A Puppet without Strings - PART 1

Thanks to the bravery of the former bearers of the Elements of Harmony the day was saved once again. This time the thread to the country was an over-ambitious unicorn (yet another former student of Princess Celestia), who returned from his exile with an army of mindless golems he created from cloth and the strange dark magic he himself had invented. Fortunately, once the unicorn was taken care of, all of the rag dolls fell to the ground, returning to their inanimate state. Turns out it was only the will and the magical power of their master that kept them going. With the danger gone, all citizens of Canterlot were free to join the celebration thrown in the honor of the Six heroes of Equestria (and Spike).

That is, all Canterlot citizens with the exception of a group of a few unlucky Royal Guards, who were assigned to dispose of  the inanimate puppets littering the streets. One young soldier was particular unhappy about this.

“Why it is always me?” the unicorn grumbled. “Remember the day when the changelings attacked? Guess who was assigned to dealing with the collateral damage? I had to pick up broken glass, shard after shard, while everypony else was having fun at the royal wedding! Not to mention the time when--”

“Soldier.” His superior didn’t rise the voice. Yet something in the Earth pony’s tone made all of the Royal Guards become quiet. “When you became a Royal Guard you made an oath to serve your country in any way, in any time. Did I just hear you saying that going to a party is more important to staying true to your word and fulfilling your duty?”

The cold gaze of the elderly pony’s eyes made the unicorn shiver.

“No, Sir, no” he muttered.

“Good. Then get back to work. Looks like one more of those things lies near the bushes. Take care of it.”

“Yes, Sir, yes.”

The young guard hurried in the pointed direction. Once the distance between him and his captain was great enough, the colt once again began to complain about his fate. This time, however, he made sure to do so quietly and only to himself.  

The inanimate golem he found looked somewhat different from the rest of its kind, since it seemed to be more detailed in its features. Still, the soldier put not much thought to it… That is, until he touched the thing.

He jerked, terrified.

“Captain! Sir!” Panic in his voice was nearly physically palpable. “I think this one is still alive!”

“What are you talking about, soldier? That’s impo--”

“P-p-please. Don’t hurt me” said a voice that belonged neither to the captain nor to his subordinate.

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I really should be doing something else. Preferably, something productive, like working on my thesis or the commissions I owe people (or sleeping, that would be nice too). But nope. Instead, I adopted this character from (I called them “Rag Doll” because that how imaginative I am) and then I was like: “I better to some sketches of this character so later I know how to draw them”. And then I was like “Those sketches are starting to look really nice I better to a real picture so Pikokko knows that her baby found a good home”. And then I was: “Hmm, this is not half bad but it’s rather bare. I better write a short origin story for the character. This will add some context to the piece”. AND THEN I was like: “This piece of writing looks rather bare, I better flesh it out a little”.

And that’s how this piece came to be.

Edit: Fixed the color palette (the old one was bothering me). Also, found a non-stupid name for the fanfic.

My Little Pony (c) Hasbro and Lauren Faust

The picture, the story and the characters (c) me

Rag Doll’s original design by (You can find it here: fav.me/d99x6w5 )