The Few, The Proud

by IC1s5

Chapter 3

“So,” High Tower asked, “any new business?”

The ponies along the meeting table looked at each other. At the back a unicorn pony cleared her throat.

“We’ve been receiving reports of gremlin activity…”

“Already?” High Tower asked. Normally it would be closer to summer before they heard the first signs of renewed gremlin activity.

“We think that the recent warm snap woke them up,” she clarified.

High Tower nodded. “Makes sense.”

“A few barrels of mead have already gone missing, apparently pried out of their store. All signs point to gremlins.”

She passed a photograph along the length of the table. It looked like the bars over the store’s windows had been bitten off, the windows shattered with rocks. Not the level of organization to be expected from pony thieves.

“The mayor of Hidalgo Springs is requesting we send out patrols to quell gremlin activity, in case they get to be a little more mischievous this year than usual.”

High Tower sighed. This was not a good time of the academic year. They would have to reschedule exercises, mid-terms and probably a dozen other things. The gremlin quell was a stressful and inconvenient thing to happen whenever it did, but this would be the most inconvenient time for it to happen

“Very well,” he said. “Let’s start forming parties. I’d like a list of cadets prepared we can spare for a few days. I‘d rather not throw the freshmen into this right away.”

The unicorn nodded.“I’ll inform the mayor right away that we’re on it.”

“Good,” High Tower replied. They could probably rustle up some volunteers from the senior cadets, impatient with school and ready for an actual challenge. Some disobedient cadets could be assigned the duty, otherwise.

High Tower closed the meeting. He had to meet Chancellor Irons, get him to authorize some petty bureaucratic nonsense. Lucky him.

#

You treated The Mare In Heat like you did the Everfree forest: as something to be dreaded, feared, shunned and ignored. Yet you still found yourself walking in. It was definitely a slow night: only three patrons had been hurled onto the sidewalk.

THE MARE IN HEAT!

LAST CALL: SUNRISE. HAPPY HOUR: DAWN

“This is a very stupid idea,” Rock said. He wondered what twisted soul contrived such idiotic liquor laws, and how backlogged must Celestia be before she got around to fixing the problem.

“Concurred.”

“A miracle has happened this day,” Rock mumbled.

“Cadets sneak in all the time. You know that,” Shining made his attempt to rally his troops. Convincing them to come out with him had partially succeeded. Rock and Luminous had expected Shining to choke when he saw the hulking structure that Hidalgo Springs shunned.

“The senior cadets,” Luminous added. “The hulking brutes. Not reed thin first year cadets.”

“Well, they won’t throw us out right away, unless we cause trouble, so it won’t be that big a problem.”

“Why exactly are we along for the ride?” Luminous asked.

“Good question,” Rock added. “You’re the one in hot water.”

Shining had been vague about his intentions. He wanted to know if Rock and Luminous were willing to go into town with him tonight, and the had followed if only out of curiosity and boredom. Shining had been acting like he was preparing a jewel heist from the way he acted, as if everypony was watching him.

They figured it was to run inference while he was seeing a filly. As soon as the crept closer to the Mare, and were not moving past it, their expectations had adjusted to terrifying depths.

“I think it would be better if we went in as a group: less trouble the more of us there are,” Shining replied. “The more of us the more of a deterrent it would be.”

“I still think this is a very stupid idea,” said Rock. He was trotting behind Shining. Even if he got expelled he knew this was something he had to watch, an experience to last a lifetime. Shining was beginning to regret his decision to come here, but he didn’t think he had a choice left: he needed that coaster.

Thundering had admitted Shining was a committed and successful student, but his inability to grasp “basic discipline” would result in “serious consequences.” But he always said he was just a coaster away from setting things right. Right now that coaster from The Mare In Heat seemed to be his only hope.

“We’ll just get in, get out and nobody gets hurt. What’s the worst that could happen?” Shining asked, opening the door.

“Slime!” Shining reeled from the head butt of a furious Earth pony. From behind the bar the bartender blasted him into the stratosphere.

“Sorry about that,” he called. “For the time being, you might want to come in through the windows: some of our more colourful patrons have decided to claim that part of the bar and have begun interpreting every attempt to walk inside as an act of war.”

“Can’t you kick them out?” Shining asked.

“Hey, they tip well. What will it be?”

Shining and his company approached the bar. So far, so good. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all. Order something, pay for it, and be gone and no one would be the wiser.

“How much are three drinks?”

“Three bits.”

“A pint?”

“A cask.”

“We’ll share, thanks,” Shining said. “One cider cask.”

The bartender dropped three glasses in front of the ponies.

“These glasses smell strange,” Shining said.

“Were these washed?” Rock asked.

“Ah. Well, we kind of forgot to pay our water bill…several years ago. Got plenty of gin though! Almost the same thing!”

“What about the bathrooms?” Rock asked.

“No one’s used them from the beginning, and are not about to start now!”

Rock and Luminous glared at Shining. All he could do was smile back. The bartender produced their drinks. It tasted like apple-flavoured alcoholic water. Whatever it had been, it had been watered down to within an inch of its life.

He breathed slowly and pretended to act normally. The worst thing he could do was reassure the ponies around him that he did not belong here. Shining pocketed the coaster. He just needed to finish his drink and they could get out of here. He took a deep breath. He raised the glass to his lips. Just one taste, he didn’t have to finish it. Just a few swallows and he’d be out of here.

A few swallows turned into a few more and soon his glass was almost empty. Both of his glasses in fact…wait. The slow realization that this was not ordinary cider crept into his mind: watered down, maybe, but watered down with what?

“Ex…excuse me,” he said. He stood up and noticed the world rotating in three different directions. He staggered away from the bar, unsure where he was headed. It was like some part of his brain became active and was guiding him along.

A mare from the black took notice of him. She was black and blue and had a crop as a cutie mark. She sauntered over to Shining.

“So…are you interested?”

“I’m interesting!” Shining laughed.

“I meant…do you desire the company of a beautiful soul. I can provide pleasure beyond your most expectations?”

“Well, I don‘t…!”

The mare looked insulted. Shining froze with horror. For a moment sobriety had returned to him. He felt ashamed for being here, for facing a mare of questionable repute.

“Shouldn’t we help him?” Luminous asked.

Rock smiled. “Why? I haven’t had this much fun in months!”

“Sorry…ma’am.” Shining needed a moment to determine what exactly he was looking at. “Sorry…sir?”

“Barbarian!”

It took Shining a moment to realize he had been punched. It took maybe a minute for the sensation of pain to reach his brain. After that the world around him descended into chaos.

Attention and fury turned to Luminous and Rock. Rock slipped up off his stool, hooves ready. It had been awhile since he had the chance to do any serious damage. He smiled at the opportunity.

Shining hit the dirt. He settled into the deepest, most peaceful sleep of his life. He had a goofy smile on his face. Not even the sounds of the room erupting into chaos could disturb him.

#

Dean High Tower sighed. Hijinks were inevitable, and colts will be colts. Goodness knew High Tower hadn’t been a squeaky clean cadet. Thundering Hearts glared at Shining, who nervously stared at the Dean.

“We take these sorts of incidents very seriously,” he said.

The constabulary dragged cadets back to the academy at least once or twice a semester. Graduation…don’t think of graduation now, it would only make him mad, for things he had done as much as anything else. Getting involved in a bar brawl was not a surprise: if you’re going to infringe on discipline, might as well go all the way. He made Shining the first target of his wrath. Best for the young cadet to learn, and learn quickly, that he was not to be trifled with.

“I’ll be the first to point out you haven’t spent a whole semester at the academy, and if you wanted to try something stupid, I would have thought you had left it behind at the gates along with your childhood,” High Tower added. “And we have exceptionally stringent anti-hazing policies. Anyone tells you to do something stupid, don‘t do it. Don‘t care how senior they are. A bad idea is a bad idea.”

“Yes sir,” Shining replied. Thundering didn’t betray an expression. The older you got the less you thought academy discipline applied to you---a very mistaken assumption, High Tower thought. Any other year he’d entertain the idea of expelling them, but this year was proving unique. It would be best to keep talent as long as possible.

Three first years and a sophomore was exactly what was needed for what High Tower wanted anyways. It was a lousy job that seniors would turn their noses at and freshmen fight each other over in an attempt to prove themselves. They had no choice in the matter, which was gravy.

“So, I have an assignment for all of you.”

He left the cadets in silence to gather their horrible fate for themselves. How much, when and how undesirable would their punishment be?

“As of late there’s been a bit of a warm spell and concern is growing that this could accelerate the reanimation of the gremlins. There have been several unconfirmed sightings at the edge of Hidalgo Springs. If true, decisive action is needed before the problem gets out of hand.”

He paused for a moment to study their reactions. Yes, he was making the point very clearly. Best to finish describing their wretched task; no need to get dramatic.

“You and the other cadets implicated are hereby assigned the night shift of gremlin monitoring. Report to admin at midnight. You‘ll be patrolling the immediate grounds outside of Hidalgo Springs, where the gremlins prefer to congregate.”

Thundering suppressed the outraged sigh building in his chest. Shining knew this was punishment but was relieved it was not expulsion.

“Cadet Hearts will lead you.”

“Me, sir?” Thundering said, as furious as discipline would allow.

“Yes, on account of you starting this little fun in the first place. Considering I could have expelled you, I strongly suggest you take it like the biggest gift in the world.”

Thundering was smart enough to not push his luck. He just nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“Dismissed,” High Tower said.

Wordlessly Thundering and Shining left his office. Thundering took a sharp turn at a corner and strode off, holding his head high as if he had not been scolded. Shining walked back to his room. Rock and Luminous had already been scolded as accessories.

He had spent a very uncomfortable night after coming back from the Mare. Rock hadn’t said anything that Shining couldn’t have read on his face. He didn’t know what Luminous thought, and was too afraid to ask.

He hadn’t told his parents he was in trouble and maybe could get away with not telling them at all. He doubted they would have been pleased with him. As for Cadence…best to leave that right there. If she had any more power, she would have decapitated him for treason, he was certain of it.

Maybe it would have been better if he had been expelled. Maybe he wasn’t meant to rise to the challenge after all. Slinking home in disgrace may have been the lesser of two options.

#

The exam held later in the day felt like going from the fire and into the frying pan. Shadow Falls would be evaluating their elementary magic evasion techniques. As a foal Shining had met Shadow Falls, back when he was captain of the Canterlot guard. Now he was another scrawny cadet. Any personal affection would be impossible to enjoy.

The cadets were arranged around the ring. False confidence was high. They had sparred with each for so long they believed that they knew exactly what was expected of them.

Shadow Falls had dusted his horn in Fool‘s Iron. It was a mineral known for its magic retarding properties: he had to keep himself under control, since these were first year cadets after all. He smiled as the dust shimmered in the light.

Anypony who would try to pull a fast one would be unpleasantly disappointed. With a thickness of Fool’s Iron at this level, any attempt to get a hoof over Shadow would only result with a bad ache for Shadow, and a worse one for the offending cadet when he would be pounded into the ground.

“First cadet!” he called.

Rock, naturally, dominated the match. The other cadets were stunned at his performance, being an earth pony and therefore not supposed to be as acquainted with magic as they were. Nobody said anything, their eyes full of envy and confusion.

“Next!”

Luminous dodged, weaved and evaded. The point of the exam was to determine how capable a pony was in a fight. The evaluators muttered to themselves as they evaluated his performance. Technically good, but…

“Shining Armour, you’re up!”

Shining approached the ring. Shadow Falls did not looked fatigued in the slightest: he’d have to fight the entire academy before he started a sweat. Within seconds it was over: he thought he did pretty well for himself, all things being equal. Shadow did not look disturbed in the slightest---it would take a lot for that to happen!

The evaluators nodded to themselves. They concluded the exam. The students began to shuffle out of the room. Shadow walked over to Rock: “You’re from the service, aren‘t you?”

“The 36th,” Rock said.

“Wear it with pride, son.”

Rock saluted, nodded and walked out with his head held high. Shadow Falls noticed Shining trying to slink away.

“I do recognize you,” Shadow Falls said. “I was wondering if I knew you. You’ve gotten big.”

Shining froze, uncertain whether to display respect or accept friendliness. It had gotten hard to tell lately what was the correct option.

“Ah, Velvet and Night Light’s foal. Its been awhile: how are your parents?”

“Fine, sir,” Shining replied.

Shining had met Shadow Falls at a Hearthswarming Eve party. He had snuck away from where the other foals were sequestered. He loomed over Shining like a giant, chatting with a couple of ministers about esoteric aspects of Equestrian defence policies. Already at that age Shining could understand the broad strokes of the conversation.

Shining mustered up the courage to say hello and to try and talk with him, and Shadow didn’t treat him like a foal who wandered off in search of more punch. He actually talked to Shining, telling him stories of life within the guard that fired his imagination. Shining found his way back to parents with a big smile on his face.

Couple of nights later Shining got his cutie mark. His fate was sealed from then on. His parents had been proud; Twilight was too young to understand.

“Its good to see you here, son. I‘m glad you made it.”

“I did well?” Shining could always hope. He could tell from Shadow’s eyes that his hopes were misplaced.

“No,” Shadow said. “But you were amongst the least clueless.”

Shining nodded. An honest and fair assessment, better than hollow praise.

“I do wonder why I’m here sometimes,” Shining said. Shadow Falls noticed his eyes droop, something he had been through in the rougher moments of the academy.

“You do have what it takes,” Shadow Falls said. “Sometimes you need something big to unlock it. That‘s all.”

“Thank you, sir,” Shining said.

Shining felt like a little of his pride had been restored. He walked off to the shower room feeling slightly better, which he would need when he was on patrol tonight.

#

Walking into his room, Shining found Rock hard at work. The next few nights were going to be difficult if they didn’t hammer out an understanding. Time to swallow his pride, and own up to his mistakes.

“I’m sorry,” Shining said, “for getting us into this mess.”

Rock said nothing intelligible. He just kept studying. He set his book aside and turned to the next subject.

“I’m sorry if I really made things worse for you.”

“Yes,” Rock snarled, “you did! You very much did!”

Rock snorted. He had gone through a whole semester’s worth of reading, not just to study but to give his formless anger some constructive direction. He was going over the readings on the gremlin again and again, until the words appeared whenever he closed his eyes.

“Sorry? Say something?”

“I wanted to know what you were thinking,” Shining said.

“I was just wondering what type of idiot the cadets in Canterlot produce. Celestia help the realm.”

Shining left him to stew in his bitterness. Seeing as how he had to share the room with him, it was unwise to provoke him any further. He went to find Luminous. He found the unicorn in the common room. Like Rock he had his face in a book.

Shining slowly walked to Luminous. “Hey.”

Luminous looked up. “Hey what?”

Shining sighed. “I came to say I’m sorry.”

“Good idea,” Luminous replied.

“Okay, I haven’t been the best colleague,” Shining said. “I feel lousy that we got saddled with this. And the whole using you as a ball carrier thing a few days ago. That too.”

Luminous turned a page. An apt thing to feel, really. Did he know what Luminous was being called now behind his back? Luminous Ball Hog. He had been called worse, actually he had been called more creative names when he got down to it, but still. It did sting.

“I wish it occurred to you before we set out.”

“Fair enough,” Shining said, remembering the stinging words from his parents whenever he had been punished. This wasn’t a place that tolerated childish excuses easily. “I should’ve thought things through a little better.”

“A little?” Luminous replied. “I almost got used as a living shield at one point in the melee.”

“I’m sorry.”

Luminous closed his book and set it on a nearby table. “What exactly are you getting at?”

“Can we at least get through this in one piece?” Shining asked. “Please.”

“Not an unfair thing to ask,” Luminous said. He wasn’t looking forwards to the assignment. Sooner, and quieter, it got done, all the better for him.

Shining walked off. Several hours were left before he had to meet up with the other two ponies at the administration building. He hoped if he kept moving he could avoid feeling tired.