The Royal Princess Guard

The sun glistened off of the roofs of Canterlot, the moisture that had accrued throughout the night clung to the tiles desperately, giving each roof a sparkling sheen. The sun had just come over the horizon and was slowly gliding its way up into the sky. The streets were already awash with the day's activities as shopkeepers opened for the day and business ponies started to go to their work.

The skies above were beautifully clear, they were kept so by magic as had always been the case, and it was unusual that any Pegasus would fly above the city as there was no real reason for them to. However on this morning those citizens that looked up will have seen a small dot in the sky.

Dive Bomb was flying above the city, relishing the cool air that was present at such a height, he was lazily circling above the city, eyes closed, feeling the cool breeze wash across his face. He felt flushed with joy at the sensation and would have gladly done it all day if not for his duties.

The reason he as up and flying was because he was running an errand for the other five in the Guard, he did a quick final pass over the city before hovering above the fields far below the drop off of the edge of Canterlot. He hovered there for a minute taking in the surrounding countryside, subconsciously scanning for any signs of danger while his normal conscious was just taking in the world.

Suddenly he tucked his wings tight against his body and let gravity take over, he started to plummet towards the ground far below, making tiny adjustments with his wings so as to be falling head first, he quickly built up immense speed as the world pulled him into its embrace, he was at the height of the top of the Royal palace now and descending quickly.

As he reached the 'ground level' of Canterlot he saw three Pegasus fillies standing in awe watching him from their school-yard, he gave them a quick wave as he flashed past, smiling as he heard their gasps of wonder at the spectacle of the Pegasus falling.

He had reached terminal velocity by now and the ground was rushing up to meet him very quickly. He concentrated on the distance he was from the ground and suddenly flicked his wings open, his flight muscles screamed at him as the air buffeted his feathers and the strain made it feel as though they were about to pop out of their sockets, however he endured and started to level out his flight.

He aimed for a patch of Orange blobs on the ground with a few earth ponies tending to them, and aiming for the Yellow Mare that he had come to know he started to hurtle towards her, using his wings as an air-break he skidded to a halt mid-flight and landed gracefully in front of her, flashing his pearl white teeth in a toothy grin he said.

"Morning Beautiful."

The yellow Earth Pony leaned against the hoe she was using to harvest the pumpkins and rolled her eyes.

"Always got to make an entrance, eh Dive?" Her accent had a twinge of the usual Canterlot in due to her close proximity to the City

"Just reminding the rest of the world how good I look." Said Dive continuing his smile.

Over the course of the past week Dive Bomb had gotten to know the farmers at that particular farm very well as he had visited it every day to get fresh fruit and vegetables for them to eat and cook.

"So what will it be today?" asked the Yellow coated Mare who Dive Bomb knew as Hayseed. She had large emerald eyes and a mane of flowing Golden hair.

"I'll have two pumpkins please." Dive Bomb smiled pleasantly as he said it. He enjoyed all the ponies on the farm, they shared his sense of humour.

"Sure you'll be able to carry them back?" Jested Hayseed "Wouldn't want to put any more strain on your poor little wings now."

"If you can carry them I doubt that anypony would have trouble lifting them." He retorted, earning a smile from the mare.

She quickly chose two nearby pumpkins and cut them from their stalks.

"There you go." She said handing them over to the Pegasus "Two darn good Pumpkins for ya. That'll be 10 bits."

Dive handed over the bits that he had kept in a coin purse around his neck and lifted the two pumpkins in his fore hooves. With a couple of flaps of his wings he took off.

"Thanks a lot Hayseed, see you again soon." He shouted back to her. She gave a hearty wave before turning back to the Pumpkins that she was tending to as Dive returned to the city.

The quarters that the six had been given were right next to Celestia's and had a single large window through which the Pegasi were free to come and go as they please. It was fitted out with a kitchen that rivalled some bakeries, a living space that was furnished with some of the finest furniture that could be brought and bedrooms with large plush beds. The six were completely shocked by this as they hadn't expected such high-end accommodation, but it was one of the perks of the job.

Dive Bomb flew in through the large window and over to the kitchen area where he placed the pumpkins down on to the counter with a thud. Flourish was sitting on one of the sofas in the living area reading a newspaper, but upon hearing the noise the pumpkins made she looked up.

"Holy hell-fire Dive, how big do you think the Pie is going to be?" She exclaimed

"I brought two pumpkins okay, don't blame me if they aren't what you needed." said Dive defensively

"Yeah but come on, those things are massive, they could feed us for a week at least!" said Flourish placing her newspaper on a coffee table and walking over to inspect the pumpkins. "These must have been the largest they had."

At this point Diamond looked up from the game of chess he was having with shield and said "I bet whoever gave him those is sweet on him."

Dive blushed a little at this which Flourish picked up on instantly.

"NO!" she announced with an air of triumph "The great Dive Bomb has a crush on a farmer."

Dive's cheeks grew redder and redder as he felt the blood rush to them, he quickly changed the subject.

"So any news while I was away."

"Yes actually" said Flourish "Your marefriend called, she said she wuvved oo." Flourish made as babyish a face as possible and fluttered her eyelashes as she said the last two words.

"She's not my marefriend." shouted Dive, feeling his cheeks grow hotter by the second.

"Actually Dive the Princess did ask for you." interjected shield, who used magic to move one of her knights on the board.

Thankfully Dive Bomb used the excuse to get out of there before he had a chance to be teased further by Flourish. He quickly trotted out of the door and onto the long corridor that led to their living quarters and those of Celestia's. He trotted down to the door at the far end of the corridor and rapped twice on the ancient wood.

"Enter" called Celestia's voice from inside the room.

Dive Bomb slowly entered the room, which was large and sparsely furnished. Princess Celestia was lying on a dais covered by a red cushion, she was busy carrying out the various administration tasks that as the ruler of Equestria she was tasked with. On either side of the raised platform she was sitting upon were piles of scrolls and every now and then Celestia finished the scroll that she was currently focused on, used magic to place it on one pile while simultaneously collecting a new scroll from the other pile.

At the bottom of the long stairs to where Celestia was lying were Crush and Spear, both adorning full ceremonial gear for their time guarding the royal, they both held spears in upright positions and held stern looks on  their faces, they both gave small nods of acknowledgement as Dive approached the Princess.

"Your highness." He said, bowing low so that his nose almost touched the ground.

At this Celestia placed down the scroll that she was currently inspecting and looked into his eyes. Dive Bomb held her gaze for what seemed like an eternity, not many ponies in the entirety of Equestria would dare to do such a thing and Dive Bomb realised why. As he stared into her eyes he could almost feel the power that she possessed pressing down on him.

She suddenly smiled and broke off her gaze, using magic to pick up a scroll from one of the piles and floating it over to Dive Bomb, he breathed a sigh of relief as he stood up and grabbed the scroll with a hoof. As he read it Celestia gave the synopsis.

"We have received this from Fort Luna on the border of the southern Badlands." she paused as Dive finished the letter "They ask for help however the commander who sent that letter is not letting on to the real situation. Therefore, I'm sending you to go and deal with whatever the problem is."

The letter itself was written in a scrawl, it mentioned how they required some reinforcements due to increased enemy activity. The choice of words was carefully picked and the letter itself was torn around the edges and the ink was of a poor quality. Dive wasn't an expert but he couldn't see any hint of serious trouble in the letter. However he trusted Celestia's judgement and bowed again.

"I'll leave immediately Princess." he backed away for a couple of steps before turning and walking out of the door.

Celestia immediately started to go back to work on the scrolls, looking up after she was sure the Pegasus' back was turned, she gave him a quick once over with her gaze before smiling slightly as she accepted her choice and went back to her duties.

Dive Bomb flew across the open desert, he had just passed dodge city and was following the single path that led to Fort Luna. The Fort was located in the one pathway into the Badlands that didn't require a long and dangerous climb over jagged mountains, it was in a valley with walls that were too steep to climb and was smoothed out to reduce any handholds available to nil. Dive had caught up on the details about it back in Canterlot while he was preparing for the journey.

The fort itself was one of the oldest in Equestria, founded before Luna was sadly banished, it had never been breached and provided a safe passage into the Badlands for all those that wished to exit or enter but didn't have the useful ability to fly. It had also been attacked by armies numerous times and had yet held. It had never been taken due to its brilliant tactical position rendering any advantage in numbers useless. Also the Guard that were put there tended to be tough as nails, rendering them about as likely to run from a battle as it was for a pineapple to overthrow Celestia.

Dive Bomb was flying in full battle dress, unlike the Guard stationed in Canterlot he wore a dull grey suit of armour, which covered nearly all of his body. It was made of lots of metal plates that protected from most weapons while allowing him a full range of movement. He was also equipped with two saddle bags that were bulging with emergency supplies of food and water in case anything happened on his journey there.

He had not taken a weapon as he knew that the fort would have plenty there if he needed to borrow one, anyway his hooves were the most dangerous weapon he had anyway.

He could now see the fort, and he was impressed, the sides of the mountains either side of the fort meant that the only way to attack from the air was to carry out a trench run into what would be a large amount of AA, the valley narrowed at either side of the fort as well, enough so only about two ponies could get through at any one time.

As he drew closer to the fort and entered the enclosed space around it he was suddenly buffeted from side to side by massive crosswinds, he was sent spiralling towards one of the walls of the valley head first.

He quickly spun himself around and landed hooves first onto the side of the wall, staying there through the occasional flap of his wings and the buffeting gale that was pushing him into the stone. He regained his composure before pushing off again, this time ready to cope with the force of the wind as he was prepared.

Now he knew why the fort had never been taken, only a good flyer could ever hope to get anywhere near the fort without being smashed against the rocks at the side of the valley. He slowly descended towards the fort, as he got closer he could make out ore distinguished features, the fort was made of large wooden logs that were easily as thick as a pony was long. The logs pushed right up against the wall of the valley on both sides creating a twenty metre wall that stopped anyone from gaining easy access.

Either side of the valley had a large gate entrance that was able to allow anything up to a moving cart into the place, which seemed strange as that would have struggled to get down the valley in the first place. Each wooden wall had sand gently sloping up behind it, levelling out at the last few metres, creating a platform that the defenders could stand on top of and see over the top of the wall, while at the same time reinforcing the walls against most impacts.

In the centre of the fort was a large three story building that would have housed all of the facilities needed to keep the place running and against the Western wall of the valley was a large watchtower, easily at least twenty stories high, one side incorporated into the stone itself with the top of it covered with a slanted wooden roof.

Dive slowly sank into the courtyard area of the fort, getting a few stares from the ponies that were bustling around the place doing various jobs, he was struck by the proportion of earth ponies in the base. Usually the Guard tried to keep a roughly equal number of each of the three types of ponies, however he couldn't make out any pegasus and he only saw one unicorn.

Suddenly he was approached by three curious fillies. It wasn't uncommon for forts like this to have entire communities in, they effectively acted as towns, with their own trade and economies, just like any other town. The three fillies cautiously sidled up to the pegasus, they weren't more than  two years old.

Smiling Dive knelt down, causing them to jump back a bit, however he then made up for their surprise by giving them a warm smile, causing them to regain some of their confidence.

"You three look like you know what you’re doing." He said cheerfully to the three children. "In fact you look exactly like the important sort of ponies who would know exactly where the commander is."

At this praise one of the small fillies who had a light green coat puffed out her chest and said in a squeaky voice. "We sure are!"

Following the other ones lead a dark red one followed this up by bouncing up to Dive asking "Do you want to see him?"

Without waiting for an answer all three grabbed his front hooves and started to drag him along, he was glad for his wings else he would have toppled face first onto the floor. The group received a great amount of strange looks as the Pegasus was dragged along by the three tiny fillies, only staying upright by flapping his wings.

Eventually the three had dragged him to a small hut at the bottom of the tower that was braced against the wall, the final filly of the three who was orange in colour rapped on the door, which was swiftly open by a slender mare with a dark grey coat and yellow mane.

"Well hello dears," she said looking at the three fillies, her gaze then turned to Dive and once looking him over once she frowned. "Who's this?" she asked, her voice sounding unhappy.

"I'm Dive Bomb ma'am." He bowed his head slightly in a polite gesture. "I'm the answer to your problems."

The mare's brow furrowed furiously at this, she clearly didn't think much of the cocky stallion and she gave him a quick look all over again.

"If you'll excuse me, I have to go have a few words with my husband." She turned back to the three fillies and reaching off to the side of the door she passed them each a piece of candy. "That is for being such good fillies and bringing this nice gentlecolt to us straight away."

She then turned to retreat further into her house and disappeared out of site, leaving Dive Bomb with the three fillies. He didn't like where this was going so he decided to do a little recon. He looked at the fillies again  who were all sucking on the candy they had been given and staring at Dive with wide eyes.

"All-right you three." said Dive sitting down in front of them. "If you can tell me what is going on here I'll make sure to get you each an extra piece of candy from the house."

The three sat there staring at him before the green one slowly paused and said in a cheeky voice. "Two pieces each."

Dive was taken aback, but smiled slightly at the little filly. "OK then two pieces each."

The filly swallowed her piece of candy then, spat on her hoof and held it out for Dive to bump. He mirrored the reaction and then waited for the little girls to start talking.

"Well lately all the grownups in armour have been rushing about, a few of them went out into the bad area but never came back, and all the others have been losing there heads about it and stuff." the green one started

The Orange one then continued. "And they've been making us stay in the house all the time, we keep hearing large thumps and stuff but they never let us out to see."

Finally the dark red one wrapped up by saying "Plus every time they stop the noises the walls are always really badly damaged and stuff, but they never let us help clean up or anything, they just tell us to go to our rooms."

Dive rubbed his chin, thinking about what they had told him, he opened his mouth to ask a question when from the house appeared a tall stallion, with a beige coloured coat, and matching mane. His cutie mark was of a long barrelled rifle. Dive stood up and saluted to the commander of the fort, more out  of courtesy and it being drilled into him. Technically as personal Guard to the princess the only higher rank than him was Captain Shining.

The new stallion stood at the same height as Dive meaning that he was staring straight into his eyes while they inspected each other. Eventually the stallion asked Dive in a deep yet not unkind voice.

"And you are?"

"Dive Bomb, of the Royal Princess Guard."

After a pause the stallion said "You don't look much like a princess to me." looking Dive up and down

"Well sir, looks can be misleading now can't they."

The two paused for a few seconds before smiles crept on to their faces, the commander held out a hoof and Dive bumped it, much to the disapproval of the mare standing in the house watching them.

"They don't often send somepony such a good sense of humour, so when can we expect the rest of your unit?"

The commander had cheered up considerably and gestured to Dive to enter the house, leaving the three fillies playing a three way version of tic tac toe that didn't quite make sense to anyone except the three.

"I'm afraid that I'm all there is." said Dive

The commander’s face dropped and turned into a puzzled expression. "You're not one of those secret service goons are you?"

Dive shook his head

"Mare Intelligence 6? Celestia's international agency? Maressad?" Dive shook his head after he said each one of them4

"Then what kind of spook are you?" The commander said, walking up to a cupboard and retrieving a bottle of whiskey along with two glasses.

"I'm not any kind of spook." said Dive accepting the whiskey

The commander sat down on a stool at a large oak table, Dive followed suit.

"Then why have they sent you? Usually they only send spooks in one at a time, and they all turn out useless." the stallion put down the two glasses and poured a small amount of whiskey into each one.

Dive grabbed the one closest to him and took a sip, swirling it round in his mouth before swallowing it. He had never liked the taste of whiskey but he knew it would be rude to refuse, so he forced the liquid down his throat as quickly as he could.

"Because I assume you need a soldier and not a spy?" Dive downed the rest of his whiskey before slamming the glass back onto the table. "And of the soldiers she could have sent I'm your best chance at solving your problems."

The commander looked at Dive then quizzically, clearly reassessing his opinion of the pegasus. "I'm commander Sharpe by the way, and the beautiful Mare that greeted you is my wife."

"I'm Dive Bomb, but you can call me Dive." came the reply

The commander raised an eyebrow. "I didn't realise we were on first name terms now?"

"It's something I like to do." smiled Dive. "So what can you tell me about the situation?"

Suddenly from outside a large explosion was heard, followed by the sound of wood cracking and tearing followed by the shouts of ponies.

The commander finished his whiskey before standing up and saying. "It's best I show you actually." He then started to trot out of the house, followed by his wife and finally Dive.

Dive paused by the front door and quickly grabbed a bunch of sweets in his wing from a jar that was off to the side, and then depositing them in front of the children who were still waiting outside, seemingly oblivious to the commotion going on around them. They all looked with amazement at the haul in front of them and turned to thank Dive, however he was gone before they could manage.

Dive was still in full armour with saddlebags, he had neglected to take them off at any point and was starting to regret it, if he had to do any real action he was going to have to sweat it out as the armour combined with the weight of the bags meant any serious exercise would be at least twice as hard as normal. It wasn't just a simple case of sliding them off either, they were strapped on at various points to prevent them being lost during combat flight, useful for nearly no situation as it slowed the wearer down hugely.

Dive cursed his lack of foresight at the choice of his travelling clothing, and that he had not thought to dump it when he had the chance, it was too late however as he galloped up to the southern wall of the fort. When he was about halfway up he heard a massive explosion, followed by the sand bank he was standing on shaking violently, flinging him back to the bottom.

He righted himself as the sand that was ejected from the wall settled, he was relieved to see that the wall had held and there didn’t seem to be any lasting damage, he quickly sprinted to the top of the wall again and rejoined Sharpe, who was holding a long barrelled rifle.

He gestured to Dive to go to him, Dive quickly obliged just before another tremor occurred. Between each tremor was an eerie silence that seemed to cut through the valley like a knife. Dive peeked over the top f the barricade and tried to make out what was causing the wall to shake like this.

What he made out was a large metal block, with a giant hole in the front, he couldn't make out the dimensions of it as it was easily half a kilometre away, however he could just about make the outline of a few diamond dogs surrounding the machine, lifting a giant boulder into the back of it. Suddenly the muzzle flashed a brilliant white, this was followed by the boulder being launched the distance between the machine and the fort, Dive could barely follow it, however the impact it had on the wall was devastating.

The wooden logs splintered under the impact of the boulder, leaving it sticking slightly out of the forts edge, the sand behind the area of wall that had been hit was thrown backward, along with the Guards who were standing atop that section, though they quickly recovered and retook their positions. The evidence of such impacts was evidence along the entire wall, it was lucky that they had yet to hit the gate as the impact would shatter it completely.

"That blasted thing has been shelling us the past week, and all of our attempts to get rid of it have failed." He was interrupted as another earth shattering impact hit the forts walls.

During this time Dive had unclipped the straps holding the saddle bags to his body and shook them off. He then peeked over the edge of the wall to get another look at the machine, before turning to Sharpe.

"Alright get all the Pegasi that you have and tell them to meet me here. He stopped as he thought out a plan of attack, he was surprised when the commander made no move to do anything. Dive's face dropped.

"I'm the only other pegasus here aren't I?"

The commander nodded guiltily

"Ok, how about unicorns? any Unicorns with combat magic training?" said Dive sounding exasperated

Sharpe shook his head "There are three of them. And the magic they have wouldn't be very useful against that thing."

Dive sighed and put a hoof to the brow of his nose. He then turned to a Guard who was standing next to him.

"Give me that spear."

The Guard hesitated, looking at the commander, who nodded slightly.

Dive took the spear and turned round to Sharpe again. "What are the rules of engagement?"

"Avoid any deaths if you can." The commander replied, sounding somewhat puzzled

"Well that's just peachy."

With that Dive tucked the spear into a slot on his armour next to his right forehoof, giving a resounding click as the locking mechanism activated. He then leapt up into the air and started to careen down the valley towards the metal monstrosity. All eyes from the fort were on him, they watched as he flew down the valley, being buffeted by the strange winds that were present, all watching the lone dot as it soared over the machine.

Extract from the Guards handbook- Rifles

Rifles are notoriously inaccurate and unreliable, they are expensive to manufacture, operate and maintain. They are an adaptation from a griffon weapon of the same name, however the trigger mechanism and reload mechanism has been adapted for use by hoofed creatures with less ability for dexterous movement. This has led to them being found useless as front-line weapons for the Guard, however the occasional guard is found to have a particular skill in shooting and will be handed a rifle that they keep.

The range that a rifle is effective up to is 200 metres, at which a skilled riflepony ca pick off individual targets at a great accuracy. The rifles most effective at long range are muzzle loaded rifles, although it has been argued that the rifles commonly used in the west are more effective due to the fire rates, however they are even more expensive to make and are less reliable than the muzzle loaded rifles.

One major advantage muzzle loaders have is the ammunition used can be magically enhanced to provide a better performance in range and speed or they can have a multitude of other effects added to them, such as the ability to set anything that it comes into contact with on fire. This feature cannot be added to the more modern rifles where the bullet and gunpowder are incorporated in the same metal casing as this usually leads to the gunpowder going off at random or not working at all./i]

Dive was fast approaching the large metal machine, now he was closer he could make out more detail about it, it was a large square solid piece of metal, around ten metres by five. It was around five metres tall as well, the large canon ran down the very centre of the machine and had a feeder on the to where some diamond dogs were pushing in the boulders, running down either side of the barrel at regular intervals were hatches, three either side.

Round the back of the machine was a large store of gunpowder that the dogs were shovelling into bags and then passing to those on top who were putting them in before the boulders. Finally to ignite the explosive they had a small hole through which they poked a tiny wick which was smouldering, this caused the gunpowder to explode, propelling the boulder forward towards the fort.

Down each side of the machine were caterpillar tracks that the whole structure rocked back and forth on whenever it fired. At the rear of the thing were two large buckets that were upended next to the gunpowder, which was how it transported so much of the stuff around.

Operating the whole thing was about ten diamond dogs and around twenty of their 'mutts' Dive circled above the contraption a couple of times looking for a way to attack, suddenly after the third time circling his underbelly armour was suddenly peppered by sharp pebbles, one managed to find part of him not covered by armour and left a gouge on his left hind leg. He winced and was grateful for the fact that he was wearing armour.

He started dodging the rocks that were being flung his way still looking for a weakness in the formation, eventually after his fifth or so time circling he got bored of the lack of action and sick of the dogs with the slings. So he dove straight at the dogs loading the cannon.

They scattered as he dove downwards, he landed with a meal clang on top of the machine spear levelled, scanning all around to see where they were coming from, however all he saw were a dozen or so holes in the ground that they had just dug. He paused, waiting and listening for any sign that they may come up to attack.

After ten seconds or so he relaxed a bit, turning all his attention to how to disable the machine he drew a blank. He thought about disabling it but he hadn't the means to even dent the armour, he looked to mound of gunpowder behind it and thought about using that to blow it up, but he didn't have the time or means to get enough into the body of the machine.

Suddenly he had a bright idea, he looked around for the wick on the end of the stick the dogs had been using, finding it he snatched it up in a hoof and slowly edged with it outstretched towards the gunpowder, he cautiously edged the smouldering end towards the black powder, preparing himself for a large bang.

He touched the wick to the pile of gunpowder and winced, however instead of the explosion he was expecting the whole thing suddenly burst into a massive flame, reaching into the sky, the heat he felt was intense, he jumped back. What followed was a giant plume of thick smoke blowing straight in his face, he started coughing violently as the grey smog filled his lungs.

He was starting to really regret this course of action as he had no idea which way was which, the smoke quickly lifted to reveal that the entire mound of black powder had been burned away and what was left was the smouldering earth, nearly glowing hot at what had just burned off.

Dive made a mental note never to do something so stupid again, he had just thought of a million ways for him to have done that but without receiving a lungful of smoke and probably a nearly burnt face. He was happy that he had accomplished what he had set out to do and turned round.

A spear came directly at his face, he could only watch horrified as the pointed metal swooped in, ready to end his life there and then, he was half expecting his whole life to flash in front of his eyes however he was disappointed to realise that it wasn't. He was kind of glad because he probably would have regretted a lot of it.

Suddenly the Diamond dog wielding the spear's head snapped to the side, followed by a spurt of red blood splashing on Dive's face. He looked round to the fort and couldn't see anypony near him, the shot could have only come from the fort. This was an impossible shot, literally an impossible shot. Dive had been trained to use a rifle and he could testify that hitting a barn door at fifty metres was nearly impossible, yet alone a headshot on a moving target half a kilometre away. It was literally an impossible shot, which made it even more respectable that it had been pulled off.

Dive snapped out of it almost straight away, and he was determined to make up for his mistake, a second spear was heading towards him after being thrown from his left. The training kicked in and he jumped into the air, spinning around the spear ending it up with its tip pointing towards the offending mutt, who stood there astonished.

Dive was severely handicapped however, as he didn't want to kill any of them. It was unfortunate he had been too stupid to dodge the first thrust at him else that Diamond dog may have survived, however he could regret that later. He scanned all of the dogs who were surrounding him with crude spears, he quickly identified the one in charge as he was behind the others barking orders.

Dive just casually flew about ten metres vertically in the air and hovered there, leaving all the Dogs bewildered as to what to do, he then hurtled straight for the leader, spinning round at the last minute and bucking at his chest mid-air pushing him back into the open air and above the dogs.

They turned tail and ran into their holes, one had the sense to drag the leader with them, and they quickly filled the burrows behind them and vanished into the barren land.

Dive stood there, barely breathing, just taking in the whole thing at once, he had nearly died because of his carelessness, he wasn't going to make that mistake again, his mind then remembered the incredibly shooting skills of who he could only assume was Sharpe, he followed this by making a mental note never to piss off a rifle pony.

From the fort emerged a group of ponies, kicking up dust behind them as they galloped, Dive just watched them for a while before turning round to open barren lands of the badlands, he couldn't make out any discernible features, it was just barren, in the distance he could just make out a long mountain range with many caves in, the mountains to either side of the fort stretched as far as the eye could see leaving no way for anyone to get through.

When the party finally arrived Dive was inspecting the poor dog that had nearly killed him, he used a piece of cloth torn from a shirt he had been wearing to cover the wound, however blood had nearly soaked it through and some sort of grey liquid that Dive preferred not to think about. The other ponies gathered round, they all wore scratched Guard armour, which had lost all of its golden sheen through use and battering by sand particles in the wind.

Sharpe was at the head of the group wearing a green shirt under his armour that had clips to allow a rifle to be slung on his back, Dive stood up and looked at the commander.

"Was that you that made the shot?" Dive bomb asked with a hint of reservation in his voice.

The commander simply nodded and looked at the body lying on the ground.

"Perkins, Jenkings, clear up that body." Two Guard's moved to wrap it up in a large grey cloth, putting it across their back and starting to walk back to the fort.

"Alright then," said the commander "let's look at this thing then"

They started to inspect the entire metal machine in a sombre mood. Diamond dogs were not usually this aggressive, nor were they willing to actively try and kill another living thing, it was even quite common in some parts of Equestria for them to live normally alongside ponies in cities. However these dogs were different, they were trying to invade the country, and they were willing to kill to do it. There was something unseen here and they hoped that the machine would give them a clue, however it didn't.

"Well rats, there's nothing here that gives me any clue as to what's going on." said Sharpe in an annoyed tone.

"I might." Dive piped up receiving a hopeful look from the inspecting Guards.

"I know a pony that made something like this before, it used the same concept but was a different style, he called it a 'tank'. This thing is no different really, the Griffins really like them however I always thought they were too big to be any use in a straight up fight. They do take a pounding though." Dive was looking up and down  the tank as he said this trying to confirm his suspicions.

"So what you're saying is this is a weapon of war?" asked one a Guard who was standing on the machine. Dive nodded slowly.

"Great, now we're officially at war with Diamond Dogs. Let’s get back to the fort, we need to tell the Princess." said Sharpe in a tired voice

"What about the, 'tank'?" said the Guard on top of the machine in question, pronouncing the unfamiliar word strangely, as he was jumping down.

"We'll leave it, it wouldn't fit in the fort anyway and it’s not much use to anyone without gunpowder."

The group then started to walk back to the fort, the mood around them was stale and none were in a mood to talk, it was never often that the Guards stationed in the south of Equestria had to actually kill anything, and when they did it was never a cause for celebration.

Dive entered the main building in the centre of the fort, it was the end of the evening meal and he was the only one there, the cooks behind the counter were about to start to clean until they noticed the Pegasus, the head chef huffed grumpily as Dive walked up to the service counter, grabbing a tray with a wing as he went past.

The food was surprisingly good for the location, it was a broccoli pasta bake with lots of exotic ingredients that Dive couldn't identify, it was delicious however and he happily tore his way through the meal.

When he finished he relaxed back on the chair he was sitting on and pushed his plate away, one of the stallions from the kitchen came over to pick it up, Dive nodded in thanks and just relaxed in his chair, he looked out of one of the windows at the dark sky, the sun had yet to set however due to the valley the fort usually only had around five hours of daylight in the summer.

Suddenly Dive realised that Sharpe was sitting opposite the table to him, he had been lost in his own world and hadn't even noticed that the stallion had entered the room, rifle slung over his back.

Sharpe sighed and tossed a letter over the table. "This just came in from Canterlot."

Dive caught the letter and opened it, it read

Commander Sharpe,

I'm afraid that a few rogue Diamond dogs is not a grounds for sending an army, you will need to gather solid confirmation that there is something big going on, I would suggest having Dive Bomb lead the party, however keep it small, less than five Guards, and you can't go with it, if the worst comes to the worst they'll need you at the fort. Good luck.

Captain Armour

"I don't know what you are." Sharpe glanced up and down the pegasus. "But if Shining is willing to put his trust in you then I am as well. Just, try not to make the same mistakes as earlier alright. This time it's not just your life that will be on the line."

Dive flinched at the statement "If I do one thing well it's learn from my mistakes. I've made enough of them already."

The commander stood up then and looked Dive in the eye. "I'll give you my four best ponies for the job, they'll be ready in an hour."

Dive shook his head. "Give me the three unicorns and your second best."

Sharpe gave him a puzzled look. "If you are called on to defend the fort you'll need all your best ponies, besides I've learnt that any magic is better than none."

Sharpe cocked an eyebrow at this "Ok then, you're the expert."

The three unicorns stood in front of Dive were quite possibly the sorriest looking unicorns in existence. When a Guard is thought of there is a certain build that is usually pictured, quite stocky, well built and thuggish. These unicorns were, anything but that.

They were all lined up in front of the southern gate of the fort waiting on the final member of their party. Dive turned to the first one, a weedy one with large glasses, his mane was ruffled and unkempt, and his coat was spotted with bits of dirt. The colour of his coat was a dirty white and his mane was dark grey.

"What do you do?" asked Dive, looking the weedy stallion up and down.

"I'm the negotiator for the fort." replied the unicorn with a surprisingly deep voice.

"What magic do you know?

The negotiator paused as he thought about it, "I know, well, basic fire spells."

"That's it?"

"Yeah."

"Good to know Sparky, that'll come in real handy at some point, I think. Ok then how about you?" He said turning to the second unicorn in line.

"My names not.." Sparky started before being cut off by Dive

"Well now it is. Anyway you?"

The second unicorn looked put out by this however he continued anyway. "I'm Farsight, I'm the one who's stationed in the watchtower."

"So what, you have seeing magic?" asked Dive bomb

The unicorn nodded, Dive sighed and turned to the final unicorn.

"I'm Jock. I'm one of the cooks."

Dive stared at the unicorn. "Seriously? You know what, never mind."

Finally the fifth member of their party turned up, an earth pony mare with a blue mane and white coat, who trotted up to them. They were all wearing breastplates and saddlebags, however Dive had told them to drop everything else, apart from their weapon of choice.

"Good, let's go." Said Dive trotting out of the small doors in the southern wall of the fort, the other four followed him until they reached the empty tank shell. At which point Dive stopped and looked around, trying to spot anything that would give him an idea as to where to go. He could of course fly however he just knew that as soon as he abandoned the other four they would be attacked. And he wouldn't bet on them winning.

Eventually he pointed in a random direction. "That way."

Sparky squinted towards where his hoof was pointing. "Why that way?"

Dive replied "Because it’s as good as any other, and if there is an army somewhere they are going to run into us at some point."

This suddenly hit the three unicorns like a train.

"Wait a second, you think there's an army out there?" asked Farsight

Dive nodded.

The three unicorns looked between each other nervously before Farsight continued

"Then why have you picked us? We aren't equipped to fight an army, heck none of us have seen any combat."

Dive sighed and tapped the top of his head. The three unicorns did the same and then realised that he was lacking something that they all had.

"Still, we don't know any useful combat skills."

"In my experience, any magic is better than no magic. Now come on, we have an army to find."

The three reluctantly started moving after Dive, the Mare falling in behind them, she had yet to say anything and hadn't changed her expression at any point during the conversation. Dive was unsure how to take her, but he trusted Sharpe's judgement on this and pressed on anyway.

It had been over twelve hours of the group walking, the sun had set long ago and the temperature was dropping rapidly, the moon was full which illuminated the entire badlands, they could all see nearly as well as if it had been daylight. The group were all tired and Dive was looking for anywhere they could stop.

The entire badlands however seemed to just be flat barren land, how anything survived out here was a mystery. Eventually Dive would just have to stop and camp, nopony could carry on like this indefinitely and he was starting to flag.

Finally he stopped and turned round to talk to the others, they were nowhere to be seen, he started as suddenly from behind he was felled by a blow to the head, as the world slowly turned black around him he could hear the guttural voices of Diamond Dogs talking, this was followed by the sensation of being dragged until eventually the world turned black.