As soon as the rooster sang, Lancer opened his eyes. He growled when the light reflected in his eyes.
He yawned as he walked to Majesty´s chamber´s door. After knocking, Majesty opened the door for him. The unicorn had a sleepy and grumpy face.
“Hey.” she greeted him.
Lancer held his laughter. Majesty might be of a higher social status and have a higher cultural upbringing and better manners than everypony, but at mornings she forgets her steady and serious attitude and talks to her subjects as if they were her friends.
“Hey.” he replied with a smirk in his face. “Looks like somepony had a bad night.” he said as he entered her chambers.
“It´s not that. It´s just I´m not ready to be disappointed all the time.” Majesty served him tea.
“You know what my queen? Of all of us, I thought I was the sarcastic one. But when you make remarks like the one you just made, I doubt it.”
Majesty rubbed her forehead.
“Ugh, I know I these things take time, but I´m tired of waiting! All my life has consisted of being patient. And right now, the chance of getting of getting back what my family deserves is so near yet it´s far at the same time.”
“I might not owe my family or have a grand purpose to fulfil as you, my queen, but I also want to go as fast as possible. It´s very frustrating to see your pupils fail over, over and again. I know it´s my job to make them succeed but sometimes it seems impossible! And having time against our favour doesn´t help either…”
“That´s another one.” Majesty sighed. “You know what Lancer? Glory is much better at handling issues related to feelings, but I think talking to you helps me more.”
“Probably because we´re more mind-like. Except on the prophecy part, that´s where we differ.”
Majesty raised an eyebrow.
“Really? Haven´t you seen me being frustrated with Gusty?”
“Well, yes. But because it´s Gusty! Before that, you never doubted the prophecy.”
“Don´t be so sure about that. Many times, I´ve actually thought it was just a foal´s story my parents told me to give me hope about our dynasty´s future. It´s normal for believers to sometimes doubt their beliefs. Even Glory has her doubts about Gusty from time to time.”
“In my opinion, that indicates that you two are down to earth.” Lancer continued walking.
“But if I don´t believe, my bloodline´s future is dark. Yes, I might have conquered small territories from Grogar but we both know that we are still in great disadvantage. Grogar still has the power to shake everything up. I can´t risk dishonouring my family again.”
Lancer stopped walking abruptly. He turned to Majesty and frowned.
“I know I´m absolutely in no position to give you orders my queen, but don´t ever say that. You didn´t dishonour your family.”
“My only heir is dead, Lancer.”
“But that wasn´t your fault. If my memory doesn´t fail, it was Grogar´s soldiers who killed him in battle.”
“Yes, but if I didn´t send him to that battle, none of that would have happened.”
“It may have or may not have happened. I´m pretty sure Grogar would have ordered to get your son killed in other ways if he didn´t go to battle. And who knows? Maybe he would have died as well.”
Majesty looked down.
“Besides, your parents were dead when that happened. They never told you that you dishonoured them.”
“But they did expect me to keep the bloodline. That was the most important thing for them. What they most expected from me, Lancer. And now I can´t fulfil that role. If I can´t keep the dynasty, at least I´ll uphold my family´s legacy.”
“So far, you´re doing a great job, if you ask me. Sure, Grogar has still upperhoof but you´re handling it like a great monarch would.”
“But not good enough. Before Gusty came, I had no hope those accomplishments would make a difference. That´s why I believe in the prophecy, Lancer. Because it´s what keeps me and your fellow soldiers going.”
Lancer stared at Majesty. Every time he and Glory argued about the prophecy, his friend always defended that she believed because it was what kept Majesty going, but he never understood how much until he talked about it with the queen herself.
“It´s getting late. You should begin your training by now.”
“Yes, my queen.” he simply said.
Before he left, he quickly glanced at the queen, who looked at the window sadly.
“So, what do you think?” Celestia asked Buttons, Fizzy, Clover and Galaxy.
Gusty and Luna watched the unicorns taking spoonfuls of their tsampa with as much expectation as Celestia. Fizzy was the first one to finish.
“This is really good!” Clover commented.
“I never knew salty tea was this delicious!” Galaxy added.
“Have you got more?” Fizzy asked while offering her bowl to Celestia.
“Sorry, we´re out.” Celestia answered her after checking the cauldron. “I´m glad you liked it though!”
“Your daughter´s a really good cook!” Buttons said to Gusty.
“Oh stop, you´re making me blush.” Celestia looked away as she laughed.
“Next time, it´s my turn!” Luna volunteered herself.
Gusty and Celestia looked at each other anxiously, asking each other with their eyes what to say next.
“Hm… Maybe one day.” Gusty rubbed Luna´s mane.
“She´s not a really good cook.” Celestia whispered to everypony.
“I understand.” Galaxy whispered back in her ear. “Fizzy isn´t either.”
“Thanks for the meal, Celestia. With this delicious breakfast, I´ll be able to go through Lancer´s difficult but fun and adventurous training!” Fizzy said. “Could you make lunch as well? Just so I have enough energy for Majesty´s training.”
“Exactly. But I believe Majesty´s training is less intense. I enjoy it in fact.” Buttons gave her opinion.
“I know right?” Clover agreed. “If I were to become a soldier, it would be just for the purpose of learning more magic!”
“Really? Well, that might be because I´m used to using my magic for shows and Lancer´s training is new.”
“Could be. However, how is it that you changed your mind that fast? Need I to remind you that yesterday you betrayed me so you didn´t go second?”
“Well, I changed my mind.” Fizzy shrugged, to which Buttons rolled her eyes.
As they talked, Gusty struggled to keep a smile. While happy for her friends being ready or enjoying the trainings, she also felt left out as she was not ready nor enjoyed them.
“What about you, mama? Which training do you prefer?” Luna asked her.
Gusty shook her head as she returned to the conversation.
“Me? Well, I… I don´t have a favourite nor a hated one.” she lied as she looked away, smiling nervously.
Everypony, except her daughters, raised their eyebrows.
“What happened with the `telling everything and hiding nothing´?” Buttons asked her.
Gusty´s smile banished. She sighed.
“Fine… The truth is I like none of them.”
“Ok. So? What´s wrong with that?” Galaxy asked her.
“Nothing, it´s just all of you were talking about how much you enjoyed them that I didn´t want to ruin the conversation.”
“How would you ruin the conversation?” Clover asked her. “It´s just your opinion.”
“Well…” Gusty caressed her mane while looking away. “The trainings bring me bad memories and I didn´t want to centre the conversation around them and turn it into a depressing one…”
“Oh…” everypony said in chorus.
“Let me guess.” Fizzy wrapped her foreleg around Gusty. “Pathetic bullies making fun of you for being clumsy in the games and because you had difficulty learning things?”
Gusty nodding her head.
“Oh, those are the worst. I also had my share when I was a filly. Who else did?”
Everypony raised their hooves.
“Really? I thought I was the only one.”
“Well, you´re not. In my case it was because of my weird personality and called me dumb. Some of them didn´t like my mane. Too bad for them because I liked them both.” she touched her own mane with a cocky grin.
“Same for me!” Galaxy exclaimed.
“Foals didn´t like me. To this day I don´t know the reason but they simply didn´t like me.” Buttons explained.
“Unicorns called me annoying because I was obsessed with magic.” Clover said.
“And didn´t it affect you?”
“Of course it did!” Buttons replied. “I cried a lot as a filly.”
“Then how come you are so confident?”
“Over time, we made better friends that helped us realize we weren´t what other unicorns thought of us.” Buttons looked at Fizzy.
Gusty looked at Celestia and Luna. Until she met Buttons and Fizzy or her husband, Gusty didn´t have friends. She had her daughters, who loved her very much, just as a friend would. Still, she wasn´t as confident as her friends were. Why couldn´t she be like that?
Her thoughts were interrupted by Glory hoofsteps.
“Hey girls! Lancer and Majesty are coming.” she told them. “Get in line. Quick!”
“That´s our cue. Have a nice day, girls.” Clover said as he left.
“Good luck sis!” Galaxy said after kissing Fizzy in the cheek. Then she ran away.
While Celestia and Luna got away, they were near enough to see their mother.
“You can do it mama!” Luna cheered her.
“You rock!” Celestia clapped her hooves.
Gusty smiled and waved their hoof at them as she and the other unicorn recruits formed a line.
“Soldiers!” Lancer exclaimed.
After he spoke, all the unicorns held their chins high.
“Yesterday was a rough start. But today, it´s going to get worse. And tomorrow, much worse, and the day after tomorrow way way worse, and so forth.” he said as he paced around the unicorn´s line. “Yes, it will be a hard time but let´s see the positive outcome of this. Previously, most of you were just afraid mares trying to make a living, in the lowest position of society. After this training, you will be different mares. You are going to be strong and respected soldiers. But, you´ll have to show us you are truly worth it.” he stopped to look at Gusty´s eyes as he said that phrase.
Although, she felt tense she tried not to show Lancer.
“Now today, we´ll begin our training with a circuit. Your goal,” Lancer took out a bow and an arrow. After tensing the string, he shot an arrow, which ended at the top of a pillar. “will be to get that arrow. But in order to do that, you must first overcome a series of obstacles.”
As he pointed the circle, the mares bit their lips. The obstacles Lancer was referring to were tall fences, climbing walls without a rope, traps and spikes.
“Oh dear…” Gusty whispered.
“Now, who wants to begin?”
“Oh, me me!” Fizzy jumped excitedly.
Lancer widened his eyes.
“Of all your fellow future soldiers, are you sure you want to be the one to begin?”
“Yeah!”
“Alright. This ought to be fun…” he muttered. He cleared his throat. “You may begin miss…”
“Fizzy.”
“Fizzy. You may begin.”
“Ok.” Fizzy jumped back and forth to prepare. Then, she bowed to run up. “Here we go!” she yelled as she ran.
Unfortunately, things were not going to be as fun as Fizzy thought they would be. She realized that the fence was higher than what it seemed in the distance. Nonetheless, she decided to try. However, her attempt ended on her falling over the fence. The ponies closed their eyes as Fizzy fell to the ground.
“I´m fine!” she exclaimed as she lifted her hoof high.
“Next!” Lancer yelled.
Buttons was the second to try. Unlike Fizzy, she managed to jump the fence but one of her hooves touched the fence, making her fall.
“Next!”
Glory managed to jump all the fences but fell on a pond when she tried to leap over it.
“Next!”
Gusty accidentally tripped when she started to run.
“We´ve got a long way to go.” Majesty shook her head.
Lancer sighed. He passed them swords, thinking it would be easier to start there.
“Let´s get down to business to defeat Grogar.” Lancer sang as he skilfully sword fought against a stallion soldier, leaving everypony in awe.
“Do you want to earn a medal or a scar?” Lancer sang as he dragged Gusty towards him to fight against her, beating her up in the process.
“You´re the saddest bunch I´ve ever met but you can bet before we´re through. Mrs, we´ll make a mare out of you.” he threw Gusty to the ground and pointed the wooden sword against her throat.
Majesty frowned at her.
After hours of Lancer´s intense training, Majesty´s training. She taught them how to tackle various at objects at the same time against the floor or a wall with magic. After she did a demonstration, the unicorns tried but failed in the process.
“Tranquil as a forest but on fire within.” Majesty sang. She frowned at Gusty when she saw her doing the spell one on one, contrary to what she instructed her, to which Gusty smiled nervously.
“Once you find your centre, you are sure to win.” this time Majesty taught them to defend themselves in a magical attack.
“You´re a spineless, pale, pathetic lot.” when it was Gusty´s turn, none of the unicorns that doubted she was the Wind Warrior had mercy on her. They started to throw stones at her. Instead of creating a magical shield, she threw blasts everywhere, one almost hitting Majesty.
“And you haven´t got a clue.” she glared at Gusty. The latter lifted a hoof from her eyes.
“Somehow we´ll make a mare out of you.” Lancer gave them a bow and an arrow and indicated them to make bullseye. Instead of hitting the target Gusty accidentally tore Majesty´s dress´s skirt.
Fortunately for Gusty, she wasn´t the only one struggling. Her friends were having a really bad time as well.
“I´m never gonna catch my breath.” Glory panted as she tried to climb the wall.
“My bones are going to hurt a ton!” Buttons yelled as her hooves slid through the rocks, making her fall.
“Boy, was a fool for thinking this´d be fun.” Fizzy hit her head against a fence.
“They´ve got them scared to death!” Celestia told Luna as they observed the training.
“Hope they don´t see right through me.” Gusty tried to teleport to where Majesty ordered her.
“Now I wish really that I knew how to swim.” very carefully, Glory tried to pass a rope tied to both sides of a river.
“Be a mare!” the unicorns yelled.
“You must be swift as a coursing river.” Majesty sang as they practiced throwing magical attacks.
“Be a mare!”
“With all the force of a great typhoon.”
“Be a mare!”
“With all the strength of a raging fire.”
“Be a mare!”
“Mysterious as the dark side of the moon.” Majesty looked at the moon, sighing frustrated.
“Time is racing towards us. Till Grogar arrives.” as the unicorns carried lifts on their shoulders, Majesty pointed at Gusty, who fell from exhaustion. Buttons and Fizzy, who were near her, tried to help her but Lancer picked up her lifts.
“Heed my every order and you might survive.” Gusty closed her eyes from embarrassment.
“You´re unsuited for the rage of war. I´d pack up and go home now.” Lancer said to Gusty at night.
The three ponies looked down sadly. Glory patted their shoulders.
“How could I make a mare out of you?”
“Maybe he´s right. Maybe we weren´t born for this.” Buttons looked down. “I thought I would be good at magic.” she closed her eyes. “But I´m not.”
“I´d thought Lancer´s training would be fun. But he´s making me feel stupid.” Fizzy´s ears dropped.
With those words, Gusty realized that even her confident friends could be unconfident as well, meaning everypony could be unconfident from time to time. She looked at the circuit.
“Or maybe he´s wrong.” she said.
The unicorn´s ears perked up.
“What do you mean?” Glory asked.
“All of us are struggling it´s true. But I´m sure he and Majesty struggled as well. I don´t know about you but I´m still willing to try.”
“But it´s impossible!”
“It can´t be. There has to be a way.”
Gusty walked to the circuit. She breathed in before running to the first fence. Seeing she couldn´t jump the first fence, she thought of an alternative when she saw her reflection in a puddle. She looked at her horn and frowned determined. She got up and ran to the second fence. She jumped with all her strength, ignited her horn and helped herself with a gust of wind.
“Be a mare.”
“You must be swift as a coursing river.”
“Be a mare!”
“With all the force of a great typhoon.”
“Be a mare!”
“With all the strength of a raging fire.”
“Be a mare!”
“Mysterious as the dark side of the moon.”
Her friends observed with their mouths hanging at Gusty´s wit. She arrived at the wall and whenever she fell she conjured a small tornado to help her up. This time Gusty skipped all the adversities the circuit had to offer. She kept going even if it was sunrise. Finally, Gusty got to the pillar. Once again she used wind. As she did, everypony got up and watched how she struggled, cheering for her.
Lancer and Majesty observed the scene from the monastery and ran. Gusty threw the arrow in front of them and smiled them from the top.
After days that turned into weeks, and weeks that turned into months, everypony managed to perform flawlessly the activities they had the most difficulty with.
“Be a mare.”
“You must be swift as a coursing river.”
“Be a mare!”
“With all the force of a great typhoon.”
“Be a mare!”
“With all the strength of a raging fire.”
“Be a mare!”
“Mysterious as the dark side of the moon!”
Great chapter! Now everybody's gotten the hang of it! However, It's facing Emperor Grogar that's the problem since he's far older and more experienced than them and is far more powerful than them even with or without his Bewitching Bell!
Also, I loved that song! It's one of my favorites from Mulan!
Practice is one thing. Applying it to real life is completely another thing.
Thanks! Mine too, I loved that scene as a kid.
Great Mulan reference also happy Spring Break! Got any plans?
11192152
Thanks, it´s one of my favourites,
Oh, it´s Spring Break? We don´t have that in here. Easter is kind of our Spring Break, because we have the whole week off, but it´s still two weeks left for that. But anyway, I finished my practices in hospital and I´m coming back to classes. And we´re finally celebrating our second year of career, even though I´m in third grade (we couldn´t celebrate last year due to covid). I´m not going, but it was due time for that.
11192157
A week off on Easter ? That's new, training to be a nurse?
11192179
That´s how it is in Spain!
Nope, an occupational therapist.
11192205
Wow that sounds interesting
11192225
I know: twilightsmile:. It´s a very beautiful career.
11192267
Oh so you're training to work with treating patients with mental or disabilities
11192390
Exactly! Occupational Therapy can also work with people in marginalized situations as well.
11192978
I looked it up on Wikipedia sounds like psychiatrist work
11193001
Well... Kind of but not really at the same time
What we do basically is enabling people to do their daily life activities, such as self-care, education or work and leisure time. It is true that we can work on the mental health field but we also work on physical field rehabiliting traumas or neurological diseases. We also work on geriatry, intelectual disabilities, developmental disorders, and so much more.
We can help to make a person feel better by letting them what they love but it´s not the same work as a psychiatrist (they are the ones who control medications in mental health) or a psychologist (they treat mental illnesses). For example, we would teach a person how to control their medication, and promote healthy routines and leisure activities to improve their self esteem and cognitive or emotional dispairments mental illnesses can cause.
11193062
Oh! Ok I see, sorry I've been watching Batman the animated series a lot but I do know what you're talking about
11193140
Nah, it´s ok. Actually, it´s very sweet that you took time to research it .
When you tell someone you´re an ot, people say things like `Oh! You´re the one who entertains grandpas and grandmas!´ or `You´re the one who gives massages, right?´ or `The one who plays´. Boy, if they knew all the work behind it.
Hope you enjoyed watching Batman
11193217
Thanks
Yeah that's kinda something you hear on TV sometimes
I've been watching it on HBO, I've watched it a little when I was younger mostly on cartoon network or boomerang well I hardly payed attention to it a little but I did notice Harley Quinn
11193317
Pretty much, yeah.
For some reason, superhero cartoons (aside from the Incredibles) didn´t appeal me much as a kid, honestly. It wasn´t until I grew up that I got into them. Funnily enough, today I finally watched Spiderman No Way Home.
By the way, sorry if my updating has been irregular lately. I haven´t had the time to write, but now that I´m comign back to class, I´ll have a more normal sketch and write more.
11193929
Nah I'm too much into the superhero thing as much as my brother is, but I did see the first Spider-Man when I was young and Big Hero 6 but I love The Powerpuff Girls. I mostly watch some stuff when something like a good story or some character peaked my interest
Oh that's alright, I know you're busy
11193943
Oh Big Hero 6! I also watched that movie, but it´s been a long time since I last saw it. Those are the key aspects of a story: a good story and interesting characters.
Thanks!
11194012
Baymax was adorable and funny!
S'aright
11194038
I know right? I think he, Walle and Ron would make great friends.
11194067
Yeah I always thought that Ron was a bit like Baymax only smaller and malfunctioning with a smart mouth 😂
11194075
Yeah I thought that too when I saw the pictures. I´ve just watched the trailer and that robot is great .
Hey, Encanto won the oscar!
11194997
Yeah he'd probably be like a little brother to Baymax, good thing Baymax is almost always calm even in dangerous situations
Yeah it sure did! Did you see what happened with Chris Rock and Will Smith?
11195077
That would be a good dynamic to see.
Yeah! The first thing I watched on Instagram when I woke up. In my opinion, slapping wasn´t the best way to react but that joke was very mean-hearted. Loss of hair due to an illness is very traumatic, especially for a woman who is photographed all the time.
Ironically enough, the awards have earned the attention they desperately wanted. There´s lots of tweets about it. That moment was very surrealist, straight out from a TV show. In Euphoria there´s a scene where a girl goes upstage to slap her so `best friend´ (her abusive ex cheated on her with her best friend) and I saw a tweet that compared those two scenes.
11195092
Imagine Hiro and hi friends putting up with Ron!😂🤣
I hope it won't put a damper on Will's career, at least he was protecting his wife's honor
Oh! Talk about drama! So much for loyal friend!
By the way thanks to watching Batman I think I found a good Halloween costume
11195150
Ooh, that would be chaos.
64.media.tumblr.com/f69833d357208b9800b7c9ddde371597/tumblr_inline_p9f41zkSmm1qke885_500.gifv
Yeah, I hope that too. Poor man is tired of media. But the what, in 1973 John Wayne wanted to hit Sacheen Littlefeather after she took Marlon Brando´s oscar and spoke out about the injustices done to native americans in Hollywood and Clint Eastwood booed at her and no one said a word about them.
Oh, I actually was cheering for Maddy (the girl that hits her `friend´) when that happened. That scene was super satisfying to see. The funniest thing was that her two friends were running after her, one trying to stop her and the other one cheering for her .
Cool!
11195971
Ha! I see what you did there!
Fred might probably think he's cool and funny
He'd probably mess with Wassabi's stuff annoying him
Honey Lemon might think he's adorable in a chaotic sort of way
I don't know about Go-Go
I'm already seeing stuff on YouTube about the slap but I know he apologized hopefully this whole thing will blow over
And also Wow!
I was thinking of going as Harley Quinn but I think I'm a little too chubby plus I'm not too acrobatic also I mostly like her classic costume better but now I'm thinking about dressing as The Ventriloquist!
By the way sorry for answering so late I'm busy taking care my youngest nephew Malik
11196066
Yeah, pretty much. I´d see Go-Go acting like she doesn´t care that much but she really likes him.
We´ll see.
Whatever you choose, I´m sure it will make you feel great and look good. Last year I got dressed as a witch and then I improvised my disguise a little to get out with my friend, kind of like a mix of Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss.
That´s ok.
11196941
Maybe she does she'll probably like how he handles bullies
I hope so! The last thing I want to know is them taking Fresh Prince of Bel-Air off the air, people today always take things to far whenever something happens with celebrities
Sounds creative and thanks, but I'm gonna have to find out where to find a suit and a puppet or maybe I can dress my youngest nephew up like Scarface
11196992
I mean... compared to what others have done, Will´s actions aren´t that bad. Sure, not the best but I don´t think too far-fetched to take down his projects. People and the oscars complaining about Will for violence but did they forget about about Harvey Weinstein, Woody Allen and others? What Will needs is staying away from media for a while and get help. He has gone through a lot and it´s clearly starting to affect him.
I think people have the right to hold them accountable and to call them out but I´d do it gently because I understand that sometimes people make mistakes. Bullying someone is never ok. But there are also celebrities who don´t take responsability and start pushing the blame towards others or don´t care and keep behaving like that.
Well, you can always improvise. See old disguises and see if there´s something that could come in handy or even normal clothes or you could ask some friends. That´s how I do my disguises.
Ha! That would be great.
11197888
Yeah you make some valid points there, bullying is never cool and yeah some people need to be called out on or take responsibility for their actions think maybe it's best Will takes a break from the public eye for a bit maybe take a vacation or something, I just hope his kids won't hold it against him
Yeah I thought about that idea for when or if I have kids
11197903
He needs psychological help. He has issues due to his dad beating his mom when he was a kid, and that affects how you face stressful situations as an adult. And when the Jada thing happened, it was clearly too much for him. Now, I´ve been reading about Chris Rock, and he has been through bullying, which truly affected him. And this may reopen old wounds. Yikes, this situation is truly tragic....
I myself acquired these ideas due to being in acting classes as a kid.
11197940
Wow! Is that really true!? Man what is it with him and Jada? well after watching Everybody hates Chris and seeing as he was the narrator in that show and since it was based on his life I guess it makes sense
I've been thinking about acting classes since some voice actors took lessons
11197981
Yeah. I read that Jada cheated on him but they made ammends, and that was stressful enough, and now he´s seeing her suffer with alopecia. That´s why I say he needs psychological help. I don´t think he´s a bad person, neither abusive. Compare him to Kayne West, that man is abusive. But the ugly thing about mental illnesses is that if untreated it can bring harm to others.
That being said, being mentally ill doesn´t automatically make you dangerous. It´s more likely that you isolate yourself. And that´s basically my analysis on what happened on the Oscars!
Really? I encourage you to do so! That is if being in front of a lot of people doesn´t make you feel bad.
11198000
Ooh yeah he's gotta talk to someone about this so that it doesn't get out of hand
Well I sometimes talk to myself, act out different characters and different scenes whenever I'm bored
11198007
Of course.
So do I!
11199004
Hey did you hear Estelle Harris passed away?
11200992
Miss Potato Head....
11201080
I know, I just found out today, and when leaving a comment on YouTube I accidentally mistaked her for Renee Taylor who did Fran's mother Sylvia on The Nanny🤦😑
11201094
Oh that´s so embarassing! That has happened to me too.
11201925
Ikr!
11201928
It has happened to me while writing that sometimes I mix up words and I write something that doesn´t make sense until someone points it out.