Buck Nothing

by GJT_Productions

Revelation

The night of the award dinner had come. During the hours before, Guard Lower Class Buck Withers had kept his mind off what he was supposed to do by polishing his Guard armor to a gleaming shine, but now it was just him, his thoughts and the butterflies in his stomach as he sat behind the Canterlot ballroom stage.

He had peeked at the speech he was supposed to deliver: a scathing but unsupported attack, accusing Shining Armor of being unfaithful to Princess Cadance by sleeping in the chambers of Princess Luna - and just maybe willingly losing his virginity to her unnoticed by anypony else. Presumably, there were other Agents waiting in the audience to provide support of these claims. The speech would sure seriously damage, if not outright destroy, Shining Armor's career. He could almost taste the sugar cube sweet revenge in his mouth, so why was he still not comfortable wanting to do it?

Yes, Buck knew who was out there. On the stage was Princess Celestia, Shining Armor as the "official escort" for the night, and the instantly recognizable black-on-yellow "pinto" coloration of Terry Broadshanks himself. In the audience, besides the almost-obligatory presence of Fancy Pants and Fleur Dis Lee, was many of Terry's former Steelhooves teammates. The Steelhooves had won four Equestrian Professional Polo Championships when Terry was team captain, and Buck grew up admiring many of these players. Doubtless the presence of these colthood heroes was making it harder for Buck to make up his mind.

One of the few times Buck dared peak out from behind the stage, he noticed two pegasi sitting at a table close to the grand ballroom doors that were clapping hooves overhead - the supposed designated signal that indicated to Buck where his fellow Agents of Chaos were placed. The fact that the pegasi were in a position where they could easily bail if something went wrong was consolation to Buck, but not much.

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Buck could hear everypony else outside seeming to have good time - he was just nervous and maybe a little scared, doing a deep breathing exercise to avoid causing a rattling noise in his armor. He knew the power of the words Agent Snake wanted him to speak - words that should've made any decent stallion run away in disgust - and it petrified him. The only thing that kept him from bailing on the whole deal was the sweet promise of what those words would bring, but he couldn't stop his conscience from continuing its reproach.

There was one speaker that went ahead of him in the award ceremony - a white-coated stallion with a brown mustache and odd tastes in clothing. After all, even Guard Lower Class Buck Withers knew straw hats, polka-dot bowties and one-size-too-small suits were most certainly NOT the height of Canterlot fashion! Buck hadn't talked to him - both because of how awkward it would seem and fear of having to reveal the contents of his speech to him - but the others on stage seemed to take his weird fashions in stride. Shining Armor in particular seemed interested in conversing with him, for some reason Buck couldn't fathom.

It was near the time of the speeches now, and as Buck sat waiting for his turn all he wanted to do was to withdraw into himself and wait for the horseshoe to drop when he would be called up to speak. He would decide whether to go through with it or not based on whether he could keep his conscience down long enough to get through that kind of attacking speech.

"Hey, you haven't said a word all night. Are you sure you're alright?" Buck hears a stallion's voice asking him sympathetically, and when he turns to look he finds the strangely dressed stallion sitting beside him.

"Just... nervous." Buck quietly replies, not wanting to make eye contact with the other stallion.

"You're Buck Withers, right? You go after me speaking?" the other stallion asks after a moment's silence.

"Yeah, Guard Lower Class." Buck again replies, still quiet and avoiding eye contact.

"Could've guessed from the armor." the other stallion replies with a chuckle. "Me? Everypony calls me 'Magnum', even though that's not my real name - ponies say I look like an old TV show character with that name. I don't have a fancy title or anythin' like that, I just coach hoofball, that's all."

"... That's not even the same sport." Buck states with a very confused tone, finally turning to look at Magnum with a great deal of puzzlement on his face. Once again Buck wondered what exactly this stallion was doing here and why Princess Celestia had invited him to speak in the first place.

"I know, but when a princess of Equestria invites you to speak in honor of a sports celebrity, you don't say no to that kind of invitation." Magnum replies in a matter-of-fact tone, an honest smile playing across his face.

"No, I guess not..." Buck trails off, again averting his gaze from Magnum. He felt himself blush a bit, and just wanted the conversation to be over. He also sensed he was squirming a bit from the awkwardness of the situation - he had to find some way to pull himself together before he collapsed into a nervous wreck.

"It's not right for a Royal Guard to be the kind of nervous you are right now, particularly with the princess around. Here, this might help." Magnum speaks again after another moment's pause, the glow of light brown unicorn magic seen under the straw hat as something is levitated in front of Buck to take.

Buck holds up an armor-shod hoof to take what Magnum was giving him, but what he sees just makes him even more puzzled than before about Magnum. It seems to be some kind of family photograph - Magnum was in one corner, showing him to be a unicorn considering he was hatless in the picture, and sporting a swept-back manestyle that Buck honestly thought was better than the straw hat. The picture also had a pink-coated unicorn mare with a towering purple "beehive mane" - Magnum's wife if Buck had to guess - and seemed to have a homely beauty to her despite the manestyle.

The two unicorn fillies at the bottom at the image were the ones that interested Buck Withers the most though. Both were white coated, the older one seeming to be a teenager and the younger one not more than 6 or 7 years old. The older filly had a deep purple mane and looked rather like she wanted to be anywhere else but at the photoshoot, while the younger one was smiling the biggest, happiest grin you could imagine and had a mane of pastel curls that uncomfortably reminded Buck of Princess Cadance's manestyle.

"Are you sure? I mean, this looks rather important..." Buck trails off, looking back and forth between Magnum and the picture with a bewildered look on his face.

"Aw, don't worry about it. I got plenty of copies of that picture." Magnum replies with a reassuring smile. "You keep it. I'm proud of the family I have, and I'm not afraid to share about it with everypony else."

"Right, got it, OK..." Buck trails off again, still bewildered by the picture balanced on his hoof. It made him ache for the old times, before his father's disgrace broke the bonds he had with father. Add in the curls of the younger filly reminding Buck of Cadance, and the tempest of emotions within him were threatening to overwhelm his self-control.

Buck Withers feels a hoof going onto his shoulder - again, reminding him of his father - and he turns to see Magnum giving him a fatherly smile. There is a brief moment where all Buck can do is just blink back in confusion - he's not even sure what he should say or do at this point.

"I gotta go up to do my speech now, but I know when it's your turn... you'll know what to do." Magnum sagely states, again giving Buck a smile like a father gives to his son, before standing up and starting away to go onstage.

Buck Withers, Guard Lower Class, stares down at the picture Magnum gave him, totally lost as to what Magnum meant or what he should do now...

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Now Buck's head was spinning, pulled in five different directions emotionally. He was so distracted by the fighting within himself that he wasn't even listening to Magnum's speech, or any cues that might've indicated when it was his turn. He was entirely lost in a war of his own making.

Buck looked at the picture Magnum had given up, then at the speech he was supposed to give, then blankly at a far wall, which had a number of posters. He glimpsed a stallion in Royal Guard armor on one of the posters, and Buck impulsively looked away when his eyes fell upon it. Again the conscience began condemning him, and again he felt himself in deadlock between its words and the promises of revenge.

He looked down at the picture again, and found himself hating the fillies in it. Then he asked himself why he was hating two fillies that couldn't control the family they were born in or the looks they had inherited. Was it because they reminded Buck of what he had lost? Or was it because they reminded Buck of what he never had, he never could've had?

The second question cuts through the fog of confusion, and the conscience shouts accusing words more loudly. Was Buck Withers, Guard Lower Class, an envious stallion, a jealous stallion? Was he wasting his time, his effort, his second chance in life chasing after what he would never be able to have? Buck knew the answer to all those questions was "yes".

With the answer to that question comes another horseshoe that drops. Buck realized at that moment he was being used as a tool, a pawn of Agent Snake to destroy and create disorder, to hurt Equestria and those that protected it. The wave of shame that follows from this revelation starts pushing back against the temptation of revenge, but does not extinguish it. He still wanted revenge, it still tasted like sugar cubes in his mouth - again, he was at an impasse.

Frustrated, Buck starts looking around again - the picture Magnum had given him, the speech Agent Snake had given him, the posters hanging at the far wall, down at the picture again, to the speech again, then back to the posters... and this time the depiction of the stallion in Royal Guard armor did not repulse him. Buck carefully put down the picture he had been holding and walked over to look at the posters more closely.

Amongst the many event posters Buck found the one with the armored stallion - a recently placed recruitment poster for the E.U.P. Guard. The royal propaganda machine was not above using the relatively recent victory of Twilight Sparkle and the other Element Bearers to push their cause, and the poster admonished that it was "the duty of good Equestrians" to extend their victory by joining the E.U.P. Guard. A poster like this one was the reason he was standing here in the first place, why he had gotten the second chance he now seemed so eager to throw away.

Buck looks back behind from the poster, seeing Magnum speaking on stage watched by Terry Broadshank, Princess Celestia and Lieutenant Captain Shining Armor. He looks to the poster again, back behind again, and the words "concerned classmate" pop into his head seemingly spontaneously. Again Buck looks back and forth between the recruitment poster and the scene onstage, and he has a thought he had never thought before. A thought that, up until that point, he might well have considered impossible. A thought that he would have thought ridiculous if you asked him even five minutes before.

But now, if there was any chance whatsoever that what he thought was true, then there was no way he would go through with the plan Agent Snake wanted him to go through with. He feels something break apart and fall away within him, and the tempting voice of revenge goes silent - for the first time in as long as Buck Withers can remember, his mind is clear and open.

Magnum, having finished his speech, is walking back into the backstage area when he notices Buck having his revelation. The two stallions briefly exchange looks, then Buck nods at Magnum. Before Buck heads out onstage, he stops to tuck away in his armor the picture Magnum gave him. The father of two fillies had been right - Buck did know what to do now...

Comments

[Autumnfire]

i love this series

[GJT_Productions]

5839701 Glad to hear that!