Elsewhile in the Royal Guard : Chapter 1 (Ver 1.0)

Elsewhile in the Royal Guard
Chapter 1

"Do a card trick for me, Dexter," said the blue-gray unicorn mare in uniform.
>"Heh, you do know I'm not supposed to have my cards while on duty," Dexter replied with smug grin.
"Come on, Dex, I know you have at least one deck on you and I'm soooooooo bored," she insisted, her eyes pleading.
>"Are you sure I have cards on me right now?" he said slyly.
"Yes! Come on, I've seen you doing cards tricks for other guards and I want to see one too," she groaned.
>Dexter closed his eyes and chuckled under his breath, before suddenly opening them wide with an accompanying grin.
>"Very well, Misty!" He said loudly with dramatic flare. "Prepare to witness the Illustrious Dexter's feats of prestidigitation!"
>As his announcement echoed through the empty hallway of Canterlot Castle, he pulled out a deck of cards that had been hidden under his uniform's saddle.
>He levitated the deck in front of himself, striking a pose while shuffling it in fancy ways in mid-air and waving his front hooves around.
>He finished it off by making the cards fly out from the deck in an arc and land on his raised right hoof.
>He then used his levitation to draw four cards from the top of the deck and keep them floating in front of him and facing Misty, and set the rest of the deck aside.



>As Mystic Foundry watched, she couldn't help but take a brief moment to look over the rather unique primitive markings that marred Dexter's otherwise ashen gray coat.
>The black striping around his forearms and gaskins that transitioned into solid "socks" covering all four of his limbs.
>The masking of solid black over the end of his muzzle that lightened into speckling around his eyes.
>The "cobwebbing" of interlaced black stripes that ran almost the entire length of his horn.
>She had seen him before in passing, but this was the first day they had been stationed together, and her first chance to really get a good look at him and his grullo dun coat.
>Though much of his markings were hidden under his golden armor, there were enough visible to let everyone know he belonged to the Scuffle family, the dilution gene practically a signature trait of their bloodline.
>Still, despite the presence of these patterns, the rest of him wasn't that much different from your typical unicorn guard: the same blue mane (though with a little bit of his own jagged style) and the same gray tone for the rest of his fur.



>Misty, on the other hoof, looked like your typical unicorn royal guard mare, with the same blue-grey coat and light blue mane with white highlights that most other royal guard mare unicorns possessed.
>Though there were some things that made her stand out, like her bright ruby red eyes, and the blue marking over the end of her muzzle and the freckles that accompanied it.
>But what really made her stand out was the fact that she stood slightly taller than many of her fellow female guards.
>Still, at the moment she was fully focused on somepony who was much more unique than her.



>"I know your distracted by the Illustrious Dexter's rugged good lucks, but you should really focus on the cards."
>With Dex's voice having regained her full attention, Misty's stare went straight to the four cards floating in front of him.
>It was the four of diamonds, the seven of clubs, the two of spades, and the eight of hearts.
>"Go on and pick one of the cards in front of me. Or you can pick one from the deck. Either way is good."
Misty gave a cheeky grin and said, "I'll take one from the deck."
>"Very well, if that's what you want to do," he said before setting the rest of the deck on the floor in between them, and spreading it out with his left hoof.
>"Pick a card, any card."
>Misty looked over the selection, her eyes darting around before settling on the jack of clubs and pulling it with her own levitation.
>"Hmmm," Dex said as he lightly touched the bottom of the card with his right hoof while his levitation took over from hers, turning it to face him.
>"Not the best choice, since it makes the next part a bit more difficult, but I'll make do," he said while waving his hoof in front of the card and behind it, tapping it in the process and causing it to spin around in mid-air a few times.
>Suddenly, his aura faded, and Misty's card dropped to the ground, landing face down.
>"Now do me a favor, and keep your card under your hoof, so that I can't mess with it in any way," he said with a reassuring wink.
>Misty giggled and did what he instructed, putting her right hoof over the card.
>She then gave a cheeky grin and started to slide it on the floor towards herself, something she guessed she wasn't supposed to do.
>She looked straight at his face, hoping to see a negative reaction, but Dex wasn't phased at all, even smiling as he watched her do that.
'Interesting,' she thought.



>Dex looked back up from Misty's hoof and at the four cards still floating in front of him, the ones she didn't pick.
>He gently tapped each one with his left hoof in succession from his left to his right, causing each one to rotate in the air to face him.
>He made an exaggerated frown while squinting at each one and then closed his eyes and shook his head.
>"Mmm, mmm, mmm, what a shame. You know, the Illustrious Dexter doesn't really like these numeric cards," he said with a hint of feigned annoyance.
>His eyes snapped open wide again as his wide grin returned, and he spoke out in an elevated volume.
>"What do you say we change that?"
>He rapidly tapped each one with his right hoof, going from right to left this time, while his left hoof waved around in front of them.
>The four cards started spinning in mid-air again, but at a higher RPM, to the point they started to blur in Misty's vision.
>With one final wave of his left hoof in front of them, and an accompanying wave of his right hoof behind them, they suddenly stopped spinning all at once to face her.
>And the cards had changed!
>The four aces were now floating in front of her, their houses matching those of the respective number cards that had been in their place.
>Misty's eyes widened. She was tempted to clap but stopped herself because she would have lifted her hoof off her own card.
>Dexter once again reached up and gently tapped the cards, causing them to rotate to face him.
>"Hmmm, aces are good, but faces are also good."
>And then he tapped the leftmost card, causing it to rotate while he waved his hoof in a circle around it, opposite to its rotational direction.
>The ace of diamonds spun faster and faster, once again becoming a blur.
>Suddenly, two cards split off from it, seemingly from both the front and back of the spinning ace, as if torn away by centrifugal force.
>All three cards slowed to a stop, the two new ones revealed to be the king and queen of diamonds.



"Wait, what? Did...did one of them come from the ace's face? But, how is that possible?"
>Misty looked perplexed at the cards, leaning in to try to get a closer look, even starting to slide her hoof and the card under it towards him again.
>"Uh uh, a good magician never reveals his secrets," he said while waggling his hoof at her, "and you ain't seen nothing yet."
It couldn't have been a teleportation spell, could it?
She would have noticed the flash and bang that typically accompany those spells, wouldn't she?
>He then stopped waggling and started waving again, this time around the ace of clubs, while his other hoof tapped it to get it spinning again.
>This time, however, the spin was along a different axis, pitching the card instead of yawing it, so that it seemed to tumble end over end instead of spinning like a top.
>And once again, the spinning accelerated into a blur, and two more cards were flung off in opposite directions, orbiting around the ace until all three came to a stop.
>When they did stop, it was once again the king and queen, this time from the club house, the same as the ace that seemingly spawned them.
>And then Dex moved onto ace of spades, this time rolling it, so that it appeared to spin around the center of its face, always facing Misty.
Since it's always facing her, she ought to be able to catch something this time, right?
>The card's rotation accelerated into a near blur, to the point that it's face was barely distinguishable.
>Nevertheless, as Dex waved his hoof in front of it, another very different card seemed to appear right in front of it out of thin air, spinning in the same direction and speed, but its additional colors and details made it apparent that it wasn't the ace.
>This new card got flung outward, along with a second one from the back of the ace, and they floated around their parent card in a circle while still rotating and continuously facing Misty.



>As the cards slowed to a stop, Misty blinked a few times and shook her head, not sure if what she was seeing was real.
>Right on cue, these two new cards revealed themselves to be the king and queen of the ace's house, the spade.
>Dexter finished off with the ace of hearts, this time spinning it diagonally along an axis between opposing corners, and two final cards were flung off, and revealed to be the king and queen of hearts.
>At this point, Misty had fully stood up again, leaning as much as she could while shuffling along the floor a little more, careful not to take her hoof off that card of hers.
>She was even trying to put more of her weight onto that card by leaning to the right as she was leaning forward.
>Dexter suppressed a laugh at watching her attempts to get a closer look while trying to safeguard her card.
>"The Illustrious Dexter can see that you're amazed and perplexed by his sleight of hoof," he triumphantly exclaimed, "and this next part is sure to blow your mind!"
>"I think these cards need to complete their families. It won't be easy, given the one you picked at the beginning, but the Illustrious Dexter can still pull it off."
>He then waved his hooves around all twelve cards, and they started to spin again without being touched, in the same directions as they had before.
>The kings and queens orbited around the aces, their speed picking up until they all became blurs.
>Dex waved his hooves around them with much more dramatic flourish, even getting up and dancing around behind them as he did so.
>He bobbed and weaved more rapidly, his movements getting more exaggerated and extreme as his performance reached a climax.
>And then he stopped.
>And the cards.
>And everything was still.



>Dex struck a dramatic bipedal pose, his forelegs extended to show off the cards facing Misty.
>The aces were gone, and in their place were the jacks from their corresponding houses.
>This included the jack of spades, the very card she thought was still under her right hoof.
"W-what? But, wait..."
>She stammered as she lifted her hoof and flipped the card that was underneath.
>Correction: The CARDS that were underneath, as the four aces spread out slightly after being flipped.
>Misty quickly spread them out with hoof, not believing what she was seeing.
>She then levitated them up in front of her face, scrutinizing them closely.
"But how? Seriously, how? I slide the card on the floor...multiple times! They would have come apart! HOW?!"
>Dexter couldn't help but laugh out loud as Misty's eyes darted between him, the floating cards in front of him, and the floating cards in front of her.
>He always loved this part of his act.
>He relished in having successfully fooled his audience.
>"Now, now, Misty. As I've said before, a great magician never reveals his secrets."
>Misty's look of confusion and frustration started to melt away as her eyes slowed down from frantically darting around.
>A smile started to creep across her face as she just took it all in.
>She had been fooled, full stop.
"I have to admit, Dex, you are one Tart of a magician."
>"That's the Illustrious Dexter while I'm performing, and the trick isn't over yet. Haven't you wondered what happened to the four cards at the beginning of the trick? The ones you didn't pick?"
>Misty suddenly stopped in a silent gasp and then gave Dex a sly grin.
>Dex grinned right back and then placed the deck he had set aside in between them once more.
>He drew four cards from the top: the four of diamonds, the seven of clubs, the two of spades, and the eight of hearts.
>He then spread the rest of the deck out again to show that it was missing all of its kings, queens, jacks, and aces.



>Misty looked down at the cards, then back up at Dexter, and she laughed.
>Dexter looked back at Misty and laughed as well.
>"And now the trick is over, and you can call me Dex again," he said, punctuating it a proud sigh.
>Misty sighed as well in order to finish up her own laughter, and then looked down at the cards again, setting down the four aces she had been levitating.
"Heh, in doing the trick you dealt me the best hoof possible," she said while admiring the four aces, still unsure how Dex had given her them.
"I guess you should clean up your cards n--"
>"FOUNDRY! SCUFFLE! You better not be dicking around down there!"
>The approaching voice loudly rang out from down the hallway.
"Shit! Clean them up, clean them up now!" Misty said through clenched teeth.
>Dexter stared down the hallway with panicked look before quickly levitating up all the cards and packing them back into a single deck almost instantaneously.
>He then tucked the deck back underneath his armor saddle as fast as he could, while his head bounced between looking at his back and looking down the hall so quickly that it almost gave him whiplash.
>Meanwhile, Misty was already standing at attention, still as a statue with the expected serious guard expression on her face.
>Dexter finished hiding away his cards and proceeded to join Misty's posture just in the nick of time.
>"ATTENTION!" shouted the voice as its source came from around the corner.





>As if the sound of her voice wasn't enough to give it away, the sight of this unicorn mare as she rounded the hallway's corner certainly was.
>The dead giveaway was the incredibly long well groomed tail, tied up at the halfway point before splitting off into five smaller tails, each ending with a black metal aglet.
>The colors of that tail matched her mane, which seemed paradoxically well-groomed and crazily unkempt at the same time:
>Dark blue with olive green highlights.
>These colors accented the solid dark blue-green shade of her coat.
>Her light blue eyes finished off the look, giving them a bit of friendly welcoming look...enough to fool those who didn't know her.
>All of this came together to form the look of Captain Verdonia Whiplash, the new commander of the 7th Company of the Household Division of the E.U.P.
>This number seven was anything but lucky, though, as everyone in the 7th Company was about to find out.
>The commanding officer drew closer, until she was practically breathing down Dex's neck.
>Though a Captain visiting with such low ranking members of the guard was an uncommon occurrence outside of ceremonies, it did happen for a number of reasons, many of which are known to anyone who's been a resident of Canterlot for long enough.



"You know that the only dicking around I want you doing is with me, my newest little soldier boy," she said with a smile at a much lower volume and much more sultry tone.
>There was definitely irony in that last statement, considering the Captain was physically shorter the Dex, though she was certainly exceptional at making the enlisted under her command feel smaller than her.
>She took a step back, looking him up and down, admiring every bit of his unique coating as she un-tacked his armor in her imagination.
>There was nothing Dex could do about it, stuck at attention, staring straight forward and unable to avert his gaze from hers.
>Meanwhile, Misty was passing a few glances at them while she could, her eyes darting back forward when she thought the Captain might be looking, though the nervousness in them was apparent no matter where her gaze was focused.
"Mmm, oh yes, look at all those shades of gray. I'm sure I could pick out at least fifty, if not more, when given enough time to go over your entire body," the Captain said while licking her lips.
>Dex had to fight back his urge to cringe, which would have broken his posture.
"I'm so glad I managed to get you transferred to my new Company," she said while caressing his cheek with her right hoof, "Wouldn't you say so?"
>"I will serve you at your command, my...Captain," Dex managed to squeeze out flatly, struggling a little with the last word.
"I think you mean 'service' me at my command, my little soldier boy," she said while dropping her hoof back to the ground.
"And I hear that you're also double-jointed. Is that true?"
>She raised her brow and glanced down at the joints in his legs for a moment.
>"Yes...Captain," he said, once again struggling.
"Would you care to demonstrate it for me?"
>"I can't easily do that while in my armor, Captain," he said a bit more hastily, starting to get used to the bitter taste it left in his mouth.



"Ah, what a pity," she said with a quick fake frown that disappeared just after.
"Oh well, I'm sure I'll eventually get you to demonstrate it for me," she said with a flirting wink.
>"Correct me if I'm wrong, Captain, but I don't think you can order me to perform any action that isn't within the scope of my duties in the Household Division."
>Dex braced for the potential fallout from speaking at attention without being given permission to do so.
"You are indeed correct, my little soldier boy," she said rather anticlimactically.
"But still, there are other ways I can get you show me that trait of yours and your many other tricks, my little magician pony." she cooed.
"You see, I know all about you, Dexter the double-jointed Dun, bastard son of General Donnybrook, descended from the notorious Captain Kerfluffle. Some say you're a disgrace to the Noble House Scuffle. They say you're a waste of potential, just wanting to play around with your cards. Speaking of which..."
>She trailed off and leaned over to look at his saddle with a wry grin.
"Fork them over, Private Scuffle. You know you aren't allowed to carry anything that hasn't been officially cleared as a weapon or tool necessary to perform your duties," she said as her gaze met with his again and her eyes narrowed.
>Misty made a few slight gestures with her head for him to do it, her nervousness never having left her eyes.
"Fork them over...now! That's an order, Private Scuffle," Captain Whiplash said in a more elevated volume and commanding tone.
>Dexter scowled and levitated the cards out from under his uniform's saddle.
>Upon seeing that look, the Captain visibly shivered and blushed for a moment, her mouth slightly agape.
>It was pretty obvious how much she loved that look of defiance.



>Before Dex could levitate his deck of cards any closer, a light-blue whip construct manifested almost instantaneously from the tip of Captain Whiplash's horn, curled through the air, and wrapped its end around the deck several times over.
>She yanked it out of Dex's telekinetic grip and held it in front of him with her conjured whip.
>Before he could even blink, she twirled it around with a sadistic grin and slapped it across his left cheek, and then his right cheek.
>The impacts knocked his head to one side, and then the other, but the rest of his body didn't even flinch.
>Misty did flinch, however, lifting one of her forelegs and leaning away as she silently winced, before quickly reassuming her proper pose.
>Dex was also able to quickly regain his proper posture with a straight forward stare, though his lip did quiver just once.
"Mmm, oh yes, your daddy trained you well, didn't he? I'd expect nothing less from a Scuffle."
>Her gaze then darted over to Misty, turning to face her so that her subordinate could see all of her frighteningly sadistic smile.
"And don't think I've forgotten about you, Private Mystic Foundry."



>Right as Captain Whiplash finished speaking, she twirled her whip again, and slapped Dex's deck against Misty's cheek.
>Misty tried to stifle her cry of pain as her head got knocked sideways from the impact.
"Mmm, oh yes, I know a new recruit fresh out of Horseshoe Camp when I see one," she said with a chuckle.
>Misty did her best to stand back at attention, though a tear was dropping down the cheek that had been struck.
"Oh, you are so lucky you ended up assigned to my Company. Frankly, I don't think the Drill Sergeants were nearly as hard on you as they should have been. But don't worry, I bucking will be, you can count on it."
>And with that being said, she twirled her whip, and struck Misty again on her other cheek.
>Misty once again stifled her expression of agony, this time a bit better, since almost no noise got out.
>She turned her head to face forward again, but a few more tears were running down her now sore cheeks.
"I know about you too, Private Foundry, and the rather interesting special talent you have. You can heat and even melt metals to reshape and recast them however you want, is that correct?"
>"Y-Yes, Captain," Misty stammered through the pain.
"Good! Then you won't mind demonstrating that special talent for me with this," she said as the rest of her horn began to glow.
>A short piece of construction rebar floated up out of one of the Captain's saddlebags, and while the latch was open, her conjured whip deposited Dex's cards in its place before disintegrating from tip to base at the top of her horn.
>She levitated the corrugated metal rod between herself and Misty, while waiting for her to recover from the whiplash and take it.
"Stand at ease and shape this into a five pointed star, to match the one on my cutie mark."



>The Captain then turned around and boldly levitated her armor up just enough to show off her mark (and her well toned flank).
>A long light blue flogging whip with five tips, sparkles along its length, curling around to end with a five pointed white star at the base of the handle.
"You had better take it soon, Private Foundry, or I'm going to drop it, and it will chip the floor tiles, and you'll be held responsible for the damage to the castle, because you failed to follow my orders and catch it."
>Her grin widened as the light blue aura around the bar started to fade, and shook in mid-air.
>Misty shook her head a few times, trying desperately to regain her full composure, or at least enough to catch the bar that was about to fall.
>Dex was still at attention, though he was watching the floating metal intently out of the corner of his eye.
>As the final bit of blue aura faded, the bar began to drop towards the floor.
>The tension in the air was so thick that it seemed to fall in slow motion, drawing ever closer to the rather expensive marble tiling.
>Just as it seemed like it would impact, a red aura appeared around it, arresting its motion just a few centimeters off the ground.
>It was stopped at an angle, and for a brief moment there were a few flashes of yellow amongst the red at the end that had been closer to making the strike, but they quickly vanished as the red took over.
>Misty breathed a quick sigh of relief, and floated the rebar back up to her eye level.
>The Captain watched the whole scene play out while still showing off her rear assets and chuckling through her sadistic grin.
>Then she raised her tail in the air, the five metal aglets at the end clinking against each other like a wind chime.
>Just like her eyes, the sound was misleadingly pleasant, but it was something those who knew her learned to fear (or eagerly await, depending on the situation).



>With that ominous prelude complete, the Captain twirled her tail and flogged its ends across the entire side of Dex's head.
>The flagellation completely knocked his head to the side, but none of his hooves moved from their original position.
"Now, now, Private Scuffle. I ordered Private Foundry to catch it, not you, but I do appreciate your eagerness."
>Dex raised his head back up to glare at her with the same look of steely defiance, the kind of look you'd expect from a garrison determined not to let the enemy breach.
>The whipping had left a few scuffs on his helmet, and a drop of blood formed at the center of a nick on his cheek.
>Captain Whiplash once again blushed and shuddered at this dirty look, her exposed butt clenching for a moment.
>Oh, how she loved that look; to her it was a different kind of 'dirty'.
>She was certainly going to have fun with this one, but for the time being, she then turned her attention back to Misty.
"Now, Private Foundry, continue your demonstration. I want to see a five pointed star... Just. Like. This. One," she said while punctuating each of the last four words with a firm slap against her flank with her forehoof.



>Misty couldn't help but take an almost audible gulp before continuing.
>She looked at the star on her CO's cutie mark (but didn't look too long because of the implications), and then focused intently on the metal bar, her eyes slowly moving from one end to the other, as if counting off the number of corrugations around it.
>Then came the interesting part, as nine wisps of deep red magical energy lept from her horn, snaking their way through the air and entering the rebar at evenly spaced points along its length.
>As they entered, these points began to glow red hot, and Misty narrowed her eyes in concentration.
>The three central points all started to bend simultaneously, forming an upward facing wedge at the center of the metal rod.
>Then the four points on both sides of that wedge started to bend, all at the same time to form the next two points of what was starting to look like a star.
>Finally, the last two glowing parts of the rebar started to bend, forming the final two points on the star.
>And with the shape complete, Misty took on an even deeper look of concentration, and red magical wisps began to slowly emerge from the nine glowing points on what was now a floating sculpture.
>As these visible manifestations of magical energy were drawn out, the glow of the metal began to fade, dimming as they lengthened, until the points regained their original dull color and the hints of magic curled through the air and back into Misty's horn.
>Misty breathed another sigh of relief and a small smile appeared on her face.
>Despite the rather tense circumstances, she couldn't help but admire her handiwork every time she got the chance to show off her special talent.



"Mmm, oh yes, very impressive Private Foundry," the Captain said while turning back around and lowering her armor to cover herself again.
>Another magical whip manifested from her horn and wrapped its end around the tip of the top point of the star, which had been the center of the original metal rod.
>She yanked the metal star out of a Misty's telekinetic grip, which evidently shocked the subordinate, since her magical aura disappeared almost immediately.
>The star gently swung side to side while suspended from the Captain's whip, arcing out of her horn almost like a fishing lure.
>She brought it close to her face, taking a stern look as she examined every minute detail.
"What shame that this angle here is off, and this part is a hair too long, and this part is a hair too short," said said while pointing at different parts of the star.
"It isn't up to my standards, which means that you aren't either, Private Foundry!" she shouted with all her authority.
>Then she twirled her whip again, lengthening it in the process as it looped around a few more times.
>Misty cringed, leaning backwards, raising one of her forelegs, and closing her eyes as she braced herself for what was coming next.
>As the metallic star struck the side of her head, her helmet took most of the force of the impact, and dented in the process.
>It then slid across her face, the sharp ends of the rebar leaving two gashes across her cheek.
>The very force of the impact knocked her whole body side-ways, and she stumbled towards Dex, who stayed at attention but still used his magical aura to catch her before she fell.
>Misty sniffled a little, raggedly panting while tears now streamed down her cheeks, mixing with the blood leaking from her new cuts.



>Meanwhile, the Captain had broken into all-out cackling laughter, continuing to swing the star around at the end of her whip.
"Now catch it again before it hits the floor, that's an order, Private Foundry!" she shouted in between laughing.
"And don't you dare help her again, Private Scuffle. That's also an order!"
>She swung her whip one more time sending Misty's metal sculpture high into the air while her magical whip unraveled from it and disintegrated back into her horn again.
>The star rotated on its side as it arced up into the air and started to come back down again, almost becoming a falling saw blade.
>Misty struggled to get back onto her hooves and tried her best to open her now bloodshot eyes, scanning the room for the shooting star of metal.
>She just barely managed to spot it, her horn beginning to glow as a few sparks of red aura flashed around the whirling hunk of steel.
>But it was too late.
>With an audible clang, the star sculpture hit the marble floor not once, but twice, sending chunks of marble flying everywhere around it before rolling around a few times on its points, like a tossed coin, before finally settling in place.
>At least six floor tiles had either been broken, cracked, or scratched by the whole stunt.
>Misty cursed under her breath and sniffled again, before trying her best to at least reach a parade rest stance.
>Dex looked down at the damage, then looked over at Misty, who was wiping her face with her hoof, having taken off one of her armor shoes to do so.
>Misty made the action quick, trying to get as much of her tears, mucus, and blood off her face and onto her hoof where she could hide it in her armor.
>It was unbecoming of a guard on duty to be so decomposed, not to mention actively bleeding.
>Dex then directed another glare at his Captain, though at this point that seemed to be what she wanted.



>Captain Whiplash was honestly having a hard time keeping her own composure at this point, now that her libido had been awakened.
>She really did take such great pleasure in causing others pain and discomfort, whether it was the enemy or her own subordinates.
>She shuddered once again, taking in a few ragged breathes herself before sighing and regaining her composure.
"Mmm, oh no, that's too bad, Private Foundry. You failed to follow my orders, and now you'll pay for the damages that resulted."
>She took a moment to lean in and admire her own handiwork, not on the floor, but on Misty's face.
"Oh, and you'll also be paying for a new helmet. Don't worry, I'll have your Corporal requisition all the necessary paperwork to deduct it all from your pay...well, after I've had the pleasure of greeting him too during his shift at this post," she said with a wink.
"Now, as much as I've enjoyed our little introduction, I have a few other subordinates to meet today before their shifts end, and so many more after that in the evening shift!" she said excitedly.
"However, I'll be keeping a special eye on you, my little soldier boy," she said as she leaned in close.
"You can at ease now, Private Scuffle. And if you want your cards back, you can come find me," she cooed into his ear before turning away.
>Dex finally relaxed his posture and breathed out a sigh while reaching up to wipe his own facial cuts.
>Afterwards, he gave one last glare to his new CO, without even saying a word.
>The Captain blushed again, and then shook her head, knowing that she had to get out of there before she completely lost it.
>After all, the behavior she was thinking of engaging in was solely reserved for the Officer's Club when off duty.
"Welcome to the new Lucky Seven, you two!" she shouted with a final cackle as she rounded the hallway corner and made her way to the next unfortunate post.



>Once Captain Whiplash's diabolical laughter and hoofsteps had faded into the distance, it was as if a dark cloud had lifted from the hallway.
>"I can't believe that evil bitch is the new Captain," Misty said in between her continued sniffles, having abandoned parade rest to sit sulking on the floor.
>"Yeah, but don't worry, she has 148 other subordinates to torture, so I doubt we'll be seeing much of her except in passing," Dex said reassuringly.
>"You know, you really were impressive up against her. I have no idea how you were able to keep your composure all that time, even when she was assaulting you," Misty said while looking up at him, her eyes still bloodshot but full of admiration.
>"Ha! The Illustrious Dexter always keeps his composure under pressure! Whether he's facing down a psychotic super BDSM bitch, a dozen enemy intruders, or even a thousand audience members for one of his performances!"
>Dex shouted with his usual bravado, standing on his hide legs to strike another pose.
>This made Misty giggle a bit, though it ended in hiccups when mixed with her sniffles.
>Dex got back down on all fours and joined in her laughter.
>"Well, you gotta admit, at this point this shift has been anything but boring," Dex said with a sigh.
>Just then there were clock tower chimes in the background, announcing the current time as 1500 hours.
>"Oh good, just one more hour to go," Dex said with a grin, "but I can't do anymore card tricks, so I guess it's back to counting ceiling tiles...or we could count the new cracks in the floor tiles."
>"Heh, I guess that activity is on me," Misty replied with a forlorn chuckle.