Story: "A Soldier in Silver" Chapter 2

For a moment, Destrier contemplated strangling the Pegasus with one of the curtain pull cords. How he hated hearing that. “Stop Right There, Criminal Scum!” was the new catchphrase amongst the Royal Guards of all of Equestria’s races.  Students used it all the time, bellowing it to one another during training drills until Destrier had enough of it. 

“A fire spell’s a little drastic for catching a simple shoplifter, criminal scum or not, don’t you think?” growled the silver clad officer, striding over to the Pegasus and staring down at him. “Fanning the flames with your wings in order to flush him out is a bit of overcompensation, wouldn’t you say? You both are lucky no one DIED in tonight’s debacle.”

“I agree, Commander,” said Princess Celestia as she entered the room, flanked by General Fireflight, Eaglewing’s commander and another pony that Destrier hadn’t recognized. Others followed, but he wasn’t sure he recognized them either. They were out of Destrier’s limited field of vision. The three in the room bowed as was custom for the Guards when the Princess was present. It was obvious she was very angry.  “Loss of life would have made tonight’s unpleasant spectacle into a disaster of horrific proportions. It’s bad enough that several ponies have lost their livelihoods because of the foolishness these ones caused.”

Destrier stepped away from Eaglewing, now getting a better look at the newcomers. He recognized Charger’s parents; the older grey unicorn’s expression was cold while the colt’s mother looked teary eyed. The Pegasus that had to be Eaglewing’s sire looked frustrated and disappointed. He didn’t look very surprised though. Then his gaze shifted to the plump little unicorn that had entered with Celestia.

It was Greenbacks.

Destrier heard a familiar buzzing in his ears, feeling the first stirrings of rage at the sight of the little fat unicorn even as the Princess started speaking again. Charger and Eaglewing were being drummed out of the Corps. The Equestrian Royal Guards would compensate the shopkeepers, who were being represented by the majority owner-the smug little swaybacked son of a mule himself.

This was the pony that brought that rag tag circus to Canterlot, the one that convinced the skeptical Guards that the Chimera was as docile as a house cat under control of his flea-bitten trainer.

At first everything seemed fine. The circus played for three days without incident.

Then something happened, the spells used to subdue the chimera failed, right in the middle of the afternoon show. The careless trainer was horrifically slaughtered in front of the audience by the beast, the very first to die. It then attacked and maimed or outright killed several foals and their unsuspecting parents, members of a school field trip that had come to see the circus.

The Corps were sent in to control the rampaging animal, to no avail.  It decimated the 145^th. The 72^nd pegasi wing joined in the fight and the creature tore through them like so much paper.  Destrier had been young and filled with stupid bravado, he had charged the brute. It took him down too easily and tore out his left eye.  If it hadn’t been for the timely arrival of Princess Celestia, Destrier might have been killed as well. Only she could control the monster until they could euthanize it, for the chimera was too far gone to rehabilitate. In all thirty died. Fourteen of those killed by the beast were members of both the 145^th Ground Brigade and the 72^nd Air Wing.

All of it had been Greenbacks’ fault.   

Hadn’t Greenbacks pledged to compensate the families of the ponies that had been killed?  Hadn’t he pledged to have a statute made, commemorating the valiant Guard ponies that gave their lives in order to protect the citizens of Canterlot? He did. The nag reneged on each and every promise. And yet here he was, greedily awaiting compensation from the very Guards that he had been directly responsible for murdering fourteen Corps members of only five years prior. Gleefully watching as the Military careers of two promising colts was abruptly ended. Both would have dishonorable discharges on their records.

“Destrier?” Princess Celestia cut into his thoughts, her voice soothing the rage in him that was so very close to the surface. “As Charger’s commanding officer, do you agree to the terms of the settlement with the property owners in Canterlot?”

He nodded, not daring to speak while the shopkeeper remained in the room, knowing that it would be impossible to argue against the settlement, no matter how much he hated Greenbacks.

The group was then escorted from the room by General Fireflight to sign the necessary paperwork; with the exception of Princess Celestia. Destrier regarded her silently for a moment and then spoke.

 “As Charger’s commanding officer I am directly responsible for his actions this night.” He said, his voice quiet and controlled, “As such I am as much to blame as he is, therefore I will be resigning both my position as Commanding Officer of the 145th and as instructor at the Equestrian Royal Guard Academy, effective immediately.”