are already starting to get a little tighter than usual.  If you could spare some of your Pegasus ponies to help with the weather then it would make the citizens happier about having them around, as well as make it much easier to meet the demands of feeding your Guardponies,” Mayor reasoned.

“Hrrmph.  Well..  You do make a good point,” the Prince reluctantly agreed.  “I suppose I could spare a few of my trainee scouts to help out now and then.  Strictly on a temporary, short-term basis, you understand.”

Thank you, your Highness,” Mayor said with a graceful nod of her head.”

“Guardponies stationed here in town?”  Applejack looked more enthusiastic by the prospect, “That means more business for the farm!  It could mean a lot of bits coming in, which we could use for that new barn we were planning on.  I gotta go Twilight, there'll be work to be done.”

“Ok Applejack.  What do you think, Rarity?  Rarity?”  Twilight looked back and saw Rarity was nowhere to be seen.  “Pinky, did you see where Rarity went?”

Pinky Pie was looking over the line of Pegasus ponies in armour as they filed past on their way through town.  “Oh, she said she had to go back to her shop because there was something she urgently had to take care of or something like that.  I wasn't paying too much attention because I was looking at all the shiny stuff those ponies are wearing.  So pretty.”

Taking a deep breath, Twilight trotted up to the Prince, who was talking quietly with his four other officers.  “Excuse me, Prince Blueblood?  I am Twilight Sparkle, Princess...”

“Princess Celestia's pupil,” the prince interrupted her, turning his head to look at Twilight.  “Yes, the Princess mentioned that you would be here in Ponyville."  Prince Blueblood took a couple of steps up closer to Twilight, who was feeling a little… Well, overwhelmed by his size.  The Prince was at least the size of Big Mac, if not a little bigger.  And then there was his heavy battle armour on top of that.  Up close, Twilight could see the marks of fighting that were left in the plates of his armour.  And the scar along his snout that followed the jawline from nose to cheek just made him look even more ruggedly handsome.  “The Princess failed to mention how attractive you were, though,” the Prince said with a smile that gave Twilight butterflies in her belly and a warm tingle in her haunches.

“Um, thank you, Prince Blueblood.”  Twilight took a couple of steps back, starting to blush, and her confidence thoroughly deflated.  “I, um, just popped by to say hello…”

Lowering his head to being it more eye level with Twilight, the prince just made a soft chuckle, “You're quite pretty when you blush.”

Of course this just make Twilight blush even more, with that tingling warmth in her haunches getting a little stronger, she took a couple of steps back, her knees feeling a little shaky.  “I, uh.  I hear my laundry calling!” she said, turning and kiting back to the sanctum of the Library.

By the time Twilight made it back to the tree that the library was made from, she slammed the door shut behind her and then braced her back up against it, panting heavily and her face flushed.

Spike looked over from where he was sitting at the table, reading a book.  “Twilight?  Are you ok, what happened?  You look all red in the face.”

“I’mfinenothinghappened!I’llbeokIjustneedaminute!” she replied in a rush, dashing past Spike and up the stairs to bury herself under the covers of her bed.  “Oh why would Prince Blueblood ever be attracted to me?  After the story Rarity told me, I can't imagine ever being attracted to a pony like that.  So...  So why Is my heart still racing?  Ok, calm down Twilight.  Just use your head.  You got all flustered by him because he's handsome, powerful, AND related to Princess Celestia.  Nothing special, right?  Right!”

Lifting her head up and looked in a mirror that she floated over to her, Twilight could see the remains of a blush still on her face.  “Damn it…”

A few days later, Twilight was on her way to the town hall to talk to the Prince, when she saw Rarity had already beaten her there.  The white unicorn pony was all decked out in a simply stunning outfit, “Something she must have spent all night working on”, Twilight thought, and paused to see what would happen, more out of morbid curiosity than anything else.

Rarity was arguing with one of the Royal Guardponies to let her in to talk to the Prince.  Eventually, the Pegasus ducked inside for a moment and the Prince was fairly quick to emerge from the hall.  “I'm told you wanted to speak with me?  Ah, Miss Rarity, he said your name was? How can I help you?”

Bowing her head graciously, she replied, “Oh yes, Prince Blueblood.  It's simply wonderful that you remember me.  It's been... A while since we met last” she paused, obviously trying not to mention the events at the Galloping Gala.

Instead the Prince ended up throwing her a curve ball.  “The last time we met?  He paused for a moment before continuing.  “I'm sorry but I don't really recall meeting you before.”

Stunned, it took a moment for Rarity to recover, though she hid it well, with only a slight fluttering of her eyelashes.  “Oh, well.  You really don't remember that time that we met, in the Palace Garden?”

“Technically true” thought Twilight.

No, I'm afraid I don't recall you at all, when did that happen?”  The Prince actually looked slightly taken aback, and even a little uncertain.  “I'm afraid that ever since my battle injury last month, some of my memories have gotten a little mixed up.”

“Oh my goodness my dear Prince, I dearly hope your injury wasn't too dreadful.  What happened to you?”  Rarity was playing her role to the hilt, fluttering her eyelashes at the Prince.

Prince Blueblood turned his head slightly, and Twilight was able to see a rather vicious scar that ran along the side of his head, almost from ear to jaw.  “It was the one of the first battled we fought.  One of those savage buffalo bandits knocked me down, then kicked my head into a tree.  Thankfully, my helmet took the worst of it, but it took several days before I was able to recover.  As a result, my memory of past events is a little scrambled.  So I apologize for not remembering you at all.”

Twilight was simply stunned by the change in the princes behaviour, as a result of his grievous injury.  Rarity, however just smiled slightly, and then played her role on.  Twilight watched on with even a slight bit of perverse amusement as Rarity seemed to pounce on the Prince with an almost predatory zeal.  “Oh my dear Prince, so wounded in protecting all the ponies from those ruffians.  And what's more, those terrible dullards even stole from you the sweet memories of the time you and I spent together.”

“Also technically true.  With Rarity taking a cake in the face and then spraying it all over the then-pompous Prince.” Twilight thought with an amused smile.  Quite willing to let Rarity take the Prince's attention away from her.

Prince Blueblood pondered that for a couple of seconds, then settled his helmet on his head once more.  “Perhaps sometime we should have dinner, and see if any of my memories of that come back,” he mused, much to Rarity's pleased expression.  “That sounds like a wonderful Idea.”

Twilight shook her head as she trotted away from the Town Hall.  Silently kind of thankful that she wouldn't have to deal with the Prince's attention centred on her.  But was she really that pleased about it?...  Deep down, she actually felt a little envious of Rarity.

I would be nearly two weeks later before things took a sudden turn.  Twilight was at a Cafe with Rarity and Applejack when there was a sudden common at the Town Hall.  Rushing over to see what was going on, the trio saw all the Unicorn Guardponies and most of the Pegasus Guardponies forming up into a column, in preparation to move out.

After issuing some curt order to the officers, he turned to where Mayor Mare was walking over, Twilight following close behind her.  “We're moving out.  They need support from us to help with a buffalo counter-attack.  I'm leaving 8th Century here to secure Ponyville, and act as a contingency reserve for us, while 3rd Century and 7th Century move out.”

Rarity was slightly aghast, “Oh dear, please be careful, dear Prince!” she exclaimed.

Nodding his head to Rarity, he simply replied.  “We are called to do our duty.”  Turning to look over his shoulder, he called out, “Everypony..  MOVE OUT!”.  And then started down the road at a swift trot, followed by the Unicorn and then Pegasus ponies in formation.  A gleaming wall of armour that passed by them.

Barely a week later, some of the Guardponies had returned.  Mostly towing carts loaded with the injured and wounded.  After asking some questions, Twilight found out that the buffalo had formed some very stiff opposition, but with the added forces the Prince had brought, they were able to decisively defeat them, but not without casualties.

She had also heard from one of the Pegasus Guardponies that the Wonderbolts had been in action in that battle, which only made her worry even more for Rainbow Dash's safety.

The injured easily would have overwhelmed Ponyville's small hospital, so they were housed in the barracks instead, with Nurse Redheart and others taking care of them.  In fact, Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinky Pie and Applejack all came by to see how they were.  Knowing that these ponies were injured while fighting to protect them and everyone else in Equestria made it hard for them to shirk their duties to help them.

It was a few days later that Twilight was walking along back to the Library, just as true night was about to fall.  It was a wonderful, warm summer's night, only a few scattered clouds, but a row of grey had been seen on the horizon.  “Looks like rain before dawn.  Something that the fields and flowers could use.  With all the Pegasus ponies that have been drafted, Ponyville’s really short on weather control.”

She opened the door to the library and headed inside.  Just missing seeing a group of Pegasus ponies flying overhead in tight formation.  One of them peeled off suddenly, spiraling downward toward the library.

Once inside the library, Twilight  headed upstairs quietly.  Noting on the way that Spike was already asleep on the chair.  She paused only long enough to pull a light blanket over him and then continued up, being careful not to wake him.

“I better close the balcony doors, if it rains, then I don't want things getting wet.”  But just as Twilight was about to close them, she heard something.  A slight fluttering.  “Owlowiscious?” she said, stepping over to the balcony.

Instead of the owl, a black pony suddenly entered.  It was covered all over by some tight-fitting black body-suit, it's face covered by both a matching mask and goggles.  A helmet and hood totally covering the rest of it's head.  Even the pony's wings were painted with some kind of black dye, while it's tail was bundled into a sleeve built into the suit.  It looked like a pony-shaped piece of shadow had stepped out of a black pit.

“Who are you?  What are you doing here?” Twilight challenged the intruder, her horn glowing as she started gathering some magical energy for a spell.

“Hey Twilight.  Is that anyway to greet a friend?” came a very familiar voice, and then one of it's black hooves pushed up the goggles, exposing a pair of rose-coloured eyes with a bit of pale cyan around the eyes.

“RAINBOW DASH!” Twilight exclaimed, running over and throwing her hooves around the Pegasus.  “By Celestia, it's good to see you again, I was so worried for you.”

“Hey, I'm doing great, of course,” Rainbow Dash said as she hugged the unicorn back.  Though to Twilight's ears there was something distinctly off in the tone of her voice, and an unusual bit of stiffness in the embrace.

“Are you ok?” Twilight asked Dash, with a slightly concerned tone, “It's been two months since your letter, we haven't heard from you, and I was worried.”

“I'm ok, Twi',” Dash answered with an unusual quietness.  “Just been really busy is all.  Lots of missions that they need me for, I'm a Flight Leader after all.”

Twilight looked in Rainbow Dash's face.  Normally, The Pegasus' bright eyes would shine with enthusiasm and spirit.  But now Dash's eyes were dull, lackluster, absent of the vitality of spirit that she knew Rainbow Dash had so much of.  Dash wasn't looking at Twilight, so much as she was looking through her.

Twilight cupped Rainbow Dash's cheeks with her hooves and looked her straight in the eyes.  Her own voice echoed the hurt she could easily feel in the Pegasus.  “Oh Dash…  What've they been making you do?”

A bit of a tear could be seen in the corner of Rainbow Dash's eyes before she closed them tightly and suddenly pulling her head away from Twilight, and turning toward the balcony.  “I.. I'm not supposed to be here right now, “ her voice was tight, the hurt easily heard in it.  "Look, I gotta go..” she said before vaulting out the door and into the night.

Running out onto the balcony, Twilight searched the sky for her friend, but it was inky black after the light of indoors.  “Dash!  Rainbow Dash!” she called out.  But there was only the soft whisper of the wind in the tree's branches to answer her.

Twilight thundered down the stairs calling out “Spike!  Spike!  I need you to take a letter!”

“Wha?  Huh?” the sleepy dragon mumbled, starting to sit up.  “What, now?  In the middle of the night?”

“Yes now!” Twilight urged, floating a pen and a scroll to Spike who was rubbing his eyes.  “It's really urgent!”

“Dear Princess Celestia…..” Next Chapter: Chapter Four -- Shades of Grey Estimated time remaining: 25 Minutes