The Mixer Chronicles

by Mixer

Reporting for Duty Part 1

Book Nine: Reporting for Duty
Part 1

It was my first day of being Shining Armor’s replacement’s assistant.

I arrived at the castle and was stopped at the front gates by two guards.

“What is your purpose here?” one asked.

“I’m here to report for duty,” I said, standing up straight.

“Are you a new recruit?” he asked.

“In a manner of speaking. I’m supposed to assist the pony filling in for Shining Armor.”

“Ah, you must be Mixer then.”

“Yes.”

“Go inside and take the first door on your right. Go down two hallways and knock on the second door on the left. If nopony is there, find a guard and somepony will show you where you need to go,” he instructed. “Did you get all that?”

I nodded, “Take a right, down two halls, second door on the left.”

They let me inside and I followed the instructions, turning right. It was the first time that I didn’t go directly into the throne room. I went through the archway and passed two sets of halls. Ahead was a turn that went to the left, and along the left wall were three doors.

I went to the second door and knocked.

“Come in,” said a voice inside.

I opened the door and went inside. Sitting behind a desk was a dull grey pegasus stallion doing paperwork. “You must be my assistant,” he said. From his tone, I guessed he was annoyed, though from what I could not tell.

“Yes, sir.”

He sighed, “Relax, civy. No need to go calling me sir just yet.” He got up from the desk. “You don’t even have any kind of uniform or anything.”

“I wasn’t aware that I needed a uniform. I wasn’t expecting that I would be wearing armor.”

“Not armor, but something that at least tells ponies that you’re staff.” He moved around the desk. “Walk with me.”

I complied as he walked out of the office and he lead me through the castle.

“I know you don’t have any kind of military training, so I’ll be handling most of the things that need professional attention. You’ll mostly be taking care of logistical issue and paperwork. I’ll also have you run messages around the castle, less legwork for the general staff.”

We left the castle proper and entered a courtyard that lead to the barracks. “As far as dealing with other guards is concerned, don’t worry too much. You’ll won’t be stopped going into any area that staff normally do, and if I need you to go anywhere else I’ll give you the clearance. Try to avoid starting conversation, it’s distracting and makes you look unprofessional to them.”

I nodded as we went inside. “If you need instruction and I’m busy or otherwise indisposed, I’ll show you two of the ponies you can report to.”

We walked past a guarded room that I could only assume was the armory and came to an office. My superior knocked twice before opening the door and going in.

Inside was a small office with a rust colored earth pony mare sitting back, sipping a cup of tea.

“Anvil, I need to outfit my assistant. Mixer, this is the royal guard quartermaster.”

The mare sighed, “Always business with you Smoke Streak. Can’t you ever drop by to say hello?”

“Do you have anything?” he asked, seeming to ignore her.

Now it was her turn to ignore him. “Nice to meet you. My name is Anvil Burst. I keep clothes on everypony’s back and swords in everypony’s hooves.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Mixer.”

“Now that you’re acquainted, the equipment...?” Smoke Streak asked.

“Hold your feathers,” she said, pulling a clipboard out of her desk, flipping through it. “Mhm... no... no... Aha! It just so happens that I might have something.”

“What kind of something?” Smoke Streak asked.

“Nothing too fancy. There’s a uniform or two that might fit our new stallion here.”

“I’ll leave you to it then. I have a job to get back to.” Smoke Streak turned away and left the two of us standing in the room.”

“So, handsome, ready to get outfitted for your new job?”

“Uh...”

She laughed, “A little shy around mares I see. Don’t worry, I don’t bite... hard.”

“So, the uniform...”

“You’re about as much fun as old Smokey,” she said, leading me out of the office and towards what looked like a storage room.

Inside were large crates with tags on them as well as wardrobes full of uniforms for just about every size you could imagine for a pony. Anvil went to one of them and started to move them with her hoof.

She paused from her pawing and looked back at me. “You’re a little taller than normal.” She seemed to be talking more at me than to me.

She resumed her search and pulled out a hanger with a uniform hanging on it. It looked like a simple black vest and a white undershirt.

I took it with my magic and turned it around so I could look at it better. “Is this it?”

She nodded, “Well, aside from a badge. It’s just the standard staff uniform. What did you expect, that we would throw you in full battle armor?”

I shrugged and tried on the uniform. The undershirt’s sleeves were the right length but the collar was a little tight. The vest fit surprisingly well. “Do you have anything with a slightly larger collar? It’s a little tight.”

“Sorry, but that’s what we have. This isn’t a big and tall store,” she said. I couldn’t argue with that.

“So, what is this badge?”

“That’s the easy part,” she said, going over to a box. She pulled out a small bronze pin and affixed it to the vest. “As long as you’re wearing that, you’re as good as castle staff.”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

She giggled and rolled her eyes. “You don’t have to be so formal with me. Call me Anvil.”

“Maybe so, but it never hurts in a position like this.”

“Smart and handsome. Watch out, keep that up and the mares will be falling over themselves for you,” she said jokingly.

“You have a very strange attitude for a guard, Anvil.”

“That’s because I’m not a guard anymore. No more, ‘Yes sir,’ this and, ‘no ma'am,’ that. And I get to mess with the rookies all I want.”

“Sounds like fun,” I said sarcastically.

“I’ll remember that next time you ask for a piece of equipment,” she said, giving me an evil grin. “Now run along back to Old Smokey, he’s probably already getting worried that I scared you off.”

“I’ll take more than a few japes to scare me off.”

She laughed at that. “That’s more than some recruits can say.”

We left the store room and I found my way out of the building where Smoke Streak was waiting for me.

“Looks like Anvil was able to find something,” he said plainly.

“Yes, sir. I didn’t expect her personality.”

He grimaced. “Most ponies don’t expect her... quirks. But she does get the job done.”

I nodded. “She found something that fit on the first try.”

“Well, now that you’re all set on equipment, let’s get down to business.” He pulled out a folded up slip of paper and gave it to me. “Here is a map of the castle. I want you to walk every hall that’s marked in green and learn their layout. After you’re done with that, I want you to come back to my office and get clearance for all the areas in orange and do the same thing. Get as familiar with the castle as you can, if you’re going to be running around you’ll need to go where to go and how to get there.”

I took the map and unfolded it, looking over all the areas in green. They included the throne room, the foyer, the gardens, the ballroom, the staff’s quarters, and the kitchens. The orange areas included the Princesses’ hall, the archives, a hallway called the “Glass Gallery”, and the guard barracks. There were a few places marked in red on the upper floors but I didn’t ask about them.

After I was done looking over the map I looked up at Smoke Streak. “I’ll get right on it, sir.”

“Alright, Mixer. I expect that this will take a couple of hours, so when you’re done you can take a break for lunch. After that you’ll report back to my office.”

I nodded. “Yes, sir.”

He nodded in satisfaction and walked off while I began my journey through the castle.

Now, in all fairness, the castle wasn’t just one building. There were about three buildings on the castle grounds. The map I had was for the two most commonly encountered, the main building, where the throne room and most of the administrative work was done, and the west building which was where the barracks, ballroom, and most of the living quarters were. The third building was apparently higher security. That was where I had first met Luna in the top of the tower.

The staff I had encountered apparently had been informed of my position, as nopony took much notice of me as I made my first circuit of the castle. Thanks to some of my prior visits I could skip some of the locations in green and I was done in just under an hour.

When I was done I headed back to Smoke Streak’s office and knocked on the door.

“Come in,” he said.

I opened the door and stood at attention in front of his desk, or at least as close to attention as I could muster.

“Done already? I figured it would take longer than that for you to make your way around.”

“I am already familiar with a couple of the locations, sir.”

“Is that so?”

I nodded. “Yes, I’ve been in the gardens a few times before. Most ponies who have been in the castle are also quite familiar with the foyer and throne room, so that left only the kitchens and the staff quarters.”

“Fair enough. Now let’s get you clearance for those security zones,” he said, flipping through the papers piled up in front of him. He found a letter and gave it to me. “Just give that to the guards and they should let you in.”

I took the letter with magic and turned to be on my way.

“Oh, and Mixer, when you’re done with that check with the castle steward and see if they are done cleaning up the mess from the changelings.”

“Yes, sir,” I said, and left the room.

I consulted the map to see where the closest location was. It looked like the closest location was the Gallery of Glass, which was only one hall away from the throne room. On the other side of that was the a stairwell that led up to the Princesses’ chambers and stop number two. After that it was a trip to the archives, and finally to the guard barracks.

The thing about getting to the Gallery of Glass was that I had to go through the throne room to get there.

I walked into the throne room from a side door and tried to stay on the edge of the room as best I could. A few of the guards’ eyes followed me, but none made any move to impede my progress. Celestial seemed likewise disinterested in keeping me, and I passed through the throne room without incident.

When I reached the doorway to the Gallery, there were two guards, unicorns, standing on either side of the doorway.

I stepped towards them and their horns lighted up with magic. “Halt. This area is restricted,” one said.

I gave him the letter and he unfolded it with magic. He read it and, upon completion, waved me through.

The Gallery of Glass was really just a lengthy corridor with stained glass windows on either side. I had been through it once before, when I had first visited the castle, but I did not have time to appreciate the windows until now. When viewed in order they depicted the history of Equestria, pivotal points depicted in vivid colors.

After my slow walk through the Gallery I found the stairwell that lead up to the second floor and ascended the stairs.

The stairs emptied out into a large hallway that was lined with guards. At each entryway there were two guards standing at their vigilant watch. Unlike before, none of them moved to stop me as I entered the hall.

I could feel their eyes on me as I made my way through the hall, passing by two larger doors. One had Celestia’s sun cutie mark on it and the other had Luna’s crescent moon.

I hurriedly made my way through the hall and took a set of stair that was at the other end down to the first floor. It was unnerving to be in the hall with that many guards and I was glad to be back in an area of regular security.

I went outside and went to the west building to get a look at the barracks. It wasn’t much to look at, I’d seen the barracks back in New Pegasopolis and they were bigger than the barracks here. This was just a section of the building where there were more rooms to accommodate the guards.

That only left the archives to check. I went to the entrance and was stopped by two unicorn guards. These two were different from most of the other guards, their armor was silver instead of gold and their coats were matching colors of grey.

“The archives are open to authorized personnel only.”

I gave him the letter and he read it.

“Please conclude your business in a timely manner. Thank you.”

I nodded and went inside. I looked at the map which had the general layout of the library on it. It was rather large but there were some smaller sections, like the Starswirl wing. I walked around a bit admiring the massive collection of books and scrolls before leaving and set off to find the steward.

I checked the map to see if the steward had an office, but if there was one it was not marked on the map. I went back to the main building and looked for somepony in a similar uniform.

I stopped a passing stallion and asked him for directions.

He kindly pointed the way and I ended up in front of a large door made of oak. I knocked and waited for a response

“Come in,” came a muffled voice from within.

I opened the door and stepped inside. The office seemed spacious, with everything neat and well organized. Sitting behind a desk was a unicorn with a grey-blue coat and a mane that looked like it was once black, but was now turning grey from age.

“Hmm, you look familiar, but I don’t remember seeing you on the staff roster. What’s your name?”

“Oh, I’m just temporary. My name is Mixer, I’m assisting Smoke Streak while Shining Armor is on honeymoon,” I said.

He nodded. “Oh yes, I do remember the Princess informing me about you. So what do you need?”

“Smoke Streak wanted me to ask you how the cleanup from the changeling invasion was going.”

“Ah. Well, he should be pleased to know that the superficial damage to the castle has been repared and the restoration projects across Canterlot are going smoothly. I predict that Canterlot will look as good as new in just over two weeks.”

“Thank you. Uh...”

He chuckled. “My name is Sage Scroll, but you can call me Scroll.”

“Thank you, Scroll.”

“Any time, Mixer. If you need anything while you’re on duty, feel free to ask.”

“Thank you, I will,” I said and took my leave.

I walked back to Smoke Streak’s office and knocked before entering. “I’ve been to all the locations on the map and talked with Scroll. He says that the repairs to the castle have already been repaired and that Canterlot will be back to normal in a couple weeks.”

“Good. It will be nice to have everything back to normal. Now that we’ve gotten through your introduction, let’s get down to business...”