//------------------------------//
// Chapter 10: New Friends 
// Story: Lunar Eclipse 
// by Ephemeral Memory 
//------------------------------//

In the center of the room, there was a white mare standing majestically with a hidden wind breathing life into her gorgeous mane and tail. Several papers, wreathed in an aura of gold, floated around her, as though she had just been reading them prior to our apparent intrusion. She looked up, giving a warm smile.

“Good evening, Beam Dancer, Daniel. I was starting to wonder when you would return.”

Both of us stared for a moment. “Uh...yo, Celestia.” Another pause. “Did you...need something? I mean - Nevermind. That was a dumb question. Why were you waiting?” Here?

The frozen pegasus next to me finally decided to speak up -but not quite as loud as the minor draft in the room. “I-I-I’m going to go home now. Night, Daniel. Good night, Princess Celestia.” She disappeared as soon as the door was open. Wild Beamy fled! Thanks for the support.

As soon as the door shut, a single click sounded. Was that the lock? I nervously remained in my position. The image of Celestia flickered. Actually, everything around Celestia seemed to be waving about like a mirage. Then it all disappeared, leaving an image arguably more disturbing than the last.

Near the center of the room, there was a white mare lazily draped across my bed. Somehow, her mane and tail were persuaded to remain unmoving. Several papers surrounded her, and a sheet was floating in front of her face as though she was reading it during our apparent intrusion. Her golden jewelry was strewn haphazardly across the room.

Was everything else just made by magic? I wanted to ask her, but Celestia had dropped her smile. Or was she even smiling before? She didn’t look upset, but her face held a passiveness that just seemed off -like a mask. My heart rate increased. Did I do something wrong? Or maybe this is her normal face when she isn’t acting all princess-y?

“Steady Fort told me about your theory earlier,” she solemnly stated. “......”

“What..did you think of it?” I asked meekly. Another long pause followed. I swallowed, and my hands began fidgeting behind my back.

“If we implement measures to study it, the method would backlog everything in the Department of Defense.” She sighed before continuing, “However, at the same time, it could potentially find the solution to the issue of missing ponies and changelings. Reports continue flooding in, and checking previous documents from the top would decrease our efficiency by at least 40%, a percentage that is frankly unacceptable.”

My eyes widened at the number. “Geez. Well, why don’t we just, um, ignore that I said anything and carry on? Or maybe, we could start filing the new reports with the additional details.”

“That is one of the solutions of which I have thought, but that means neglecting all the potentially important data within the previous reports. Under no circumstances do I want my ponies to fall in danger because of something their government failed to do.” With that said, she groaned and dropped her head to the mattress.

“Oh..” I replied unhelpfully. It felt like there was an invisible wall between us. Screw it. I crossed over to her and brushed my hand gently over her neck, which tensed at the touch but relaxed soon after. “If it would help, I could postpone my guard training an-”

Celestia lifted her head back up and spoke, “No, no. Do not limit yourself on my account. Thank you for being such a good audience.” She pat my head with a wing and then levitated her accessories Or jewelry. Or clothing? back onto her body. Her usual warm smile had returned as though it had floated back with everything else.

With everything settled, she suddenly asked, “Why don’t we see what Rarity sent you?”

“Oh, right! Where’s the package..” I turned around before a golden flash from behind stole my attention. I looked back to find a decently sized box.

“Right here, Daniel. Did your poor little eyes get too tired after working with those documents?”

I rolled them in response and gave a curt “thank you” before tearing open the packaging. Upon removing the lid, a flurry of colors greeted my eyes. Woah. I picked up a light blue shirt with a pastel pink lining the edges of the neck and arm holes. Not my taste, but at least it’s really soft…Definitely pajamas. I moved on to the next one, a grey turtleneck.

“It has been getting chillier lately,” commented Celestia, “Why don’t you try it on?”

“Oh, alright. But, uh, feel free to leave whenever since it’s getting late and all, and you got a lot going on.” I pulled the turtleneck over my shirt. “This is amazing! Fits really snugly but gives just enough room for comfort. Back home...I wasn’t really a big fan of these, but Rarity might have changed my opinion.”

“I’m pleased to hear that.”

I took it back off and looked through some more things. Most of the clothes were casual but some business attire was interspersed throughout the collection. Finally, the clothes on the bottom were a set that nearly matched the ones I brought to ponyland and the outfit I assumed Rarity envisioned me wearing for the Gala. There was a white button up shirt, a purple vest and a matching bow tie, and black tuxedo -basically the whole set. A piece of paper fluttered down when I picked up the tuxedo.




Dear Daniel,

I hope this letter finds you well and that the clothing suits your taste! Most stallions do not wear pants, so I was unsure whether to make them for you. I consulted Twilight who let me know that wearing clothing is an integral part of human culture, so I made you several pairs in the end. I can hardly wait to see you in the Gala outfit. The lilac will match your complexion and magnificently enhance the ensemble. You are going to look downright dashing!

Sincerely,

Rarity




Holy crap. Another thing to thank Twilight for.




P.S. Because you asked for it, the total amounts to 50 bits. And just in case you do ask other ponies about my prices, I’ll let you know now that I’m having a special winter sale right now.




I chuckled, “She got me.”

“Are you not going to try them on?”

I looked at all the parts of the Gala set. Too much. “I think I can trust Rarity’s ability in creating suitable clothing. On another topic though, how do I access my money?”

“For now, the Department of the Treasury is tracking your cumulative income, but normally, you would obtain your wages biweekly and save them in any of the numerous banks in Canterlot. If you have no interest in a bank’s services, however, it would not be onerous to continue the status quo, in which your only service with the Treasury are withdrawals and deposits.”

Her horn glowed, and one of the drawers under the desk slid out. A pouch floated out and over to where I was. Taking the hint, I grabbed onto the pouch, making clinking sounds.

“I directed the Treasury to send me 100 of your bits earlier and teleported them into your room.”

“Thank you. That’s pretty convenient. I might check out the banks this Sunday after helping out Steady a bit.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Are Sundays not your day off?”

“Yeah, but everyone in the Department’s been piled with tons of work recently. It’s the least I can do for a team that’s welcomed a stranger and taught him how to fish.” Confused, she tilted her head. “Oh, where I came from, we had a saying. Basically, you could give someone fish or teach them how to fish. The latter method benefits the person in the long run. Steady could’ve just refused me or given me grunt work with no explanations, but he’s taken the time to really teach me his job and drilled into me that-” I lowered my voice and spoke gruffly, “-no stupid questions exist, colt.” I chuckled appreciatively at the memory.

Tittering along, Celestia commented, “If anything, you’ve certainly learned how to impersonate old Steady Fort.”

“You flatter me, Princess,” I replied without changing my voice.

Her wing swiftly exacted vengeance upon my head, as she smirked. “In all seriousness, however, please take care of yourself. It is unnecessary for you to work on your day off from a notion of indebtedness.” I opened my mouth to object. “Albeit, if done from gratitude, then by all means, do as you will.” She qualified, “While taking care of yourself.”

“No worries there. I understand my limits, Princess.”

“Splendid. Now, it is getting late. Steady Fort will let you know updates on processing the reports the day after tomorrow. Good night. My. Little. Human.” Ugh.

“Night..Celestia.” How is “Princess” even comparable to that moniker?! Her smile returned before a gold flash finalized her departure. I glanced at the bag of bits I had held onto. There has to be an easier way to carry cash. Oh well. Future Daniel’s problem.




Suddenly, there came a tapping as of someone rapping, rapping on my chamber door. “Beamy,” I groaned drearily. I need to invest in an alarm clock soon. Sucks for her that she has to wake up me of all people. That thought in mind, sleep captured me-

“SMASH.” The previously locked door violently swung inward, displaying the outstretched legs of the pegasus. Somehow, it was undamaged as well as the perpetrator.

“Alright, alright! I’m up!” I exclaimed, clambering towards the bathroom. Why isn’t she a guard? Or do ponies just have physics-defying strength at random times for unknown reasons? ..NOPE.  Since the ponies lacked size human armor, I quickly slid on my worst clothes and adjusted my sleeves while musing out loud, “Who would’ve thought anything made in China would ever become limited edition?”

“What’s a China?”

“A ceramic piece -no- It’s a country in my dimension. In my childhood, they underwent massive amounts of industrialization and quickly became one of the top exporters of lots of crap and pollution.”

Beamy wrinkled her nose distastefully. “Why would anyone import that?”

I briefly gave a wry grin before switching an expressionless face. No one here can correct me anyway. “We recycled crap and pollution as an alternate fuel source - like you use coal. Their population taking a fifth of the world’s only meant that they had plenty of the stuff to send out.”

“So your clothes are made of human feces?”

“Yes.”

In silence, I prepared the rest of my stuff. The night before, I had counted out 50 bits and stuck them in a small backpack pocket and stuck the pouch with the remaining bits in the main compartment. Swinging the bag onto my shoulder, I and the taciturn pony departed from the room. We continued walking like that. In silence. With her maintaining a meter between us. We were almost at the training grounds by the time she broke the silence.

“You weren’t being serious, right?” she hesitantly inquired.

“No,” I replied, finally cracking a grin.

At the entrance, she smacked my back. “Good! Now have a nice day.” She whirled around and sped walked away.

“Pfft. Ha! Hahahaha!”

“What are you laughing at?”

Flinching and turning to the voice, I desperately saluted. “Sh- Captain Armor!”

The fully-armored, unrelenting unicorn glanced over my form. His gaze seemed to soften. “You’re getting there. Now give me fifty!” Nevermind. I imagined that.

“But, Sir, it’s not 5:00 -”

“Hundred.”

“Did I do somethi-”

“Two hundre-”

“What happened to one fifty?” I dropped my salute and covered my lips. I’m screwed.

The pony narrowed his eyes. This would have been hilarious once upon a time. “Add thirty laps around the castle.”

Saluting again, I conceded, “Yes, Captain.” How is this fair? I didn’t do anything wrong! On the way to the corner Iron Will normally trained me at, I noticed some ponies shaking their heads and facehooving. Let them. Standing at my spot with eyes closed, I breathed slowly and counted to ten before dropping into position.

“One.” I grumbled.

“Ah can’t hear ya!” I shot a nasty glare. “Woah there! Daniel, was it? I din’t mean to be no burr in yer coat. Mah bad, buddy.”

“TWO!” The pony jumped. “Heh.”

“Ya darn near startled me to Cloudsdale!”

“Three. Four. Five. What was your name again? Six.” Guard pony three or two from my first training session.

“Jack Knife!” Not bad.

“Seven. I’ll try to -Eight- remember. Nine. Ten.”

“Don’t worry ‘bout it.”

“Eleven.”

“Ya’ll get it down-"

“Twelve.”

“-soon enough.”

“Thirteen.”

“Ask if ya forget, buddy. An’ if ya don’t mind, why are ya countin’ aloud?”

“Oh. When Iron Will’s training me, he mandates it. Guess I got used to it.” Fourteen.

A new voice chipped in, “Hey, Knife, if you keep talking to him, he’ll never get done! He’s slow as it is. If it was me, I-” Him again. I sped up a bit.

Another voice reasoned, “Gale, he is a human who hails from a distant land. It is categorically lucrative for you to compare him to our Equestrian standards. That being said, you can hardly go any expediently yourself.” You mean “ludicrous”! The error made me look up at the dark blue unicorn. To her left, was a scowling, light gray pegasus. Guessing that’s Gale. Jack Knife was just standing idly in content amusement. Thirty-three.

“And what is your name?” I asked the unicorn.

“Snow Gale, junior,” replied the pegasus.

“Okay, Junior.” I repeated, “What is your name?”

“Dusk F-”

“No! How’d you not get that? I’m Snow Gale! Snow. Gale. Not Junior.”

I felt my left eye twitch. I paused my push ups and wore my most genuine and innocent smile. “But, you just said ‘Snow Gale Junior’. I really thought ‘Junior’ was such a cool and amazing name ‘cause back in my world, ‘Junior’ was used only for the best of the best. But I guess if you want to be named after some weather terms..” I trailed off looking disappointed and added an extra sigh.

“W-well, I guess you could call me Junior then. I mean- Yeah!- Call me Junior!”

“Awesome, Junior,” I quipped.

“As I was articulating, you may refer to me as Dusk Fjord or Fjord as a sobri-ket.” As a what? Guessing that means nickname.

“Will do, Fjord. Anyway, it was nice meeting all of you. I look forward to working with you once I’m trained more.”

“Actually, Daniel, Captain Armor may have neglected to tell you that Iron Will will not be coming today. He intends for you to spar with us after your -” She paused and looked upward as though searching for something. “-preparatory calisthenics.”

“Really?” This pony is trying too hard. Oh wait..I can finally spar with the others?!

“Affirmative. In fact, for both morning training sessions, you will be collaborating with us, and from 0910 to 1145 hours, you will shadow us during guard duty at Clover Hall. Consequently, after we masticate our sustenance in the dining hall -Oh- after your meal with Princess Celestia, you will report back to the training grounds and follow us to the city to patrol with us. Captain Armor has commanded that the four of us remain together during our patrol despite the norm being a group of four per sector with two subgroups of two contacting each other occasionally. Fortunately, we will be located in an area with a history of low transgression rates. Thus, remaining together should not pose a significant issue towards security.”

“Why didn’t Captain Armor tell me this earlier?” Eighty-nine.

Jack Knife remarked, “Maybe it’s ‘cause the Captain just wants to see yer dedication to the job. It ain’t everyday we get a stallion outta nowhere to join us. I’d bet mah best knife yer a good ‘un though.”

Gale disagreed. “It’s cause he’s just picking on you. You’re the newbie, but don’t worry.” The pegasus gave a winning grin while pointing a forehoof on his chest. How do their skeletons work? “Junior, here, will look out for you.” I feel a bit bad now.

Fjord commented, “Perhaps, it is an iota of both rationalities. Gale, Knife, let’s commence practice over there. Daniel, once you have completed your exercises, come join us.”

“Will do.”




Ten.

Veering around the same path, I noted the barely noticeable chink in the brick in the 4th to last row and 13th column from the nearest edge of the castle wall. “Just a bit more than ten laps left,” I hazily noted. A couple hundred steps later, the annoying voice returned.

“Why do you keep ignoring me, Danny boy?” pined the statue. Nope nope nope nope nope nope. “Did dear old Celestia take your ability to think like she did her little ponies?” Nope nope nope nope nope nope. “That’s good to hear, good ol’ boy.” Continuing my string of “nope’s,” I quickened my pace to return out of range of the draconequus. “Danny boy, did I do something wro-”

“That guy never runs out of things to say, does he?” I muttered to myself.

“That’s right, Danny boy!” shouted an ecstatic voice. Ugh. It tricked me. Nope nope nope nope nope nope.

“I’m not an ‘it’!” complained the hybrid in a nasally voice. It cleared its throat and quickly switched its demeanor. “Now that we’re on speaking terms again, why don’t-”

Finally. Only gotta deal with that crap ten more times. On the bright side, there were other interesting sights around the castle. Pegasi were hard at work at prepping the weather for the GGG. Not only were clouds forced to remain immobile, but also they were shaped to resemble their tormentors. There were even mini sun-like and moon-like clouds floating around, and a constant, gentle breeze provided some respite from the exercise. Perfect weather for the incoming event. Wonder how much that costs.

“CRAAW!”

“AHH!” Suddenly, there were several pointy things digging into my shoulder. I smacked whatever it was off, which then squawked indignantly. Breathing deep breaths, I sneaked a glance at my accoster.

“Oh, hey, fire chicken.”

Philomena was flapping a couple feet above me and looked about ready to burst in flames.

“I hope that didn’t hurt too badly. You surprised me.” Haha! KARMA.

Surprisingly, Philomena actually looked slightly abashed at my words and landed back on my shoulder. “Is that comfortable? I’m a pretty bumpy ride right now.”

She cooed a reply.

Fire pigeon? “Alright then. Suit yourself for ten more laps. Watch out for the crazy looking statue -  might try to mess with you. He also doesn’t like having poop on him.” Feigning ignorance, she cocked her head to one side before nonchalantly preening herself, meticulously tucking every vibrant feather in place.

“Let me help you with that one.” Reaching over, I adjusted a stubborn plume on the back of her head.

“Craw.” A wing stretched out and lightly tapped my head.

“Guess I had one, too, huh?” So that’s how a bird giggles? “Either way, thanks for hanging out -no- on me.”

“Craw,” she replied and nuzzled my cheek. Fine..you’re forgiven.




Nevermind, you overgrown pigeon!

Perched on a weapon rack, Philomena was using a wing to cover her beak while failing to conceal her laughter.

“PAY ATTENTION,” roared Jack Knife before bucking me in the chest and sending me sprawling and gasping for air. “You CANNOT be distracted in a fight! If this wasn’t for practice, you’d be dead, son.” He stepped toward me and offered a hoof. I made the mistake of holding onto it, and the next moment I had landed painfully on my back. “Is THIS what Will taught you?”

What happened to his freakin’ accent? His personality? Did a changeling take over? ...He is right though. I can do better than this. Wincing, I stood up again, taking the stance that Iron Will had taught me for hand to hand -hoof, I guess- combat.

“Better, but lower your center of gravity, colt!” Jack charged forward only to swing around with a roundhouse kick.

“Don’t block! MOOVE!” Iron Will’s words echoed in my head. “Your body type’s best asset is your moobility! Against a pony, don’t fight head on. You gotta find the right place to assert your place!”

I ducked under the kick,moved diagonally forward to grab the pony’s hind legs still delivering said kick, and twisted with my hips while pulling in the direction of the kick to use his force against him. I ended up flipping him onto his back. Holy crap. It worked!

In one smooth motion, the pony recovered his ground. He chastised, “FOLLOW THROUGH! You can’t just sit there while the enemy’s on the ground. What are you doing?”

“My bad, Jack. I was just surprised,” I sheepishly replied.

He sighed but then put up a grin. “Ya got a ways to go, but ya are improvin’. An’ not at a bad rate either. Have some confidence in yer practice. In yer mentors. We ain’t professionals fer nothing.”

“Will do. Thanks, Jack. By the way, during our sparring, your accent disappeared.”

“Huh? Ah don’t know what yer goin’ on about. Now, take a small break. Gale, you, an’ me are gonna take on Fjord next. Has Will told ya about fightin’ unicorns?”

“Not in particular. Just that in the case of having no unicorns in your team, it’s best to isolate the enemy unicorn and take it down by collaborating and using anti-unicorn strategies, which he hasn’t elaborated yet.”

“Hmm.” Jack put a hoof on his chin. “We’ll teach ya Plans Uni One an’ Two then and go slowly. The basic gist is to distract, fool, or ambush the unicorn to take their attention off of somepony who can then give a nice one two on the horn. Go take five now.”

“Alright. I’ll look forward to learning them.” I walked over to the water trough. The idea of drinking water where a bunch of sweaty ponies all dipped their snouts still disgusted me, but according to Iron Will, there was some sort of magic filter that purified the water. When the filter needed to be repowered with magic, it turned the water red. After taking my fill, I walked over to where Philomena was still loafing. “So, I take it you enjoy seeing me beat up?”

“Rah!” affirmed the bird.

Is she smirking? Yeah, her beak is somehow letting her smirk. “Well, I’d like to see you do better.” I poked her bird cheek. “What do you even do all day? Just watch people?” She bat my finger away and huffed. “Alright, alright. Feel free to observe me.” My finger returned to its former spot, and she rubbed her head against it. No wonder Celestia lets her get away with anything.

Jack’s voice from behind me informed, “Five’s up, Daniel. Let’s get back to business.”

“Alright. See ya, Philomena.”

“Craw craw.”




Gripping a practice glaive, I was sprinting in a hopefully sporadic manner while delivering brief strikes at Dusk Fjord. Apparently, magic takes a lot of skill to use, and its effects weaken the larger the area a unicorn wants to cover. Something about magic density. Basically, it’s like a hose. There’s a medium level spray that’s pretty easy to control, a wide area spray that can hit more with less water, and a narrower spray that’s stronger but harder to use accurately. The farther an object, the harder to hit. The concept was pretty much common sense, but there was a lot more depth to it than I cared to know at the moment. For now, Gale was set as the primary distractor, Jack, the ambusher, was avoiding aim while trying to remain inconspicuous, and I took the role of secondary distractor. Since knocking a unicorn’s horn momentarily stuns them, the distractors were to look for openings to hit it and either knock out the unicorn themselves or let the ambusher follow up. There were other tools at the guards’ disposal for anti-unicorn attacks, but we were going bare minimum first. Plus, since this was my first time, Fjord was limited to telekinesis, the most common ability among unicorns.

At this point, Gale was doing pretty well on his own, swiftly swerving and breaking Fjord’s focus. While her concentration was still on Gale, I rushed forward to knock her horn, but as I swung the glaive, a sudden aura enveloped me and threw me backward ten feet. She was being nice though since I was still able to land on my feet. Let’s try something else.

“PRINCESS CELESTIA!” I widened my eyes and shouted desperately, while pointing in the distance. In hindsight, that was a bad idea and probably unprofessional. Every single guard in the area flinched, including my teammates. Every single guard then proceeded to glare at me for the disruption.

“Sorry! I was testing a tactic!”

They grumbled and continued with their business. Meanwhile, Gale was cracking up, Jack was determining whether to be amused or - nope, he’s definitely amused, and Fjord was -Huh? Where’d she go?

A flash from behind made me turn around to see a rather red-faced Fjord who spoke at a just-audible volume, “That was quite unnecessary and un..unkempt, you realize?”

My mouth moved for me. “I think you mean ‘uncouth.’”

“Wha- What? I thought it was - Oh, whatever! Why did you do that anyway?”

“Well, I figured that would cause a great distraction for Jack and Gale to get you.”

She wryly replied, “Well, it was so great that you distracted your team.”

“I realize that now,” I muttered.

Jack chimed in, “If training’s like this ev’ryday, ah could get used to it. And Daniel, ah just wanted to make sure, but that one point ya tried to whack Fjord’s horn - ya know what ya did wrong?”

“Yeah, I ran forward in an obvious movement that was easy to focus on.”

Jack nodded in approval. “Good.”

I turned my head to where Gale was. He’s still laughing?

“Shall we continue round two of our combat conditioning?” inquired Fjord.

“Ready when you are,” I replied, stretching my arms a bit.

“This time, use yer ice magic,” said Jack.

“The pleasure is mine,” spoke the unicorn with an ominous grin.

“Ice magic?” I questioned.

Suddenly, the ground within eight feet of Fjord was smothered with a layer of ice. I jumped only to realize that my feet were frozen in said ice. “Um, Fjord? Mind letting me out?”

“Utilize your glaive.”

Jerk. I checked Jack’s condition. He had already used his strength to tug himself free and was breaking off the remnants of the ice still stuck to his hooves. Looking back down, I began smashing the poor glaive into the ice and hoping I didn’t smash my foot in the process.




By the time the break for breakfast arrived, Fjord had thoroughly frozen me, and I had a newly found fear of unicorns with snowflakes on their butts. Perhaps sensing that training was over, Philomena glided over, landing on my shoulder.

“I bet you had a lot of fun watching me this time, huh?”

“Rah.”

I felt a wave of warmth spreading throughout my body. Surprised, I looked at her.

“That you?”

“Rah.”

“Thanks!” I grinned sincerely.