A Gallus Out of Time

This whole new world was so… strange. Was that even the word for it? Maybe completely upside down and backward to the one that he was once a part of. Or at least that's what the Griffin told himself as he walked down the halls of the castle, his talons digging into the endless purple carpet, trying to wrap his head around everything still. It had been a couple of months since he and his guards had been freed from their crystal prison and started to learn what had happened in their crystal slumber.

The pony races breaking up and their magic completely vanishing from the world. The dragons having been put into an endless slumber so the Fire Alicorn Opaline wouldn’t drain them of their magic. Then the fact there was zero communication with the races other than the dragons now. It felt like the progress in the world had taken five large leaps backward from what he once knew.

“Ocellus, Smolder, Silverstream… are you out there?” The blue Griffin asked, stopping at a window and peering out on the city below him, wondering if the friends he had made that could potentially still be alive were out there somewhere. Well almost all his friends, sadly two of his friends not being of a mythical origin they were more than likely gone. But more so for Silverstream who was more than just a friend. He reached up to a silver locket that hung around his neck and sighed, not bothering to open it. But it had been a gift that the Hippogryph had given him on their one-year anniversary over 200 years prior.

“Hey, Gallus?” A voice asked softly from beside him, making the half-bird half-lion creature stand up straight as his head jerked to the side.

“Oh, Princess Pipp,” He said, the front half of his body lowering at the sight of the princess.
“Oh, please Pipp is just fine, and you don’t need to worry about bowing.” The pink Pegasus said, a smile on her face as her cheeks tinted red.

“I don’t know, it would be weird for the Captain of the Guard to not do either of those things.” Gallus pointed out as he stood up straight.

“That's true,” Pipp said with a giggle, “Speaking of which. Congrats on the promotion!” She said, standing next to him and looking out the window as well. “That has to be the fastest anypony, or creature has gone from total stranger to leading the Zephyr army!” She pointed out.

“Really?” The Griffin huffed, “With your guy’s security I figured you guys were letting anyone run the army.” He mumbled as he looked down at the ‘armor’ he had on. A simple bronze scarf-like piece of metal hugged around his neck and a helmet with some white puffy stuff coming out of it. It would do very little to protect from any kind of attack. Of course, he understood not every creature had the power to wear a full suit of armor like he did as he could be covered in gold and he could move just fine. But something that would give some sort of illusion of protection would have been nice. Then the ‘battle drills’ almost made him vomit. All the prancing around and giggling like they were all hatchlings/foals/fillies playing games was sad at best and disgraceful at worst.

Honestly with how easy Gallus had been able to take out all the other captains when fighting them at the same time he was surprised it took as long as it did to be put in charge. But he promised the queen that he would do his best to get the guards in shape. It might take 100 years or so but they would have a strong army again. It was a shame that Lightning Dust had decided to retire like the rest of the guard as her help would have been greatly appreciated. As his second in command of Princess Twilight’s army, he knew that the Pegasus could kick some serious butt and wouldn’t put up with any slacking.

But he also couldn’t blame her for wanting to retire. She was a pony of action and it was crystal clear that working in any army in this world wouldn’t give her any. For a time when ponies weren’t friends with every creature to ever exist, there was a staggering lack of issues and battles going on. No, the seasoned flier decided to help Princess Zipp with training the Pegasi fillies and colts to learn how to fly. That way she might have to save some munchkin from crashing to their doom. It was probably a better role for her anyways, with flying missing from the Pegasi for 200 years they’d need a strong flier to show them what all they were capable of doing.

“Yeah, I guess we have gotten a little lazy in training the guard around here.” Pipp sighed, though until recently there was no need for the guards to do guard things. It wasn’t too long ago that the most important thing a guard could learn to do was to learn how to help her family fake flying with fancy lightwork and wiring. She doubted a fully trained staff of guards would have been able to do much when Opaline was stealing cutie marks from the Togetherness Tree in the courtyard. “But I’m sure our new totally awesome captain of the guard will be able to get us back in shape in no time.” She said, playfully bumping into him.

“Oh, I’ll try,” He promised with a chuckle as he looked at the princess with a small smile and gently bumped her back.

“You got this. But hey! We need to take a picture to commemorate today!” The princess declared, pulling her phone out from her wings and pulling him in close. “Say… ‘First day in charge of all the knights’!” She said snapping the picture before the Captain had a chance to say any of it. “Yep, that one's a keeper!” She said looking at it. “Here give me your number and I’ll text it to you.” She said, clicking on her screen a few times before looking at him in anticipation.

“My number?” Gallus asked, looking at the pony as if she had just asked him the advanced mechanics of unicorn magic. But as the princess gestured her phone with a head nod towards it, the motion snapped in his mind, making him realize what she was talking about. “Oh, right.” He muttered, his cheeks burning red as he dug into his wings to pull out a sleek gray phone. He had been given a phone when he had joined the guard, that way his commander could message him. Though all it had been used for was to be put on silent so he wouldn’t have to listen to the constant high-pitched beep of the ‘Knight’s Group Chat’ that he had been put into. Suppose anything important was ever discussed in the group chat the Captain would have reconsidered. But considering the feed was nothing but cat videos, Princess Pipp’s music performances, and the knights sharing their favorite smoothies, the half-bird half-lion creature was ok with not being notified when messages went off.

“Here,” Gallus said, holding his phone out to the princess. “You’ll probably figure it out faster than I can.” He confessed. 200 years ago they didn’t have phones you could just carry around. Even phones in houses were rare and messages were sent by mail. So a small box that could instantly send messages and pull up videos was like having his own magical box in his talons and he wasn’t used to that.

“Don’t worry I’m sure you’ll get used to using these things.” The pink princess assured him as she opened his phone and after a few clicks she gently tapped their phones together. “Ok and to make sure that my name is in there…” She mused with a sly smile growing at the corners of her mouth. “Annnnnd there!” She said, offering the cell phone back to him.

“Thank you, Princess Pipp.” He said, taking the phone back but as he heard her clear her throat he corrected himself. “Sorry, Pipp.”

“It is no problemo,” She said with a giggle as she typed away on her own phone, a pastime she seemed to really enjoy as far as Gallus saw. But as she gave the phone one final click the screen of Gallus’ light up.

“Princess Glamorqueen sent a text?” He read off the screen before clicking on the white notification box.

“That would be mwah!” She clarified, flapping her wings as she flew into the air with a dramatic spin, holding her front legs out as if a spotlight had suddenly bathed her.

“I thought you were Pipp?” He asked, smirking at the princess’ quirkiness as he saw what she sent him. It was the picture they had just taken where the pink Pegasus had her lips pursed and one eye closed. The pony hadn’t given him any time to get ready so his expression was that of someone trying to force a smile, but not managing it very well.

“Ha ha that's funny,” She spat sarcastically at him as she lowered herself to beside him and hovered there. “But now we have each other's numbers in case something happens and we need to get in contact with each other.”

“Yeah, with all these window places with no actual windows there are security hazards around every corner,” He said, reaching a taloned handout and sticking it through the glorified mile-long hole in the wall. “Anyone could sneak in at any time. So being able to get in contact with me to chase someone off is a great idea.”

“Or, you know, texting each other about other stuff?” The Pegasus said, shrugging her shoulders and giving a nervous laugh.

“Threats to the kingdom from 1,000 winters prior randomly showing up?” He asked her, thinking that was the next important thing.

“Ooooor you know… seeing if we want to get together and get a smoothie or catch a movie?,” Pipp suggested, “How dangerous was Equestria 200 hundred years ago? Was Princess Twilight in, like, constant danger?”

“Eh, more or less,” The griffin sighed, “At least ponies were always trying to get hoof pictures while she slept.” He muttered shuttering at the memory of chasing those weirdos off.

“Oh… ok… interesting. Well, we don’t have to worry about that here.” She promised him. “So we can use our phones for normal talking and stuff like that. But if I need you then I will be sure to give you a ring.” She said starting to tap on her phone once again.

“Ok sounds good,” He said with a head nod as his wings buzzed, making him roll his eyes and pull his phone out again. Though seeing Princess Glamorqueen on the screen he looked up at the pony curiously, but she just gestured for him to look at the message. So he clicked on the notification.

Hey, Pipp here, wanna grab a smoothie sometime?

“You could have just asked me that,” He said, looking up at the girl. “We’re standing right here.”

“I know, but this has my special Pipp flare to it!” She giggled, “Besides it's easier to ask somepony on a date over text than to their face!”

“A date…?” He asked frowning as he looked down at his phone, the smile he had been wearing fading away. It looked as if the Princess had just stabbed him through his incredibly ineffective armor with a rusty knife.

“Oh um… d-don’t feel pressured!” She assured, her heart sinking as she landed on her hooves. “Sorry if I seemed like I was pushing something. I totally understand wanting to keep things professional.”

“No, it's not that.” He sighed as he clenched the phone in his talons. “My uh… My wife asked me out in a very similar way. Though it was with a letter instead of by text.” He said as he looked out the window remembering that day. It was a few days after their professors had beaten their ex-peer Cozy Glow and her band of villainous friends. She had invited him to the chamber where the Tree of Harmony once was, the place where they and their friends spent an entire afternoon fixing. The girl had been a giddy ball of giggles, more so than normal, when giving him the note asking him out on a date.

“Oh, I-I’m sorry,” The princess said, her heart somehow sinking further down to the point she was sure no doctor would ever find it if they needed to. The pony had heard him talk about his wife Silverstream a few times and how she was more than likely gone after 200 years. Even if she wasn't nopony knew where the Hippogryphs were at. Apparently, there were a few things they had no idea about past that. Like a race of pony-looking half-bug and half-plant creatures known as Changelings, they were missing. Yaks were nowhere on the radar for any ponies. Nor were some mysterious creatures known as the Kiren.

“It's whatever,” Gallus sighed as he tucked his phone back into his wings. “I knew the risk of having a wife while serving Princess Twilight. Though I had always expected to be dead and her grieving, not the other way around. “I can only move forward and try to make the best of things. Not really sure what to do besides that.” He said with a somber head nod as he turned and started to march down the hall. “Anyways I got a meeting with Zoom and Thunder, they're supposed to show me what all weapons you ponies have around here.” He said before pausing mid-step and looking back, “You wouldn't want to join me, would you? You probably have some princessy stuff to keep you busy?” He assumed, but at the invitation, the princess zipped beside him almost faster than her sister could have.

“Oh well there's a couple things I need to do, but those can wait for the time being!” She chirped. “What kind of princess would I be if I didn’t assist in making sure the kingdom’s security was good!”

“Uh huh, ok.” The Captain said with an amused head shake as he started to head to the place the two Pegasi under his order told him to be at. Traveling down a dozen or so flights of stairs, passing the castle's insanely comfortable-looking fully furnished dungeons and cells, then passing the ‘forbidden library’, Pipp mentioned how she needed to sneak in and get her horror stories out at some point. Then they finally made it to a pink hallway with a silver vault door at the other end. In front of the door were two Pegasi, one light blue and the other a neon green, both sitting on the ground snoring away.

“Oh my…” Glaus grumbled, slapping his face with his hand, and seeing the two ponies who were regularly standing guard outside the throne room Pipp saw what Gallus was talking about. “ACHEM!” Gallus fake coughed as the two marched forward. “Thunder, Zoom, AAAAAATENTION!” He barked, getting both Pegasi to snort and open their eyes.

“Ah, Captain Gallus.” The green pony said with a yawn as the pair both stretched and stood up. “Good to see you.” He said as they stood up a sleepy smile on both of their faces.

“You two better fix your attitude right now unless you want to be scrubbing the training yard with nothing but your toothbrushes!” Gallus snapped, making two flinches. “I don't know if you mistook this crew as a daycare, but it's not! Now stand up straight and salute!” He ordered the two, his voice hitting them like a bomb and causing the two to do as he said. Their bodies went stiff as they stood up straight and put a hoof over their foreheads. “That's better! Don't you two think so?!” He asked them.

“Not really! This form is really uncomfortable!” The blue pony, Zoom, confessed, already wincing at the pose.

“Oh, it's uncomfortable?!” Gallus asked, his voice pitching up as he gave the two puppy dog eyes. “Good! That's what you're being paid for! Now when you address me this is exactly how you should look, and you will refer to me as sir!”

“Really?” Thunder whined his body slouching, “But this is totally not how we normally do things.” He explained, though as the griffin's electric blue eyes stared at the pony he gulped. “Uh… Which is cool, sir! I think it is a good change of pace!” He said, standing up straight again.

“I'm glad we understand, and don't worry, you two aren't the only ones who get to enjoy this. I'm going to tell everypony in the guard about this personally!” He promised the two ponies as he marched back and forth in front of them before stopping and standing at attention. Now, address your princess!” He ordered. And upon seeing the pink Pegasus the two sighed in relief and waved their hooves at her.

“Sup, Pipp!” Zoom said, though as they heard a low rumble from their captain's throat the two froze like statues.

“Sup, Pipp? SUP, PIPP?!” He roared as he glared at them, “She is the princess and you will address her as so!”

“SUP, PRINCESS PIPP!” Zoom tried, but as Gallus’ glare burned into her she cleared her throat. “Good evening, Princess Zipp. You uh… look extra lovely today!” She said trying to sound more professional.

“Better!” Gallus huffed, “At ease!” He ordered them, though as the two glanced at each other Gallus sighed and wondered what the guards did know. “That means you can relax.” He sighed, rubbing his eyes for a few seconds as he heard them sigh in relief. “Anyways, you two are going to show me what weapons there are? There better be something down here or you two will pay for making us descend into the heart of the mountain.”

“Oh yes!” Thunder said, nodding his head. “Oh er, well there is only one weapon. It's the only weapon that we have ever needed in the history of our kingdom!” He explained while Zoom started to click on a glowing blue keypad.

“Of course,” Gallus sighed. Of course, the kingdom only had one weapon to work with. But one was definitely better than none. “Well let's see what we are working with.” He said as the door started to swing back as it opened. Revealing another room with pink carpet and walls, though it was more like a large closet. Which made sense since there was only one weapon in the entire kingdom. In the center of the fun-sized room was a stand covered in a velvet cloth, hiding away what this weapon was, though a spotlight was shining down onto the object. The pointed corners told Gallus that the item was some sort of square or rectangle. Looking around he saw that the ponies with him were all enamored with the box, Pipp even shifted nervously from one hoof to the other.

“Do we really need to bring it out?” Pipp squeaked out, a nervous chuckle escaping from her as she looked over to the guards. “Like I know we've pulled it out a couple of times in the past year. But it was only for emergencies!”

“Well the Captain did say he wanted to see all the weapons,” Zoom said, wincing as she turned her eyes away from the room. “W-we'll pull it out and put it back as quick as we can!” She promised, taking deep breaths in and out as if he were trying to recover from some sort of traumatic event. “Thunder, are you going to be ok?” He asked his coworker, but the other Pegasus just stared at the box object in the center of the room.

All the weirdness coming from the Pegasi tugged at Gallus’ curiosity. What could be in the box? Some sort of ancient spell book, a contained black hole, maybe a Wendigo encased in some sort of prison? Whatever it was the kingdom was certainly doing its best to keep it from the public's eyes and Pipp didn't seem pleased they were going to show it.

“Careful, Captain,” Zoom said, stepping forward and leaving Thunder to stand there, not blinking. “This cursed relic is powerful! It tries to take over the mind of its wielder. We almost lost Thunder to its magical hold!” She explained, still not looking in the direction of the object as if she were going to lose herself from a mere glance of the weapon.

“I hears its whispers!” Thunder hissed, his eyes wide. He lifted a leg as if he were going to take a step into the room but hesitated. “My… precious… Must haves its!” He muttered, leaning forward,

“Thunder, get a hold of yourself,” Gallus ordered, making the pony stand up straight at being addressed, before walking in.

“B-be careful, Gallus!” Pipp called out, taking a step back and hiding her face with her fuzzy pink wings.

“Don't worry I will, this isn't the first time I've handled a cursed object.” He assured her. He had a class that was all about what to do when you come into contact with a magic and cursed item back in the School of Friendship. So he had some idea of what to do. Reaching up, Zoom plucked the white fuzzy stuff off his helmet, that way he could grab the object without actually touching it.

“I'm ready.” He assured Zoom with a head nod. The blue Pegasus nodded her head as she felt around for the edge of the cloth. Once he found it the Pegasus yanked the cloth off, flying out of the room with a high-pitched shriek, landing on the ground, and covering herself with the cloth, trembling.

“Ah!” Pipp squealed, dropping to the ground and keeping her face covered as she cowered.

“This…” Gallus gasped, his mouth dropping open, taking a step back as the fuzz from his helmet dropped out of his hands. He had been prepared for a lot of things… something that would instantly kill someone. Something that would cause years of pain and anguish. Or something that would put the world into a plague. But nothing could have prepared him for what he saw inside a glass box sealed away from the rest of the world.

“This… IS A FUCKING TENNIS BALL!” He yelled, his voice booming and echoing off the walls. But the yell was enough to send Thunder over the edge and the guard rushed forward in a green blur as he hugged the box.

“Precious, my precious! Gives it to me!” The Pegasus, his voice shrill and raspy, demanded banging his front hooves at the box, even trying to bite down on it. “All the power! It belongs to me!”

“Thunder!” Gallus huffed as he reached over and plucked the flying pony off the box as if he were a bug on a leaf. “Get a hold of yourself!” He huffed, slapping the pony across the face with his spare hand, and dropped the pony. Stepping over Thunder's body as it collapsed to the ground the Griffin used one taloned hand to lift up the glass case and grabbed the neon yellow ball.

“Careful, Gallus!” Pipp squeaked out, keeping her distance as if the ball was going to blow up at any moment. But as the bluebird creature looked at the ball he didn’t see anything impressive about it that gave it the honor of being the only weapon in the entire kingdom. Just a yellow fuzzy ball, though there was a weird hole in the bottom of it as if something had been stabbed in it.

“This is the most powerful weapon in all of Zephyer Heights?! A toy?!” He groaned, tossing the ball against the wall and catching it with ease. “How has this kingdom not been invaded?” He muttered to himself as he squeezed the tennis ball in his hand. The ball tried to fight the Griffin’s might, for a second, before a loud POP rang into the halls, getting a yelp from everypony there.

“The precious!” Thunder cried, trying to jump to the plastic shards that rained from Gallus’ hand. But a sharp look coming from his Captain caused the pony to sulk away.

“Ok well, this was a complete waste of time,” Gallus muttered, tossing the broken tennis ball bits off to the side. Along with getting the guards functioning properly now I have to figure out what to do for weapons.” He said as he walked out of the vault though as he looked at the ponies that hadn't tried stealing the tennis ball Gallus was surprised by the shocked looks. “What?”

“Y-you destroyed the tennis ball!” Pipp said, lifting her mouth up from the ground. “That ball had protected us from our enemies for as long as I can remember!” She said.

“Really? That thing? It actually protected you?” Gallus asked, frowning at the princess not believing what he was hearing. What did the fate of the kingdom depend on a game of tennis at some point? “What enemies?”

“Well, before we all became friends again, it was to be used if a stray unicorn came to the kingdom.” She said, sticking her leg out at him as if she had made a point. But as she continued her thought her leg dropped down. “But then uh… we learned that the unicorns didn't have any magic. So I guess it didn't do anything really."

“But then we used it when the Fire Alicorn attacked us and stole our cutie marks!” Zoom added in before cringing. “And it didn't help us in that. We couldn't even find the alicorn to try and put the ball on her horn.”

“Ok… Thank you for proving my point” Gallus said looking between two Pegasi to see if there were going to be any more attempts to support the claim that the tennis ball was some powerful thing that he should have felt bad about destroying. “So again, I have to figure out what we are going to do about weapons.”

“Dude,” Zoom said, though as Gallus flashed a glare the guard stiffened like a board. “I mean… Captain! Do we really need weapons? Like, aren't actual weapons pointy, sharp, and scary?”

“Yes we do and yes they are,” Gallus growled, reaching up and covering his face with a hand. “That's the whole point of weapons. To scare away anyone who wants to try and cause problems. Whether it's someone thinking they can start a war, break a law in the city, or try to sneak into the castle. And them being sharp is an extra deterrent because who wants to get poked?!”

“I mean we haven't ever had that happen.” Pipp scoffed as she flapped her wings and launched herself beside the Captain. “Well I mean I guess Sunny and Izzy did sneak around the castle after breaking out of their cell and stole Mom's crown.” She said, but before Gallus could use that to his advantage her wings shot up and she put a hoof on her chest. “But they had Zipp's help!” She said.

“And no one noticed that the prisoners were out of their cell?” He pressed her, making the princess’ wings drop.

“No…..?” She squeaked, sounding as if she was unsure what was the correct answer. “Ok point taken. But I am just a little worried that you might be taking the security and Captain thing a bit too seriously.” She admitted to him. But that whole situation wasn’t as bad as he wanted it to be. That event did lead to magic returning to Pony-kind and to his freedom from being a crystal. "Like, I know things were different in Princess Twilight's time but we just don't have to worry about things like ponies trying to hurt each other or breaking the law.” She said to him, getting a grumble from the bird creature.

The pink pony did have a point. He had been there for a few months and the most exciting thing that had happened was the queen's flying white ball of fluff she called a dog managed to fly to the roof of the castle and had been too scared to get down. But that didn't mean they shouldn't be prepared. Look at what happened with Opaline and Princess Twilight! He and the royal guard had been trained and prepared to fight and she managed to defeat them. Well, more like Twilight had turned them into statues because she knew they would fall to her.

So the Griffin couldn't imagine how easily the kingdom he currently was serving would just fold to a minor threat or some other power-hungry alicorn. The statue that held Tirek, a weird goat creature that could eat magic, Chrysalis, a changeling that had once ruled over all changeling kind until she was defeated, and Cozy Glow, Gallus’ ex-peer who had tried to destroy magic in Equestria and take over the world, was gone. There had been an enemy of Equestria that had been sealed in stone, a creature of chaos named Discord, that had broken free after 1,000 winters. Who was to say that one of those three wasn't breaking away from their stoney prison as they spoke? What if there was some other threat lurking in the dark and was just waiting for their opportunity to strike?

“I get it, you guys live a peaceful life,” Gallus said, rolling his eyes. “And that's great. But times of peace don't last forever. And if you're not ready for the tough times when they swoop in, then you may never see peaceful days again.” He sighed as he shook his head. This place really needed to be worked on.

“I mean I guess that's true,” Pipp conceded, thinking that the captain's words were solid, “But if you don't enjoy the peaceful times then can you even say they happened? Like when a beautiful amazing stunning pony with an amazing singing voice offered to go get a smoothie and you just left her on read with no answer.” She said, smirking as she bumped into him, earning another eye roll from Gallus, but an amused smile growing on his face. Of course, the princess had a way to turn the situation around in her favor.

“Ok, I see your point.” He said, shaking his head as he dug his phone from his wings and started to click on the screen. And though the princess wanted to peek at what he was doing, she was also a huge fan of screen privacy. “Ok, there.” He sighed as he slipped his phone away and Pipp's phone vibrated.

Quickly the princess yanked her phone out and squealed in delight seeing a text from him saying Yes.

“Ohmycelstiaohmycelestiaohmycelestia!” She cheered, her voice going so high Gallus was sure Cloudpuff was barking somewhere.

“You two!” Gallus barked as he turned to the other two in the room. At that point, Zoom had gone over and yanked Thunder up from the ground. The green pony trying to grab at the shattered tennis ball pieces off the ground. But upon hearing the captain's voice he dropped Thunder and stood up straight again.

“Sir!” Zoom said turning to Gallus.
“Shurr…”Thunder said from the ground, his face squished against the floor as he tried to give a salute to the Griffon.

“Clean up in here, Thunder, get a hold of yourself, and tell the rest of the guards that changes are on their way!” He ordered them. “I guess I have something else to do tonight.” He said, looking over and winking at Pipp, whose cheeks instantly flushed red as her heart started to flutter like the wings on her back, causing her to float a bit.

“Ok!” She said as she flew up a bit higher. “I'm going to get ready and I'll let you know when you can come to my room so I can show you where the best smoothie shop in all of Zephyr Heights is!” She said, darting forward in a pink flash towards the stairs.
______________________________________________________________________________

“Lalalala hmhmhm laaaaa!” The princess sang, letting some possible new song melodies bounce around in her head and exit her mouth. Much like other artists being in a hot steamy shower, white foamy soap dropping off her, helped the pop star come up with ideas. Lyrics, melodies, and other ideas hit her like the hot water covering her body. She wanted to make sure that she was fresh for the date she had kind of forcefully hinted she wanted to have with Gallus. So she smiled as the scent of roses floated around her.

CRASH!

The sound of glass shattering in the room connected to her bathroom, and her bedroom, cut through the sound of water, and her improved song. Making her frown and sticking her head out of the pink shower curtain, which was decorated with different purple music notes. She was pretty certain that noise wasn't supposed to be coming from her room which meant her Cloudpuff had managed to sneak into the room again.

“Cloudpuff! Get out before I tell the cooks not to give you your doggy dessert!” The princess threatened. She didn't mind the dog coming into her room at night to snuggle while she slept. But coming in to just start breaking her stuff was definitely not allowed.

“Ah! Shhh!” A high-pitched voice said from the other room, making the princess’ eyes grow wide. Cloudpuff could do a few tricks, ‘speak’ being one of them, but the dog could not say actual words. “Move over, let's just wait here!” The voice hissed, sending a chill up the princess’ back. What was she supposed to do in this situation?! How was there anyone in her room? The guards weren’t supposed to be in there, the voice sounded vaguely familiar, maybe a couple of fans had managed to sneak into her room? No that was crazy, why would fans sneak into the bedroom of the #1 pop star in the world who also happened to be a princess? What would they gain from that? Kidnap her and force her to perform or hold her for ransom… Oh…

“Maybe Gallus was onto something.” The pony whimpered, her heart pounding in her chest as she reached over to her phone that had been resting on a shelf. “Ok well, I guess that was a dog and totally not some pony who shouldn’t be in my room!” She called out, trying to sound like she hadn’t heard anything.

“See she didn’t hear us!” A new high-pitched voice giggled as the princess clicked on her screen, not worrying about her soaked hooves touching the screen. She first blasted some of her newest albums to make it seem like she was just enjoying music in the shower. But with the high-energy pop music blasting she started to text Gallus.

OMC OMC OMC OMC INU RN!!!! SOS ASAP!!!

She looked at her screen, a hundred-pound weight lifted from her heart as she saw a green speech bubble appear with pulsing dots in it. Meaning that the Griffin was messaging her back. It was a good thing she got his phone number that day. But when she saw his message back she almost groaned.

What does any of that mean?

She was going to have to teach him texter lingo if anything was going to work out between them. But for the moment she just took a deep breath in and typed out every word she wanted to say, like some sort of cave pony.

Nevermind. There are ponies in my room! I don’t know who they are! Can you do something about them?!

Is this a weird joke?

No! I swear on Zipp’s future throne! They broke something in my room, I thought it was Cloudpuff, and then they said something! Please help!

She nervously bit the bottom of her lip as she looked at her screen waiting for a response. But she didn’t see the text bubble popping up again making her heart sink again. Were there other intruders in the castle? Was Gallus currently fighting for his life?

“We should have listened to him!” The pony whimpered as she pranced in place trying to find some place to hide. But sadly there weren’t any hiding places built into the pink bathroom. Other than closing the curtain to the shower and hoping nopony opened it there was… maybe her trying to flush herself down the toilet? Though that sounded really gross and like it wouldn’t work as well as she would want it to.

“What's taking herrrrrrrr?” The first voice whined over the sound of the music.
“Maybe we should go in?” A third new high-pitched voice asked their group, making Pipp let out a high-pitched eep.

“No!” The other two huffed as the first voice added. “Then we won’t be able to take her by surprise!”

“What to do, what to do, what to do?!” Pipp asked looking around for something to try and defend herself. But past a bunch of purple bottles of soaps, shampoos, and conditioners, there wasn’t much. A pink hair dryer and a brown wooden brush were about it. So taking a deep breath in she reached over and grabbed the hair brush, it was better than nothing. But thankfully the singer didn’t have to use it as a loud WOOSH was heard with a gust of wind blowing into the bathroom and a booming ROOOOOOAR completely drowned out her music.

“What do you three think you’re doing?!” Gallus asked, making Pipp’s heart skip a beat as she sighed in relief. She was ready to let the captain take care of the situation as she hid away with her lavender-scented essential oils. But as she heard the three call out it clicked in her mind who they were.

“AH PRINCESS PIIIIIIIPP!” The three voices called out in unison, the mixture of the three crying out for her hit her head like a brick. The image of a trio of fillies consisting of an orange unicorn, a light blue pegasus, and a grey earth pony flashed in her mind. Or the Pipsqueaks as the trio called themselves.

“Wait!” Pipp yelped, diving out of the shower water raining off of her as her wet wings let her glide to her bedroom. The large room was filled with fuzzy purple carpet, a queen-sized bed with a white sheet with music notes on it, dozens of different posters with her face on it, shelves with different rewards, and a desk with thousands of bits worth of different recordings equipment surround four things that weren’t normally there. A giant blue lion bird creature and three fillies.

“He’s gonna eat us!” The unicorn, Peach Fizz, cried as she saw Pipp.
“Run!” The Pegasus, Glory, ordered with the earth pony Seashell nodding as the three ran under the griffin and behind Pipp. The tiny pegasus hugged the pink pony’s leg as she trembled.

“What, no he’s not going to eat you three?” Pipp said in a mix of a laugh and scoff. “He's the new captain of the royal guard. He was just protecting me!?” She tried to explain.

“Protect you from what?” Seashell asked, the fear out of her voice as she looked up at the pop star.

“From nosey ponies trying to sneak into her room!” Gallus hissed, lowering his head to be on the same level as the fillies, making Seashell squeak and hide behind Pipp again.

“Ok at ease,” Pipp sighed as she looked at Gallus. “Gallus, these are the Pipsqueaks my biggest, despite being tiny, fans. Pipsqueaks these is Gallus.”

“He’s scary!” The Pegasus child said, her cheeks puffing out as she looked at Pipp. “Are you sure he won’t eat us?” She asked making the princess roll her eyes.

“What are you three doing in here anyways?” She asked, suddenly remembering the freight the three had just given her. “I don’t remember telling you about any performances happening in my room.”

“Oh, we wanted you to sign something!” Peach Fizz said, her horn shimmering with blue energy as a figure floated in front of Pipp’s face.

“Oh, it's um… lovely? What am I looking at exactly?” The princess asked as she examined the object in her hoof. It looked like a pony, sort of. It had skinny legs, a fat torso, and a long snout-like nose and mouth. The creature had a pink body, a short purple mane, and plastic pink wings that didn’t look too flexible and would probably snap if she tried to move them.

“Yeah, Glory,” Seashell said, gently pushing her friend off of the Princess’ leg, “Tell her what it is.”

“Oh um… it uh… you, Princess Pipp!” The filly said silently, not meeting the princess’ eyes. “We bought it from some pony at your last concert.” She explained.

“Oh me?” Pipp said, holding the figurine out at leg length as if it were getting ready to attack her. “Ew, knock off merch! I take back the lovely comment! Why do you three even have this? I’ve given you three free, real, merch!” She huffed, glaring down at the three, looking more mad about the knock of merchandise than the fact the three had snuck into her room.

“We wanted you to sign it!” The three said in unison, making the princess jump back in shock.

“That way we’ll have this super rare thing signed by the Princess Pipp!” Peach Fizz cheered bouncing in the air.

“Ok well… Next time bring me a T-Shirt,” Pipp said with an eye roll as she gave the orange pipsqueak the figurine back. “There's no way I’m signing that… thing, girls, sorry.” She said to them.

“Aw…” The three pouted upon hearing the news.
“And now leave, and please don’t sneak into my room again!” She instructed, looking over at Gallus and giving him a head nod.

“You heard the princess,” Gallus said, walking over and using his massive taloned hands to shove the girls out. “Now out!” He ordered, tempted to toss the three through the window beside Pipp's bed. The three had more than likely gotten in that way since the end table that was by the window had a picture frame knocked over with shattered glass everywhere. But he decided to be nice to the trip since they were first-time offenders. “And don’t break in again! Princess Pipp won’t be there to stop me from having a snack!” He threatened, making the color of the three pale as they took a deep gulp. But Gallus didn’t tell the trio that he was kidding as he opened the door and shoved them out. “Make sure these three are escorted out!” Gallus ordered the grey Pegasus who had been standing by the princess’ door, her eyes wide with shock as she looked at her captain. “And we will be talking about how these three managed to get in on your watch!” He informed the guard before shutting the door.

“Ok, whew wow, that was scary!” Pipp sighed in relief, her wings dropping to her side. “I wasn’t sure what was going to happen! I thought I was on my own there. Looks like you were right about me texting you for emergencies.”

“I know.” The Griffin said with a sigh as he stuck his head out the window to see another guard pony, sitting with their head dropped down as the evening sun hit them. “Every time I think the guard situation couldn’t get worse I’m proven wrong.” He sighed, not even bothering to call out to the sleeping guard, they would get their earful soon enough.”

“Eh…” It was all the pink pony could manage. She really hated to say that Gallus was right, but she was starting to see what the captain was talking about. Thankfully all she had to deal with that night was three young ponies. But what if it had been somepony with more malice ambitions? “I wish we could show the guards how important their jobs are and how they need to be taking their jobs more seriously!” She huffed. “What if next time I actually get kidnapped?!” She asked.

“Yeah, then we’d all be in serious trouble.” Gallus huffed as he rubbed his chin. “Though… That actually does give me an idea. Of course, I would need to get the queen's permission and your permission.” He muttered.

“Oh? Sounds like we have something to discuss over smoothies!” Pipp said, not having forgotten about their smoothie date. “After I finish getting ready. Now it’s time for you to leave. But thank you for the save, my hero.” She giggled as she motioned to the door.

“Yes, Pipp.” He said before marching out, still thinking about the idea. Maybe it would take an actual emergency to get the guards to realize they need to change. But if a real emergency was to happen then it would probably be too late. If only there were some sort of middle ground, ground the Captain intended to find.