//------------------------------// // Ch26: Studies in Trust // Story: Equestria: The Afterlife // by Timzocker201 //------------------------------// POV: Twilight The morning after I… We had finally managed to confess our feelings, Rainbow Dash and I sadly awoke to find that Markus had already left. However, he hadn’t left without leaving a note for both of us, in which he stated the reasons for his early departure, as well as noting, how happy he was to finally have someone – or somepony, to share his feelings with. I, myself, felt like a big rock that had been blocking my heart for a while now, had finally been removed. I had finally managed to voice my feelings and the result was as good as it could have been. I didn’t mind forming a herd with Rainbow Dash in the slightest. After all, we were friends before, so who said we couldn’t be a bit more? A month went by and not much happened. Markus was busy training his company, Rainbow was on weather duty and I did what I usually did when I was bored and reorganized the library together with Spike. After all, the best method to pass time is to have some fun, isn’t it? However, the fun was interrupted, as Spike suddenly started to heave and cough, the telltale signs of an incoming letter. The letter was from princess Celestia, however this time, it wasn’t a call for Markus or a request to help with some imminent danger, no, this time it was an invitation. She had invited me to have tea with her and the other princesses. After all, I was a princess myself now and things like these were part of the bundle. I would be lying to say that I wasn’t excited. A tea-party together with Princess Celestia, Luna and Cadence? Most definitely, yes! The only problem was that I was utterly over-excited. “Do I need to wear a dress? No, probably not, but my crown should be… or should I wear one just in case? What about make-up? I’m sure, a bit of make-up… No, I think that would be too much…” Thoughts like these ravaged my mind that day. Looking back, it actually feels a bit strange, after all I had been drinking tea with the princess quite a few times by then, but somehow, receiving such a formal invitation made it feel completely different. In the end, I had almost managed to miss the train because I was, yet again, overthinking it all. Thus, all I wore on departure was my crown and I had also brought a bit of lipstick, just in case. I arrived in Canterlot six hours later, a few guards already awaiting my arrival. I was greeted with a formal salute and was then escorted to the palace. There, I was then led to the Princess’s private quarters, where I was happily greeted by the princesses. I sat down at the table with them and we started to talk about all kinds of things. We started off with how everypony was doing, going down to how things were around us, with a brief talk about politics to top it off. We then went on about social structures, from where we then came to the subject of love. That was, when I felt it the right time to make a revelation. “Uh, princesses, speaking of love, there is something I might want to tell you…” I trailed off. Cadence smiled wide as I said this. “Oh, little Twilight has found a special somepony? Come on, who is it?” She asked, before taking another sip of tea. I shuffled slightly in my seat as I tried to align my words. “Its… uhm… Markus.” I then blurted out. This revelation resulted in three different reactions from the princesses. Cadence almost choked on her sip of tea, starting to cough and sputter, trying to clear her throat. Luna smiled over to me. “My congratulations, little Twilight. I must say, you have chosen a very fine stallio- uh, man for yourself.” Celestia, meanwhile, seemed largely unimpressed, although I think I had noticed the slightest bit of a frown on her. “I’m sorry Twilight, but I can’t give you my blessing for this.” Cadence finally said, as she had regained herself. I looked over to her, feeling slightly hurt from what she had said. “But why, Cadence? Aren’t you the princess of love?” “Yes, I am the princess of love. That is why I have to ask you to leave him.” Cadence firmly stated. “I mean, he beat up my husband, your own brother! How can you even fall in love with somepony like this?!” “It’s, uh, you know… after a while, I have noticed that whenever he does something, he always only wants to protect everypony else and he is really good at doing this. Actually, he is one of the few pon- persons, I know, I feel truly safe around.” I said. Cadence’s eye started to twitch slightly as she heard this, turning her disbelief into slight anger. “’Feel safe around’? ‘Protect everypony else’? Tell me, who did he want to protect when he beat up Shining Armor TWICE? Aunt Celestia, please say something already!” Princess Celestia had remained silent during the argument, the light clinging of her teaspoon being the only sound audible from her. She took a sip of tea, frowning down slightly, as she set her cup down again. “I cannot say that I agree with that arrangement either, but Twilight is a grown mare, a princess no less. Thus, she has the right of deciding for herself, whom she wishes to spent the rest of his life together. However, before you make any premature decisions, let me tell you, what your dear Markus is doing, while he says he is training Troops.” Luna gave Celestia an aghast look, as if she already knew, what was about to be said. “According to General Pillbox, he does nothing of that sort, instead letting his troops slack off, while he and his officers stand off to the side and have some friendly chats.” “Sister!” Luna protested. “Haven’t we already talked about the reliability of this information? You know just as much as I do that General Pillbox and Markus don’t really get along!” “Yes, and you know the reason why I had put him under General Pillbox in the first place!” “Oh, you mean your reasoning that somepony who likes Markus might leave out the important bits of information as you let them spy on him?” I jerked up slightly, hoping I had misheard. “Wait, you sent somepony to spy on Markus? Don’t you trust him at all? Even after he had saved Luna?” Celestia winced slightly, before looking over to me with an apologetic expression. “Look, Twilight, I know I should be thankful to him for saving my sister, but there are so many other things for me to consider. After all, I have seen him display strong aggression against our Captain of the Guard and I have yet to find out, how he even got here in the first place. There is a difference between thankfulness and blind trust and I can’t risk having my little ponies hurt by blindly trusting somepony like him. I am very sorry, Twilight.” The rest of the tea-party… didn’t really hold any similarities to a party anymore at all. And so, after a few more minutes, I decided to just leave, without farewells and without even looking back at them. I felt hurt, deeply. I felt betrayed by them, even though I could see where they were coming from. Even though I knew that it was Markus’s plan all along, to have them distrust him, but in the end, this didn’t ease the pain. No, not in the slightest… The day had finally come, the day on which Markus’s company would finally enter service. Normally, that wouldn’t be such a grand occasion at all, but the fact that it was Markus, an extradimensional entity, who had trained them, warranted the attention of both the princesses. Naturally, I and my friends were also in attendance, as well as Shining Armor, Princess Cadence and several high-ranking officers and generals, one of them likely being Markus’s direct superior. It had been a rather peculiar event, even before it had begun. Since nopony apart from Markus, his company and us knew about the exact location of the training ground, everypony instead gathered at the ponyville town-hall, visibly confused at first, seeing as you can’t see anything that remotely reminds one even just of an archery range anywhere in Ponyville. Therefore, Markus had set-up a rally point, which was really just a large sign, which read ‘Royal Guard’ next to the town hall. There, he was standing in wait for everypony to arrive. Interestingly, he had chosen not to wear his special garments, but his regular uniform, which earned him some strange looks by the generals. Although… it also could have been because they had never seen a creature like him before, one of the two definitely was the reason. Anyways: Shining Armor and Cadence were the last to arrive and after a short check-up to see if everypony was there, we set off towards the Everfree. Some of the Generals seemed slightly unsettled, making me wonder, who of us actually was in the military. After all, while we were slightly afraid as well, we took it much more calmly than any of the military officials. The walk was long and nopony said anything, as, apparently, everypony was too focused on watching our surroundings. However, the silence was broken, when halfway there, Luna asked a question. “Say, why hast thou decided to train thy troops amidst the Everfree? Certainly, one of the normal camps would have sufficed, not to mention being easier to reach.” Markus looked back over his shoulder to look at Luna, before looking forward again and answering her question. “For a variety of reasons, actually. Firstly, I didn’t want to endanger civilians or fellow guards, when training my troops in combat.” “Endanger fellow guards?” interrupted one of the officers, “Do you have so little faith in your guards that you suspect them of stabbing each other?” Markus didn’t say anything at first, instead looking back at the officer and then at Applejack, who promptly found interest in looking into the forest. “You will see.” He then said, as he turned back to where he was going. “Anyways, the second reason is that, out here, I can properly train them in a very crucial art in the field: survival. Nourishing themselves from what nature has to offer and navigating without having someone, whom to ask for directions. The third reason would be that I didn’t want anyone to know about this, until I was done training them.” “Well, of course he wouldn’t want anypony to know that he was just slacking off all this time…” I heard one of the Generals mutter behind me. Markus seemed to hear it, too, but ignored it. We all fell into silence again, until, just before we arrived, Rainbow Dash suddenly began to shift and look around nervously. “What’s the matter, Rainbow?” I asked her. She didn’t answer right away, instead hovering a bit higher, to take a better look around. “I… don’t know, Twilight.” She said, as she came back down again. “I feel like we are being watched, but I can’t see anypony.” I noticed Markus smile slightly at this, but at the time, I didn’t know yet, what that meant. We finally reached the training ground, where the company already stood assembled and waiting for our arrival. We placed ourselves off to the side, while Markus placed himself in front of his company. The first thing everypony noticed, was that the guards weren’t wearing the standard guard’s armor anymore, but a multicolored uniform, similar to what Markus wore, as well as a fitting mask, which together covered most of their bodies. The second thing was that the few spots of coat that were still visible didn’t bear the standard guard white anymore, but a deep brown color. Apart from that, they also didn’t use the normal spears and swords of the guard, but the weapons Markus had made. What also struck me, as I took a closer look upon them, was that the feeling with them was different. Normally, when you saw an Equestrian army, you would see a bright wall of white standing before you, making you either beam with hope or crumble in fear, depending on which side you were on. This company, however, didn’t have that benevolent aura. Even though I knew that they were on my side, I felt intimidated by them and I didn’t seem to be the only one. Even Celestia shifted uncomfortably in place, as she laid eyes upon them, the fact that their faces were covered only adding to it. Normally, you could read anypony’s mood by looking them into their face, but with them that wasn’t the case. It made them seem emotionless… inpony, of sorts. Also, while the normal guard also uses their outside appearance to intimidate by looking almost the same, Markus had managed to top that by far. Normally, even with Celestia’s spell, you can make out slight differences in the guard’s facial features, while with Markus’s company, that wasn’t the case. The only thing that one could tell was the gender, however that was only the case because even Markus couldn’t hide the different head shapes. The guards stood all in a large formation with their corresponding officers standing in front of them. The only thing that distinguished the officers from the rest were little markings on their shoulders displaying their rank, as well as them wearing their traditional lieutenant’s hat on top of their masks. I slowly looked over from the front to the back, taking in the sight. In front, there was the platoon of Lt. Bulkhead, whom I could immediately identify because he was the only one wearing his standard chestplate in addition to the uniform. Next up was Lt. Mystic Gem and her platoon, who only stood out by being the only female in the group and thus, by process of elimination, the last one was Lt. Overdrive. However, I noticed that he had nopony standing behind him. Some of the Generals seemed to notice this as well and started murmuring, however Markus ignored them for now and instead focused on the event itself. “I congratulate you, Recruits.” He spoke, “Today, the day has finally come. You all have shown that you have guts. You all have shown that you carry the strength and willpower to truly serve. You all have shown, that you can adapt if need be and as your captain, I can truthfully tell you that you have made me proud. Thus, from today onward, you shall no longer be recruits. From today onward, you may call yourself ‘soldiers’!” Everypony shouted ‘Ooh-Rah!’ in unison, stomping once with each syllable. “However,” Markus continued, “That is not the only honor I may give today. There is also one pony, one officer, who has distinguished himself in my eyes.” He walked over to Lt. Bulkhead and stood before him. “Bulkhead, you have shown that you are truly loyal to our cause. You have shown that you will follow orders, no matter what your own opinion would be and you have shown that you can stand up for yourself, if need be.” Lt. Bulkhead puffed out his chest in pride… “However:” …only for it to deflate again, when Markus continued. “Sadly, you lack adaptability. More often than not have you hindered your own progress by clinging to the old ways.” He lightly prodded against the chestplate with his boot. “And today doesn’t seem to be an exception.” He turned away from Bulkhead and moved to the other side of the formation, standing directly in front of Lt. Overdrive. “Overdrive, what immediately struck me when I saw you during the exercises was that you have an immense amount of physical potential. You easily carried through most of the physical tasks I gave you and listened closely, whenever I made corrections. However, you also tend to forget that your head is not only made to be used as a battering ram. More often than not, you would just go in before thinking for a second, causing you to, indeed, eliminate the most imminent problem, but at the cost of grasping the situation as a whole.” He then went to the last pony left, Lt. Mystic Gem. “Mystic Gem. I must say, at first I wasn’t impressed by you at all. Your physique is lacking, you had almost no knowledge of military structure and you seemed easily biased. However, as time went by, you have shown your true potential. You learned fast, easily making some high-ranking generals look like rookies. You maintained a level head when faced with difficult situations, you are intelligent, loyal, you care about your troops and you even dare to make sassy remarks towards your commanding officer. Now that I think about it, you remind me of my own sister.” I noticed Luna wince, as he mentioned his sister, though I don’t know, why she did that. “Therefore, with the authority bestowed upon me by her highness, Princess Celestia, I hereby promote you to the rank of 1st Lieutenant and assign you the role of my second-in-command.” Markus and Mystic Gem saluted before one another and everypony else, including me and the princesses, stomped in applause. When the applause faded, Markus handed her some new markings and then turned around and started marching towards us. One of the Generals, presumably General Pillbox, did the same, meeting him half-way. They both stopped before one another and Markus saluted. “Captain Markus Becker reporting: 6th Guard Regiment, 4th Company awaiting assignment, sir!” “Very well. At ease, captain.” The General said. Markus dropped his salute and shifted into a slightly wider stance. “Henceforth, your designation will be ‘4th forward reconnaissance company’ and you will be assigned to…” I mentally begged to Faust that he may not be sent too far off, as the General spoke about his assignment. “…Ponyville.” All of a sudden, my worries vanished all by themselves. I looked over to my friends, who kindly smiled back at me. All except for Rainbow Dash, who looked just as stunned as I was. We shared a long look, before our faces slowly shifted into a wide smile. Everypony started to applaud and we both quickly joined in. After a few seconds, the applause faded and the General started to talk again. “So, now that the formalities are over with, I am sure that the princesses would like to see a demonstration of your promised new doctrine.” Both, Markus and the General looked over to Celestia, who nodded in response. “As you wish, your highness.” Markus said. “In fact, one part of the new doctrine has already been demonstrated. I am certain that all of you have noticed by now that one of my platoons is missing. That is not an oversight, by all means. I may ask you, to turn around now and face the treeline.” We did as he asked and waited curiously. However, the seconds ticked by and nothing happened. “Well, ah don’t know, whatcha want t’show us over ‘here, but ah don’ see nothing’ but forest.” Applejack remarked after a while. “Charlie Platoon!” Markus suddenly started to scream. “Taaaaaake… RANK!” All of a sudden, the bushes before us started to rustle and then, we saw twenty ponies come out of various different hiding spots in the forest, all covered in different amounts of dirt, leaves and grass. They formed up into two ranks and marched towards the rest of their company, filing themselves into formation. Meanwhile, all of us, even Celestia and Luna, stood speechless for a moment. “Did you see them?” Cadence then whispered to Shining Armor, to which he could only shake his head. “HA! I knew we were being watched!” Rainbow exclaimed, but nopony seemed to really care. “That certainly was impressive.” Celestia remarked. “But what about those new armaments that your ‘soldiers’ seem to bear? Can you give us a demonstration of those?” “Certainly, your highness.” Markus said, giving a bow. He then turned around to his unit. “Alpha Platoon, to the shooting range!” Lt. Bulkhead obliged, commanding his unit to march to the set-up targets and we others followed suit. At the range, the Pegasi were first, lining themselves up and starting to hover, in order to free up their hooves to grab their weapons. Markus waited a few moments, before giving the command to ‘fire’. A series of loud cracks thundered through the forest and we saw glowing rocks fly out of the weapons, just like last time. The pegasi lowered their weapons and Lt. Bulkhead fetched the targets, showing them to us. Each one of them had three holes, which were neatly grouped around the centers, some of them even being bulls-eyes. Next-up were the earth-ponies, which were split into two groups, one with smaller and one with larger weapons. First came the smaller ones. Just like the Pegasi, they lined up, then they unfolded their weapons and on Markus’s mark, they started a hailstorm of sparks flying down the range, the sound volume of which just barely not being painful. Just like the first time, the Lieutenant fetched the targets, which now seemed to consist more of air than of paper. For the second group of earth-ponies, no simple targets were used. Instead, a row of thick logs was positioned on the other end of the range, which the soldiers now took aim to. Again, on Markus’s mark, they let loose a hailstorm of sparks. This time, though, the noise was unbearable and we had to cover our ears in order not to go deaf. When the tirade finally ended, we looked down the range, only to see that the logs had been reduced to mere splinters. The generals went slightly slack jawed at this and even Celestia couldn’t stop a short gasp of surprise to come out. Lastly came the Unicorns and for their demonstration, Markus let the earth-ponies form up in front of them, placing apples on their heads. He then took a few helium balloons out of a crate off to the side and bound one to each unicorn. The Unicorns ignited their horns and I heard a shocked gasp from Cadence, as the earth-ponies took aim at the unicorns. The hailstorm started again and we saw the sparks fly towards the unicorns, only to be stopped by a strong magic shield. When the firing stopped, the unicorns lowered their shields, and picked small ‘pistols’ out of their holsters, with which they then shot at the apples on the earthponies’s heads, each one of them hitting without hurting the pony underneath. The demonstration was over, leaving all of us speechless. All of us, except Celestia. “I must say, a very impressive display, but how do you manage to endure this noise?” “Training, for me at least.” Markus answered. “For them, it’s actually a bit different. You see: when we first used these weapons, most of my soldiers couldn’t bear the noise either, but then Mystic Gem had the idea to enchant the masks with a filter-spell to filter out harmful noises.” “Ah, very clever, indeed.” Celestia complimented. “But, talking about your weapons, as you have shown yourself, they can be deflected by magic shielding. Doesn’t this lower their combat value a good bit?” Markus looked over to her and shook his head. “No, not really. You see: I had these ponies specifically trained to endure the power of these weapons. Normally, a unicorn would falter after just one or two hits. Also, we’ve done some testing on that matter and, like I just said, the 5,56, the smaller ones, are a challenge, but the 37’s, the big ones, are almost impossible to deflect. Also, while you can prepare yourself for an incoming arrow, because you can see it flying, you won’t be so lucky with these, because they move too fast.” Celestia gave a long nod, before looking over to the assembled guard. After a few moments, she thanked Markus for the demonstration and started to head back to Ponyville. Markus assembled his company into parade formation and then we all followed suit. On the way back, I felt more relieved than I had thought possible before. Markus would not be sent to the outskirts of the known world, but stay right here in Ponyville! It was exactly that kind of a romantic twist of fate that would even make me daydream a bit. A Dream, out of which I was promptly ripped by Applejack, trying to get my attention. “Hey, Twilight?” she said, as she nudged my shoulder multiple times. I responded with a slightly dazed hum and a confused glance in her direction. “Ah’ve been thinkin’…” She started again. “Markus’s been station in Ponyville, right?” I gave a slight nod in response, somehow having a very bad feeling about where this was going. “Well, ah mean, it could be that ah missed somethin’, but… ah- ah didn’t know that Ponyville had Guard Barracks?”