Getting Back Into the Swing of Things · 3:17pm Nov 9th, 2023
Just as the title says, we've finished most of the big projects when it comes to renovating the new house, and I've finally found enough time to start working on the story semi-consistently again. I'm not ready to take out of hiatus just yet, but we're getting there.
Chapter Seventeen is nowhere near finished, but I wanna share a little snippet of what I have so far with you guys to prove I didn't die during my near month long absence.
And if you could point out any grammatical errors I missed, that would be appreciated.
Take a stare, if you dare.
Chapter Seventeen: The Captain and [REDACTED - SPOILERS] - The First 683 Words.
(Shining Armor’s POV)
I'm not sure what Jack meant when he said that it was below freezing outside. I mean, sure, it was cold outside, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as he had said. All I needed was a scarf and my fur coat did the rest of the work for me. Surely his clothing on top of his fur coat woul-
"Wait, he doesn’t have a fur coat." That explained it. It was so strange when he confirmed that to us. On top of the lack of a tail, it leads to a much more alien feel for the human. Those were two things every sentient creature had on Equis. A creature with neither? That was odd. Almost like something I would make up for an O&O campaign.
“He's not even from this world." I reminded myself. "Like he said, it's the norm where he's from." I guess it's just one of those things that I'll have to get used to.
He wasn't wrong about how desolate it feels out here though. Nothing but clear white snow for miles and miles. Sometimes there would be a change in elevation here or a particularly slippery patch indicating a frozen body of water there, but for the most part it was just a white wasteland, stretching out as far as the eye could see.
I had already passed the trail of craters that Jack’s chase with Sombra a few days ago had left behind. The snow had already buried Jack’s footprints, and it was doing a nice job of filling up the holes in the ground. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were completely filled up by tomorrow.
Speaking of Sombra, I hadn’t seen hide or tail of him yesterday. But I could still feel his presence, however faint it was. I can still feel it today, yet now it’s stronger. Not quite to the point of it being overwhelming, but it was much more noticeable now. Almost as if…
I turned to my right and was thoroughly unsurprised when I didn't see Sombra there. Turning back ahead, I kept moving along my patrol route. I had decided to stay as close to the border as reasonably possible after Jack’s run a few days ago and me almost getting lost yesterday.
Turns out it's hard to navigate when there aren't many landmarks to go off of. Who knew?
The city was about three miles to the south, with the rest of The Frozen North making up a near infinite expanse to the north. It almost reminded me of back when I was a rookie, serving as part of the border guard in Petershoof Province. The Nova Griffonians had been dealing with some bandits in their western territories, and Princess Celestia was concerned that it may spill over into Equestria. Thankfully, it never did. After that, I was redeployed back to the Canterlot Garrison/
It was another five years of service and climbing the ranks before I was promoted to Captain of the Guard. Some of the nobility were a bit disgruntled that a ‘common pony’ would be taking over the post, but that didn’t stop Princess Celestia. Though I'm still convinced that the appointment of a noble pony to the Chancellorship of the Equestrian Education Association later that year was not a coincidence.
I shook the thoughts of Princess Celestia's political maneuvering, I focused on the other memories of that time. Spending more time with Twily, getting more serious with Cadance once she returned from the Griffon Territories, finding new ways to secretly mess with Blueblood while making sure it couldn’t be traced back to me. Good times, those were. Simpler times, I guess.
“And now I’m out here, protecting our new kingdom from a return to tyranny.”
That still felt so surreal to me. The fact that Cadance and I were going to lead our own kingdom into the modern era. Even out here in the biting cold of the Frozen North it was still hard to believe.
“Just like me getting promoted to Captain, or me dating an Alicorn Princess.”
