Twilight awoke in a splendid mood the following morning. Leaving the comforting warmth of her bed, she used her magic to fix the sheets until they were neatly tucked around the mattress. She walked to the nearby mirror and began brushing her hair thoroughly until it returned to its normal shape. As she opened the door to leave her room, she could hear Spike yawning as he awoke from his deep slumber only to groan before trying to fall back asleep. On the bed opposite of hers, she could see Dante sprawled out across Twilight’s extra bed. His hair was even more of a mess, his mouth was half open and his leg was kicking lightly as if he were a dog dreaming of running. She tried to repress laughing, but a quiet giggle escaped her lips.
She closed the door quietly behind her as not to wake the two of them and walked down the steps that lead to the main room. It was quiet and empty just like any other morning. She remembered watching War leave the day before, but she assumed he would be back soon. He never returned. She had suggested gathering a search party to find him, but Dante assured her that he would be fine, and would return when he needed to.
Twilight entered the kitchen and began brewing herself some tea. As she placed the kettle down, she could hear the sound of hoofsteps coming from the stairway. She looked over to see Dante, donning the same hat from yesterday with his mane a complete mess. He sat down at the table and slumped over onto it. When the tea was finished, Twilight placed a cup in front of him.
“Thanks mom.” He said with a big yawn.
“You’re very welcome. So, Dante, what brings a pony like you into the military life?”
"Oh, you know, this and that..." He straightened himself up and saluted, an action that felt weird with a hoof, "Serving for the greater good and justice for all." His body completely relaxed once more as he slumped forward onto the table once more and his drowsiness returned.
Twilight tried to repress a giggle. "You don't say?"
He raised a skeptical eyebrow in her direction, "What, you think I'm not cut out?"
"Hm? Who said that? It certainly wasn't me." she said with a smile on her face.
Before Dante could say anything more, there was a knock on the door. Twilight used her magic to open it. “Hey, there you are!” Dante said as War ducked down slightly to fit through the door.
“Hello War. You never came back last night, is everything okay?” Twilight said with a hint of worry in her voice. War gave her a quiet nod before sitting by Dante’s side. Twilight poured another cup of tea and levitated it to the spot where War sat. He showed his appreciation with another nod before using his own magic to raise it to his lips. Even his sips were silent.
“One other thing.” Twilight said after a brief silence. Dante looked up, but War kept sipping his tea with closed eyes. Twilight could tell from the way his ears were slightly perked up that he was still listening regardless of whether or not he showed it. “I’ve been wondering, why don’t either of you two have your cutie marks?”
War opened his eyes and Dante cocked his eyebrow. Twilight stood up, turned, and pointed to the star on her flank.
“Ohhh, so that’s what that is. Weird name.” Dante said before draining the last of his tea. “We don’t have those where we come from”
“And where exactly do you come from, anyway?”
“Remind me to tell you about that some time. Anyways, I suppose we should get to work around here. Do the guards here have a barracks or something?”
Twilight nodded reluctantly and the group made their way out of the tree house after forcing Dante to at least fix himself up to look halfway decent. Even though most ponies had already seen War during their first tour, he was still getting weird looks. The villagers would usually greet Twilight and Dante with a hearty hello, and then quickly move out of the way as soon as they made eye contact with War. She apologized to him constantly, but he didn’t seem to mind much. Then again, he never showed expression about anything.
The guard barracks had been constructed in Sweet Apple Acres. Although it looked very similar to a barn, as the Apple family was used to raising, it was larger than usual and had a third floor. Those who weren’t on patrol around the village were either helping out the Apple family or just lying about.
“They certainly don’t seem much like the guards back in Canterlot…” Dante said.
Twilight looked away, embarrassed, “Well, with the sudden strikes from the Changelings, they haven’t had any time to properly train. We never know when they plan on attacking, so we try our best with what we have.” Twilight took a few steps towards the barracks and cleared her throat, “Attention, everypony! May I have your attention please?”
They gave her no response. Most were napping, while the rest were chatting about random things. Twilight looked back to the two behind her and smiled sheepishly before clearing her throat louder this time. Before she could speak, Dante put his hoof forward to silence her. “Here, let me try.”
He stepped off on his own and closed his eyes for a moment. Opening them finally, Twilight could see a burning determination in his eyes. He pulled the small staff from his back and stuck it in the ground. He then took off his hat and rested it on the ball-end. He cleared his throat loudly and shouted “Line up, ladies!!!”
Immediately, every pony in the vicinity lined up in front of him and stood at attention. Most weren’t wearing their gear and were looking very nervous as Dante walked before them, looking each of them over. Twilight looked dumbfounded as she saw that they had all sprung into action without even thinking. She clapped her hoofs in respect.
“My name is Dante.” He said, glaring sideways towards the nervous ponies. He turned around and began walking down their ranks again, “I came to this town by order of the Princesses to make sure this town doesn’t end up an ashy graveyard like the last one I was in!” He stopped in front of a larger stallion and looked him dead in the eyes. Twilight and War could see from where they were sitting that the stallion’s legs were shaking. “Have you ever seen a Changeling up close, soldier?”
The stallion paused a moment, unsure of whether to answer or not. Finally, he found his voice, “N-No sir!”
Dante moved on, “Well, let me first tell you that I can’t tell the difference between their face and their ass! Secondly, they will surely not wait for you to finish your naptime before holding you down and sucking the life right out of you!”
As he began his third journey in front of them, he noticed one trainee who was slightly more out of place from the others. This guard was smaller and had a more slender body. Dante looked back to the ponies he had just passed and noticed that they were all stallions. It made sense when he thought about it, but he was still intrigued. He came to the guard in question and got in their face, “What’s your name?”
“U-uh… Twink!”
“Twink?”
“I mean… Ling?”
“Twinkling?”
“Yes sir, that’s my name!”
Dante looked the pony over before punching them lightly in the chest, “I’ll make a stallion out of you.”
He felt silly thinking about what he had just said, and slightly nostalgic for some reason. Dante moved from the line and over to a barrel that had wooden practice swords sticking out of it. He grabbed one in his mouth and looked at the group. “Come at me!”
The trainees each looked at each other for a moment before moving to grab their own sword and began charging blindly at their instructor. Each soon found themselves face-down on the ground.
“Anyways,” Twilight said as she looked up at War, “Shall we move on?”
War nodded and the two left Dante to his fun. The two made their way back to Ponyville. The journey was a very quiet one, as Twilight had given up efforts to get War to speak. They soon arrived at house that had a large, smoking chimney. Inside they found a pony that was using tongs to put a piece of red hot metal into a pool of water.
“Hello Black Smith.”
“Why, hello there Ms. Sparkle!” the old earth pony chuckled. He turned to War, but to Twilight’s surprise his lighthearted smile didn’t fade. “Who’s your friend?”
“This is War. He and his brother Dante were sent from Canterlot to oversee preparations.”
“Well, as you can see Mr. War, I’ve made a fine selection for the guards to use.” He pointed his hoof towards the far wall where a wide assortment of swords and spears rested. War moved towards the wall and glanced each once over, taking in the craftsman ship and design.
“He sure is a quiet one, eh?” Black Smith said with another chuckle.
“Just wait ‘till you see his brother.” The two laughed until they looked back up only to see that War had disappeared. The two looked around until they saw him over by the fire. In his magical grasp was a long piece of carbon steel which he was heating up until it was soft. He held it in front of his eyes and began using his magic to apply pressure in certain areas, shaping it out. War turned and began looking through Black Smith’s material shelves. After a moment of searching, he found what he was looking for. He picked up a jar of clay and began applying it to the metal. The precise pressure that War was using left one side of the metal to have a thinner layer of clay, while the opposite side had a much thicker coating.
He then slipped the object into the water tub. The two other ponies watched with awe and curiosity as steam arose from the tub. He then began applying more pressure in specific areas. Finally he lifted it out and began de-scaling the blade until it was clean. He grabbed a cloth with his magic and began polishing the blade before giving it to Black Smith. The earth pony adjusted his glasses and looked over the blade, “Why, this is just like those blades the fellers from Japony use! I’ve never seen one up close, but I hear they be one of the swiftest blades you ever done seen!”
He looked up to War with admiration, “Say, could ya show me how to make one o’ these things again?” War nodded and took another piece of carbon steel. Twilight smiled and left the two to their work.
-------------
The clock rang loudly, pulling Twilight out of her trance. She looked up and saw that it was about nine o’clock. She closed her book and carefully reshelved it.
I guess it’s time to pick up the boys from their play-dates, she thought with a giggle. Twilight decided to take the long way back to Sweet Apple Acres so she could stretch her legs and enjoy the delightful weather. She passed under the Sweet Apple Acres archway and could see what looked like a pile of bodies together. Becoming worried, she quickly began galloping towards the barracks. All the guards from earlier that day were all groaning and bruised as they lay in a pile. Dante sat atop the makeshift mountain with a quirky smile and not a scratch on him. “Hey down there!” he shouted and waved.
Twilight returned the gesture and watched as Dante leaped down and slowed his descent with a light flap of his wings. He put his hat back on and slipped the staff onto his back. He turned to face her and saw her jaw was practically on the floor. He raised his eyebrow, something that he felt he'd be doing a lot more if he spent more than just a few days in this strange world. He traced her line of sight to his hat.
"I know it's pretty snazzy, but--" Before he could finish, she pulled it off his head.
"You're an Alicorn!?" she shouted in shock.
"Shhhh," he whispered as he rushed to her and stuffed his hoof in her mouth. He used his own magic to put his hat back on his head, covering his horn. He continued, not taking his hoof away, "Alright alright, you caught me. The princesses asked me to keep it on the down-low as to not draw any unnecessary attention to us."
She pulled his hoof away, wiping her tongue with her own hooves, figuring his were dirty. "But does that mean--"
"That means," he cut her off, "that no one can know. If you really want, I'll answer your questions later. But definitely not right now." She let out a sigh and nodded, to which he smiled. "Lovely. Now let's get going."
The two began to leave the Acresm but Dante stopped and looked back to the pile of worn-out ponies. “Trust me guys, keep on working instead of napping and maybe I’ll stop treating y’all like little girls.”
They replied with another groan, but were interrupted by a distant ringing and a familiar voice, “Soup’s on, everypony!”
They all quickly recovered and began galloping towards Applejack’s promise of food. Twilight looked to Dante, who had a smile on his face like a school teacher watching his children run off to their lunch hour. “So, do you think they’re ready?”
“No way in hell.” He said bluntly, his smile remaining. He put his hoof to his cheek and rubbed what looked like a very small cut, “That Twinkling one almost got me though. So, where’s War?”
Twilight told him of War’s helping in making weapons as they approached Black Smith’s house. Along the way, Twilight just couldn't help but think about the fact that there was yet another Alicorn -- right here, nonetheless -- that was completely unknown to her. "So... you said War was your brother, right? Is he a secret Alicorn too or something?"
Dante looked at her for a moment before shrugging, "We aren't real brothers. We're more like... war-buddies, or something. No pun intended. There's two more of us, but i don't know where they are right now. And to answer your other question: does he look like one?"
"Well, i was able to detect some kind of illusion magic around him... And from those growths on his sides, i figured that maybe he was hiding them, or maybe got in some sick accident..." She moved her hoof to cover her mouth as she thought about what could have possibly happened to tear the wings right off such a large pony. For the first time, she was happy not to learn any more about their discussion as they neared Black Smith's house. Twilight opened the door and was shocked to see that there was a different set of weapons covering just about every open space available. War was showing the old pony how to put the finishing touches on a curved blade before looking up to greet Twilight and Dante.
“I wish they’d a sent this big guy here sooner! He knows more about swords and armor than I’ve ever known, and I’ve been in this business nearly forty years!”
“I’m sorry to break up your date, but War needs his beauty sleep.” Dante said with a smile. War nodded and set the blade down before giving Black Smith a nod. He returned the gesture and waved the group off.
“Well,” Twilight said, “looks like you two are fitting in just fine.”