"So how did everything start with you? You've been with Princess Twilight for years now, right?" Grubber asked as the two of them left the training room and headed further down the hall, towards the forge.
"Well, I guess you could say years, but it was actually my entire life. Hatching my egg was Twilight's test for initiation into the School for Gifted unicorns. Princess Celestia never did say where she got my egg, or why she needed magic to hatch it, but after seeing what life is like in the dragon lands, I'm not exactly complaining."
"So a student took care of you?" The hedgehog asked, as they turned right into forge.
"As well as she could. Her studies came first, so anytime her work started piling up, Princess Celestia would take me off of her hooves. It wasn't often though. Once I got old enough, I helped Twilight stay organized through her studies to start earning my keep once she got her own private study on school grounds. Kept lesson plans in order, kept her personal library organized, things like that. Probably the best convenience I brought was my dragon breath; Twilight and Princess Celestia could communicate through me via fire-delivered letters."
The forge was dimly lit, a pair of torches in wall sconces, the coal pit, and the opening of the smelter were the only light sources in this 12'x12' room, and they were all enchanted with tard ignis, compliments of the major herself, which allowed them to burn steadily and constantly for two weeks straight before they needed replacing. Against the left wall, there were several anvils, grindstones, and workbenches, enough to amply supply three ponies with everything they needed to work on their armor pieces and weapons...
...And everything in here was well above the heads of the dragon and hedgehog occupants.
"Huh. I'd need a stepladder to be able to reach anything in here..." Grubber surmised, quickly coming to the conclusion that this wasn't the place to lend a claw. Now he wondered if his diminutive stature was going to be something of a hindrance.
"So how did the two of you end up in Ponyville?" Grubber asked, turning around to exit the forge. The heat wasn't a bother to Spike, but to the fur covered hedgehog, it was only bearable for a few moments.
"Princess Celestia sent her to oversee the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. Unbeknownst to her at the time, it was a cover for introducing her to who are now her five best friends, whom Celestia believed would help her fulfill the Prophecy of the Mare in the Moon. At first, she tried to get through the checklist as fast as she could so she could research the prophecy further in the library, but Pinkie Pie had beaten her there, and had planned a surprise party. Half the town showed up. They celebrated through the night, much to Twilight's annoyance, but come sunrise, or what was supposed to be sunrise, the first part of the prophecy was fulfilled, and Nightmare Moon returned after one thousand years of banishment in the moon. Twilight and her friends had to journey through the Everfree Forest to get to Celestia and Luna's old castle to find the Elements of Harmony."
"That couldn't have been easy." Grubber commented, remember how challenging it had been to scrounge for food in there.
"I don't have a firsthand account of that. I was... Uh... Sleeping." Spike said sheepishly, getting a snicker out of the hedgehog. "But they did it. They defeated Nightmare Moon, redeemed Celestia's sister, Luna, and the Summer Sun Celebration continued, with Twilight and her friends inheriting the Elements of Harmony."
"So she moved into this castle?" Grubber assumed.
"Oh no, that didn't come until later. Ponyville used to have a library built from an enchanted hollowed-out oak tree, that was destroyed when she fought a centaur hellbent on harnessing Equestrian magic. When he was defeated, the Tree of Harmony brought this place straight up out of the ground. Some call it destiny, I call it best construction crew ever."
A five-second tour of the bunk room also came up empty. He'd have to do all manner of climbing to make beds and such, and he was pretty certain that Fizzlepop expected her guards who spent their sleeping hours here to make their bed before they left.
"Heh, finding things to help out around here for you is so much easier than it is for me." Grubber grumbled as they exited the bunk room and turned to head back upstairs.
"Well, I'll chalk that up to the differences between monarchy and military. I had the same growing pains you did from time to time. When she went from student to princess, I went from her lesson plans, to castle event itineraries and answering fan mail, to Starlight's lesson plans, and then, well, since she graduated, back to itineraries and fan mail. But it will be trickier with you, I think. Fizzlepop built her outfit so that individual soldiers can be self-sufficient and reliant. You can't help soldiers the same way you can help a popular princess." Spike explained.
"Yeah... Yeah, I guess you're right about that."
"Spike! Can I see you a quick second?" The duo heard Princess Twilight's voice call from somewhere up the stairs and around the corner.
"Regal as ever... And here I thought I had the day off. I'll be back in a minute, Grubber. Where should I find you?" The dragon asked.
"Out front. I could use some fresh air."
The dragon and hedgehog reached the top of the stairs and split off in separate directions, with Spike rounding the corner towards Princess Twilight's voice, and Grubber going out the back door, down the stairs, and around the exterior of the castle.
As he walked around the east side of the castle, he saw the foundation of a new building being started in the steep hills next to the castle. He had heard through the grapevine that Princess Twilight was planning on opening a school of some kind, and had arranged with the Ponyville weather team to have considerably less snow around the construction site during the winter months.
The more he noticed all this progress happening around him, the more he realized he was just standing still, doing the same thing day after day. But as much as he wanted to change that fast, Spike was right; a royal guard platoon was a more complicated puzzle than the castle events and Princess fan letters. Sure, they were flexible and adapted to different challenges, but that didn't mean you could just throw in a new piece from out of town and expect it to fit.
So as he sat on the railing of the front steps and watched Commander Rivet start directing his construction team's progress of the new school foundation, Grubber wondered where and how he would fit into Major Fizzlepop's puzzle.