At the training grounds of the Imperial barracks, the loyal troops of the Crystal Royal Guard–crystal ponies, unicorns, pegasi, griffons, and yaks alike–stood at attention as their Prince and General walked down the line. His eyes bored into them, studying, examining through his years of military service, hunting for any weakness in their formation.
Once satisfied, he finally spoke. “Soldiers of the Crystal Empire! Today you'll be tasked with a critical and risky mission. I'll tolerate no mistakes and expect your best performance. Am I clear?”
“Yes, General!” They all shouted.
Shining gave an approving nod and called out. “You can come out now!”
The guards were surprised as the young Flurry Heart came towards them, wearing a significantly fancier version of their guard armor, lacking only the helmet and customized to accommodate her alicorn features.
A few soldiers wondered if this was some sort of joke. The rest had a collective sinking feeling that it wasn’t, though what exactly it was was not clear.
“Are we… escorting her?” one dared to ask.
Shining broke his stern command to smile like a teen getting a new comic book. “Nope. You're all here to help train Hearty like a proper guard.”
Flurry let out a little giggle at her nickname and gave her father a hug. “I’ll make you proud, dad!”
The guards looked at each other with increasing concern despite how adorable the daughter-father hug was. It was true that Flurry Heart had grown quite a bit from the tiny demon child that nearly doomed the Empire any number of times (most within the Empire had lost count), but she was still half their size and without a single noteworthy muscle in her body. However, they couldn't really object to their general's orders, so all they could do was ask, “Train her in what, exactly?”
“Well, I think some friendly sparring would be a good start,” Shining proposed as he let go of Flurry. “You go over there, sweetheart. Your opponent will be…” He pointed. “Yaroslavl. Come up here.”
Now the guards were concerned. Yaroslavl Yuksporite was a yak, and thus by far the biggest of their platoon, having needed some custom plate armor that wouldn’t break if he flexed too hard.
Yaroslavl was also the no-nonsense kind of soldier, so he didn't think twice before walking towards the ring and facing Flurry head on. “If you want to be guard, you must survive smashing. You better dodge,” he said as he cracked his neck.
Flurry smiled confidently and raised her tiny hooves. “Let's do this!”
Shining pulled out a watch from his pocket. “You'll have three minutes to fight each other, and then I'll decide the victor.” He gave five seconds of silence as everyone prepared for what was about to happen. “Begin!”
All the guards could do was wince as the girly screams started.
By the time the minute was over, Flurry Heart was panting on the floor, and Yaroslavl was laying on his back, his limbs tied together like pretzels.
“Well done, Hearty!” Shining exclaimed with a proud smile as he stopped the watch. “That piledrive was beautifully executed.”
Flurry pounced on her dad, giving him a big hug. “Thanks, Dad! You really got me a big one this time, so I wanted to show off a bit.”
Shining hugged back. “Heh, I knew you would want a challenge.”
“Will we have to go to court again?” Flurry asked with a pout.
Shining laughed. “Of course not. I know Captain Magnus overreacted a bit after your training session with the Canterlot Guard, but nopony’s going to ban you from these barracks.”
The guards felt a chill run down their spines.
“We'll take a small break and move to some flying exercises,” Shining said, seemingly unaware of the horror in his guards’ faces. “Meanwhile, Medic!”
Two pegasus came in and put Yaroslavl in a stretcher before taking him off to the infirmary. The soldiers looking on couldn’t help but imagine themselves in his place.
After the shock wore off, the guards moved to prepare a simple flying exercise. This would consist of a test of acceleration during takeoff, followed by some hops and obstacles to train reflexes, and finally a deep dive for a controlled descent and landing.
It was something the pegasi of the group had done a thousand times, so they were sure Flurry would be able to handle it well.
“Alright, Hearty, let's see what time you can get,” Shining said with his watch ready, surrounded by a few of the more recklessly curious guards who wanted to see how this played out. They definitely didn't envy the poor pegasi that had to stay in the air, holding up the rings Flurry would need to go through for the training.
“I'm ready!” the tiny one announced as she laid low, her massive wings at the ready.
“And… begin!” Shining shouted, instantly surrounding himself with a shield.
This was the only warning the guards got before Flurry exploded, sending rock and debris in all directions as she accelerated at a pace that would make Rainbow Dash jealous. She moved expertly through the hoops and obstacles, the force of her physics-defying wings violently blowing everything and everyone behind her away. The pegasi that were in the air ended up catapulted into the horizon, later hitting Mt. Everhoof and being dispersed by its magical winds.
The guards that had survived the initial detonation slowly stood up, trying to get their bearings back before realizing that the multicolored missile was supposed to land back where she had taken off.
They tried to run, but it didn't make a difference.
A second, larger explosión occurred when Flurry impacted the ground floor for her ‘landing’, leaving a house-sized crater and scattering the guards all over the barracks.
Shining Armor, unaffected by all this thanks to his shield, stopped his watch. “That's a new record!”
“Yay!” Flurry celebrated as she emerged from the crater and dusted herself off from dirt, ash and a couple of feathers that didn’t belong to her.
Shining smiled with pride before lowering his shield and shouting. “Medic!”
After some minimal repairs were done and most of the guard was taken to the infirmary, Shining took Flurry to the next training exercise. This one would be a fair crossbow competition. ‘Fair’ did most of the legwork in that sentence, since while the few remaining guards were using heavy crossbows that they had handled since day one, Flurry was simply picking up bolts and magically tossing them at terrifying speeds, landing bullseyes that threatened to destroy the target with each impact.
“Um, I don't really see how she's learning about crossbows here,” a guard commented as they carefully placed another target on the range. “She could maybe do some knife throwing?”
Shining pondered about this before nodding. “They're right, try and actually use one of the crossbows. You still remember the basics?”
“Yes, Dad!” Flurry said, grabbing one of the weapons with her magic and loading it.
The guards training with her were relieved. Being limited by a simple crossbow would make sure she didn't do much damage, and maybe now they would have a bit of a chance in this so-called ‘competition’.
Flurry finished loading, set the crossbow in front of her eyes, and aimed at the target for a few seconds before spreading her magic to the bolt and pulling the trigger.
The now enhanced projectile pierced the target, blowing right through the thick wall behind it that was supposed to protect whatever was behind the firing range. Which in this case was the infirmary, where the bolt continued its destructive trajectory and blew two brand new holes in it.
“My leg!” someone screamed as the medics scrambled to take the wounded somewhere safe, but the guards now knew there was no such thing as a ‘safe place’ while Flurry was around.
“I'm afraid, I'm gonna have to mark that down as cheating.” Shining said, clearly pained by the decision.
“Sorry, Dad…” Flurry said, tapping the tips of her hooves, nearly crying.
Shining noticed this and quickly side hugged his little demon spawn. “Two out of three is still quite good, Hearty, which means… Ice Cream Time!”
“Yay!” Flurry shouted, leaving the crossbow behind and leaving with her dad for the cold creamy treat.
What guards were left waited till the father and daughter were gone to lose their collective shit.
“What are we going to do?! We can't survive another day like this!” One of them shouted.
“He’s our general. The prince! We can’t just say no.”
“SILENCE!” a voice thundered over all of them, stopping the panic.
Yaroslavl approached them, a crutch tied to each of his broken legs allowing him to walk. “We had losses. We have damages. Big deal. We guards! We supposed to fight monsters and protect Empire! Even from Royal Family! We may break, we may cry, we may hide, but we’ll rebuild! We’ll heal! WE WILL PREVAIL!”
“Yeah!” The guards roared in unison, rallying behind Yaroslavl and assisting the medics and workers with the repairs and wounded.
Meanwhile, Flurry’s crossbow bolt was still traveling at top speed, decimating anything in its path. And either by pure chance or Discord’s will, it went directly towards Mount Everhoof, where the strong winds carried the bolt around the mountain and sent it precisely back where it had come from.
The guards’ morale didn’t survive the second impact.
After that day, the guard began to live in dread of the days their general would bring his daughter to work. Many deserted, and some started to hide in underground bases, living off fungus until the danger was over. The builders’ league got quite rich thanks to the constant repairs, and the medics in the guard ended up forming a union and demanding higher wages and workers comp.
Luckily, the heir to the throne eventually grew out of ‘playing with the guards,’ and her visits ceased. Two long years of safety gifted the guard enough time to fully recover. Some would never forget what Flurry put them through, but the rookies would at least be spared of the trauma.
That was until Shining Armor announced her return.
Mass panic erupted instantly. Some considered starting a rebellion to buy time, but knew they would just delay the inevitable. At the end, Yaroslavl managed to once again unify the guards against the Pink Terror, gathering many veterans of the Training Days and getting them on the frontline, while the newer recruits hid underground or called in sick.
These brave souls stood in line, some just like they did the first time she had arrived, and braced themselves. If they would face the Pink Terror again, they would do it without fear.
Shining Armor came into the barracks. His uniform was as impeccable as always, but his mane was frazzled, there were bags under his eyes, and he was pacing nervously about. It took a second to collect himself and address the troops. “Soldiers! I know it's been a while, but I'm sure many of you remember the times you had with my daughter.”
They hadn't forgotten. They would never forget the horrors.
“So… I'm hoping, like, really desperately, that this will be like those good old times. Heheh.” He turned towards the entrance to the barracks, and the bell tolled. “You can come in, Hearty~”
The guards froze in fear as the now slightly older alicorn they knew stepped into view. A black shirt over her chest, dark mascara, spiked collar and bands around her forelegs, and the tip of her wings colored black. Her hair was dyed similarly, except the bright tones of her natural mane still pushed through the darkness. “Ugh, stop calling me ‘Hearty’, Dad! And you don't have to make such a fuss, I just wanted to vent some steam today.”
Across the entire Guard, there was a collective gulp.
“Oh, we fucking dead,” Yaroslavl whispered.
