Strider

by Olakaan Peliik


Tall Tale I

Well, now we have two Princesses. At least that’s what I’ve heard. We lose one Princess for a few hours and she comes back with a little sister.

Good thing I’m not sticking around here in Canterlot; just standing there at the train station was annoying. Ponies see my service bag and instantly assume I know things about the new Princess…”Luna,” I think her name is. Even if I did know something, I wouldn't be allowed to say anything.

Finally, the sound of a piercing steam whistle was music to my ears. The train pulled up to the station in a cloud of steam and squealing brakes. Passengers disembarked out of the carriages in a jungle of voices and luggage. After waiting a few minutes for the crowd to thin out, I managed to push my way through—ponies who noticed my service bag stood back to allow me past—and entered the guard train car towards the back. There was a guard train car attached to almost every train. The oak wood being held together by iron bolts was old sure, but it held together as strong as the day it was built. The seats weren't exactly comfortable, though; the padding was worn down after generations of use.

There were a few other Guards with me in this train car. Most looked scared to be away from where it was safe. The unicorn stallion sitting next to me seemed to be calm and collected though. He wasn't much smaller than me. Gold-brown coat, dark brown mane and a shield with an eye on it for a cutie mark. He was browsing an excessively outdated copy of the officer's manual, held in his magic.

“What’s your rank?” he asked without looking up.

I answered swiftly. “Second class. You?”

No hesitation. “Same.”

I continued the small talk. “You fresh out of the academy?”

“The Baltimare Academy, yeah,” he spoke with a little irritation.

Now I was curious. “That’s mostly an Army Academy, right?”

He put down his manual, but still didn’t look at me. “Yeah. Some muckraker in records didn’t file my paperwork right, so now I’m in the Guard instead of the Army.”

“Well, that sucks,” I said sympathetically.

He gave a laugh and finally turned towards me. “You're telling me. My name is Knight Gaze, but call me KG. What’s yours?”

“Flame Strider, most just call me Strider,” I answered. “Where were you supposed to be sent?”

He breathed deep and let it out forcefully. “I was gonna be sent into the Mysterious South. We have a rather large watchtower there in the Forest of Leota.”

“Down near New Horseleans, right? That is a long distance from home isn't it?” I asked.

“Not really. I have no family to speak of, no marefriend to hold me back,” he said.

I gave him a confused look. “The Army, Navy, and Guard are my family. Why? Are you gonna try to convince me otherwise?” He retorted, looking annoyed.

I shook my head. “Hey, it’s your life, live it how you want. I just can’t imagine living like you do.”

“Okay then.” He went back to his manual.

“You’re not opposed to having a friend right?” I offered a hoof.

He eyed me weighing his options. He gave a slight smirk. “Sounds good to me,” he extended his hoof and shook mine. “So how much longer we stuck on this train?”

I looked behind me to the clock at the back of the train car. Eleven twenty-seven. “About five hours.”

K.G. groaned then looked at me. “Got any cards?”

As a matter of fact, I did. “Wanna go a few rounds of poker?”

“You know it. Deal the cards.”

It was gonna be a long train ride. Might as well make the most of it, right?


Apparently, I am not good at poker. If I was betting real bits and not just paper scraps, I’d be living on dirt as a food source. We arrived in Tall Tale on time, but it felt like we were on that train for an extra hour with the thick crowds of Guards trying to pass by us.

The sun was starting to set by the time KG and I exited the train. We took a minute to stretch our limbs. “What do you think there is to do around here for off-duty hours?” I asked as I stretched my wings out.

He popped some joints before answering. “I don’t know. Maybe we can ask some locals on one of our days off or we can look while on patrol.”

I threw my saddlebag on. “Sounds like a plan. We should report to the Quartermaster for our gear.”

“Yeah let's go.” KG took the lead toward the Guard station.

Tall Tale might be a smaller version of Manehattan, only twenty-five square miles large, but it is still a sight; there are plenty of trees and grass-covered parks, even amongst the steel and concrete buildings. The tallest building in the center of the city was about fifteen stories high, dominating the skyline. The farther you got from the center, though, the shorter the buildings got.

The City Guard compound was in the four-story average of the city closest to the train station. Upon arrival to the compound, we approached the front gate. Two average looking third class guards stuck on gate monitor duty stopped us. “Papers?” one asked.

As I fiddled with my bags to get out my orders, KG got his out and showed them to the guard. After I finally got mine out, KG took them in his magic and brought them forward to the guard, who examined them both, then nodded. “The Quartermaster is on the other side of the compound in the basement,” he instructed us. “Head straight through the yard, stay away from the Cage, you’ll see the sign.”

KG returned my papers to my bag. “Thanks, guys,” he said as they opened the gaits.

As they closed the gaits one of them replied half-heartedly, “Don’t mention it.”

KG turned to me. “I’m probably not one to judge pony behavior, but did they seem a little down to you?” he asked as we started across the yard.

“A little yeah.” I glanced at the sky. “It’s probably because this place has a problem with cloud cover. Because of its proximity to Vanhoover and the Frozen North, the weather ponies can only do so mutch. The best they can manage here is light cloud cover, rain three times a week, and one day of sunny skies. It’s worse in Vanhoover.”

“Wait, I thought pegasi controlled all weather?” KG asked in surprise.

“In most of Equestria yes that is true,” I explained. “But some places like the Everfree Forest we can't control at all. Then there are the in-between areas like this one that we can only try and control.”

“I guess that makes sense.” KG looked past me, I followed his sight. “I’ll bet that is what they were talking about when they said ‘The Cage,’” he said as we gave it a wide birth.

The Cage was Tall Tail’s jail. Integrated right into the compound, the jail yard was separated from the rest of the yard by a double fence. There was only about a foot of space between fences. I examined the prisoners as we passed by; mostly Gryphons, probably poachers. There were a few ponies in there as well, but not many.

“I’d hate to get that assignment,” I commented.

“I agree. Let’s hurry up.” I sped up my walk, KG following. We eventually reached a set of stairs going underground with a sign that said, “Quartermaster.” We descended down the stairs and into a dull room with only a few crystal lights strung up on the ceiling.

An earth pony mare was sitting behind a desk in the back. Her head was lying facedown on the desktop and she was snoring softly. Her coat was a light blue and her mane a much darker blue. I couldn't see her cutie mark; it was behind a counter and underneath a utility uniform. According to the rank insignia on her shoulders, she was a Warrant Officer.

“Why do you think she’s like that?” KG whispered to me.

“Don't know,” I whispered back. I walked up to the counter and set my forehooves on it.  “Excuse me?” I asked with my normal volume.

“Ah!” She woke up with a start and nearly fell back. Once she realized we were really there, she spoke in an irritated grumble. ”Oh, okay, let me see your papers before you get your armor and rooms.”

“Yes ma’am,” I said, reaching into my saddlebags and rummaging around. Oh, darn it all, where’d they go this time?

She groaned impatiently. “Hoof them over.” I finally pulled mine out and put it on the counter in front of her. KG did the same. She didn't look up from our papers. “Your papers are all in order, no errors. This is a first,” she grumbled.

“Not many ponies from military families or that are going to the Army come here I take it, ma'am?” KG asked.

“No, none in fact.” She turned around to the shelves of boxes that held pieces of armor. “Unicorn, size medium-large.” She scanned the shelves until the landed on a box. “Ah, here we are.” She pulled it off the shelf with her muzzle and slid it around the counter to KG. “Here. try this on.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Knight Gaze started to don his armor.

“Pegasus, size large.” She immediately got what I assumed was Pegasus armor and brought it round to me. “Put that on.”

“Right away ma’am.” I opened the box to see my armor. It was unpainted steel with mushroom leather strappings. The standard City Guard emblem—a purple and navy blue shield with a crescent moon atop a star—was etched into the green fabric that decorated the sides of the armor. This armor was heavier than the armor we wore in the academy. It found that it fit comfortably around my wings, and hugged my form. The hoof guards fit nicely too. The helmet matched the armor with a green crest.

“Everything fit?” she asked.

“Yes ma'am.” we responded.

“Alright, if anything breaks or something stops fitting come back. Now for your rooms.” She opened up a logbook and started flipping through pages. She stopped on a page in the back section of the book, grabbed a pen in her mouth, and wrote something down. Spitting the pen out of her mouth she looked at us. “You're both on the third floor, room N-07. Now leave me alone.” She waved us away.

“Well, she was just a ray of sunshine,” I commented once we were out of earshot.

KG nodded in agreement. “I think you're right about the lack of sunlight getting to the ponies here.”

“Wanna go to the commander first or to our room to drop our stuff off?”

“We should go to the commander first. He might be mad we were here and didn’t report to him first.”

“Good point. Let’s go.” I headed toward the offices with KG just a step behind.

The offices were back at the front of the compound. There were two doors marked with signs. One said “Barracks and Sergeant offices,” the other said “Commander.” We went straight for the commander’s door. Inside there was a small waiting room and a door with a line in front of it.

I walked up to the door, standing behind the line, and knocked three times. Rule of a feather; knock on a commander’s door three times and wait.

“Come in!” I heard the commander yell. We entered the room and stood at attention. His office was empty, It had four gray walls, a gray floor, a gray ceiling, a gray desk, and gray filing cabinets, the nameplate on his desk read ”Commander Halberd”. The unicorn behind the desk was all a bronze color. Head to hoof. “Report,” he barked.

KG seemed stunned so I spoke, “Academy second class graduates, Flame Strider, and Knight Gaze. Reporting.”

“Go talk with Sergeant Solar Aurora. She’s in charge of you now. Dismissed.”

I was about to turn away when KG finally said something. “Sir, I would like to discuss the issue with my papers.”

“Dismissed soldier. I won't say it again,” Halberd grunted, already looking back down at his desk.

KG looked peeved, “Yes, sir,” he answered. We both turned and exited. As soon as the door closed behind us, KG growled to himself. “Does he have a Timberwolf up his tail or something?”

“Maybe the Sergeant will be more clear on our orders,” I opened the door to the Sergeant's offices. There was a short hallway with four doors, all with names plastered on them. I quickly found the one with Sergeant Solar Aurora’s name on it. “You wanna knock this time?”

“Sure.” KG moved to knock on the door. It opened before he could though. We snapped to attention.

Sergeant Solar Aurora was standing behind the door. She was a unicorn, about average sized. She was a red with an orange mane and tail. Again, I couldn’t see her cutie mark because it was blocked by her armor.

“Oh good, you're done with the Commander,” she said in relief. “Come in so we can talk. Give me your paperwork. I wanna ask you two some questions before I tell you what you’ll be doing.” She moved back behind her desk.

KG and I came in and did as told. Once she had our papers she started reading them both and taking notes. “You two have excellent reports for being fresh out of the academy,” she commented. “Why’d you two want to come here to Tall Tale?”

I cleared my throat. “I wanted to see how Guards here handle things here. So when I move on to the next city, I can have outside experience, Sergeant.”

She blinked in confusion. “Move on to the next city?”

“I plan on going to every city and learning all I can about being a guard in each city, Sergeant,” I explained further.

“A worthy goal, we’ll talk further in a sec.” She looked at KG. “And you?”

“Sergeant, I actually didn’t want to be in the Guard. I wanted to be in the Army. But some quill pusher messed my paperwork up royally. Now I’m stuck here.” He explained clearly.

“In that case, I’ll get your paperwork squared away. What unit did you want to be with?” she asked getting ready to write it down.

“The Army garrison down south in the Forest of Leota.”

“Got it. Now as for you Strider. Tall Tale should not have been your first stop.”

I pricked my ears up at this news. “Why not, ma’am?”

“It’s kinda unspoken that Tall Tale is where all the graduates that need to be given extra training get sent. We usually get bad third class Guards and turn them into bad second class Guards. You two are good second class guards. That means you don’t belong here.” She leaned back in her seat.

“My I ask a question, Sargeant?” I asked. She nodded. “What is the deal with the Commander?”

“Some rich pony put his pompous son through Officers School and this is what the Guard did with him. He does nothing while us sergeants do everything. End of story.” She took a breath. “Now I’m gonna start your paperwork to go to the next city at the end of the six-month minimum requirement. Baltimare okay with you?”

“Yes, Sergeant,” I nodded.

“Good. Knight Gaze, you're gonna be leaving at the same time to the Mysterious South. Now in the meantime, I want to be able to make you both First Class Guards by the end of these six months. You two are partners. Come to me after morning chow tomorrow morning for your first week's assignment. The compound’s schedule is on the door to your room. Dismissed.” She waved us off.

“Yes, Sergeant!” KG and I said loudly without it being yelling, then exited her office.

We hurried up to the third floor. ‘N’ means north side of the compound, It wasn't far of a trot. Once in that wing of the building we found room seven. It was small, a window, two beds, two wall lockers. The beds were on either side of the window with the lockers at the foot of each bed. The latrine was down the hall.

“Reminds me of training,” I commented, testing the mattress. “Hey, they even use the same itchy, stiff mattress!” I grinned up at Knight, hoping to get a chuckle out of him at least.

KG rolled his eyes. “Well, she did say this place was a second training ground for the really bad cases.” He started to remove his armor for the night.

I started to remove my armor as well, but I wasn’t going to bother unpacking my few items right now. I’d save that for another day. “What assignment do you think we’ll get?” I asked him.

“Well, she pretty much said that we were her best two. So I guess whatever job that she needs to be done right.” He closed his locker and climbed into his bed.

I was still fiddling with my armor; darn clasp was stuck. “Hey, maybe a little magical assistance here?”

“Can’t hear ya, I’m asleep.”

“Hey sleepy, you gonna check the schedule and set the alarm?”

“Oh, yeah.” He levitated the schedule off the back of the door and over to him. “Breakfast chow is at seven. That means we want to be up by six.” He turned the alarm dial on the clock to six.

I finally got my armor off and stored it in the locker. “See you in the morning,” I yawned, getting into my bed.

KG rolled over. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” I replied, turning out the light and pulling the covers up over my head.

I’ll admit that I was looking forward to the end of the six months here. But I was also worried about the time between now and then. Six months was a long way off and a lot can happen between now and then.