Sergeant Quick Search landed next to me on the roof. I looked up at the light red pegasus as he looked down at me. I cringed both from the sunset that was now hitting me in the face and from the increasing feeling of pain.
“Specialist Far Sky? What the Tartarus happened down there? Corporal Bray is saying that you fended off an army of those ugly rats all by yourself!”
“Yeah, something like that,” I grunted.
He tilted his head.
“Are you injured?”
“I landed hard, Sarge. My chest is really starting to hurt.”
I was taking slow, shallow breaths to try to alleviate the pain.
“Oh buck, your previous injuries!”
“Yeah. Hurts bad.”
“Alright. You just stay right here, Sky. I’ll get help.”
He jumped off the roof and batted his wings, flying towards the formation of Guards. There were a lot just standing around now, since they had to use a system of rotations to bring new guards to the two small front lines that actually fought the Lavellan. I watched as he briefly hovered over Dew and Bray before moving off to two pegasi that were watching the fights.
They went and retrieved what looked like a stretcher and followed Search back up to the roof I was on.
“We’re here for ya, kid. We’ll get you checked out.”
“Aren’t there… other hurt ponies?”
“A few,” answered one of the pegasi. “But they’re already getting looked at.”
They placed the stretcher down next to me and I rolled over onto it. My chest was really starting to hurt now, so laying on my back was the only way I could lay down without being in severe pain.
“Fff…. I think I broke a rib or two.”
“Hang tight Specialist,” one of the pegasi ordered.
I expected the flight to be rough and turbulent when he said that, but lifting off and flying through the air was all one smooth process.
“I should live. There’s no need for… all this.”
“You have chest pain, Sky,” Search admonished me. “That means potential damage to your heart. Or internal bleeding. Or both.”
“Lovely,” I replied.
The pegasi set me down next to six other guards of various states of injury, from scratches to bites. A unicorn guard walked over to me and looked me over.
“What’s the situation?”
“Landed hard on my chest. Hurts bad. Broke a few things.”
“Alright, sit tight. You’ll be taken to the hospital soon.”
The unicorn started casting a detection spell on my chest. Since I had received training from Bray Call, I actually recognized the type of spell he was casting rather than assuming what it was. Not that I could cast the high level version that he was, but it was a fun piece of useless information.
“Alright, there doesn’t seem to be any internal bleeding but you did crack three ribs. I’ll give you a numbing spell as you wait for transport.”
“Fun,” I wheezed.
The pain immediately decreased to a barely-tolerable level as the unicorn casted a green-looking spell on my chest. Then the unicorn guard– who obviously had a lot of training in first aid and served as some sort of medic– walked back to his previous patients and Search cleared his throat.
“So….” Sergeant Search trailed off.
“What?”
“You wanna tell us what happened?”
“Us?”
“Us!” Bray answered. I didn’t even notice Bray and Dew coming over, but they were standing next to Search.
“Is now really the time?”
‘One would think that they would wait for me to be put in the damn hospital before interrogating me.’
“Oh sorry, are you busy?” Search asked. “You must be very focused on lying down.”
“Sarge, I’m hurt.”
“You’ve survived worse, right?”
‘They won’t leave me alone, will they?’
“What do you want?”
Bray suddenly appeared an inch in front of my face, “How did you do all that?!”
I tried to lean backwards from her but only succeeded in causing her to close the distance again.
“What?”
“You were all like blam! Boom! Take some of this! Heyah!” She punched the air with her hooves to compliment the onomatopoeia. “And that was after you got thrown up into the air! Like, what?! That was awesome! If you weren’t kicking their flanks so hard, ponies would have gotten hurt! I myself was... You… You saved me! Where did you learn all that?”
“Uh…”
Search added his two bits into the conversation, “Where did you learn all of that? I’m getting the feeling that those dire wolves picked the worst possible unicorn in all of Equestria to pick a fight with.”
A few ponies were starting to gather around me.
“Isn’t the fight still going on?”
There were a few murmurs in the gathering crowd.
Search looked around before answering, “Not really.”
‘Lots of ponies looking at me now. Lots… of… This is bad.’
If it wasn’t for the fact that my entire underside was covered up by armor, this would be the stuff of nightmares for me. There was a reason why no one ever laid on their backs.
Clothes. It was the lack of clothes.
“I don’t like everypony looking at me.”
Search spread out his wings, causing the closest ponies to jerk back.
“Alright everypony, give us some space. There’s no need to suffocate the poor guy, he just saved your flanks!”
“Uh. Thanks for that.”
He looked back down at me.
“If you don’t want to talk right now, that’s fine. But you will have to eventually, you know that, right?”
“I don’t like the attention.”
‘Specifically, I don’t like what comes with it. There’s going to be a lot of questions that I don’t want to answer. Like how the hell I could do any of that. Time to start bullshitting and making an exit plan. How the hell am I supposed to escape– oh wait, I can teleport. That really is a game changer.’
I was really glad that my disguise was often very shy. My lack of answers and my unwillingness to talk was pretty much nothing out of the ordinary. At least, up until I made a heroic stand and saved lives rather than slinked away and avoided attention.
‘Me and my bleeding heart. But I guess this is a good thing? If I was always uncaring for ponies, it would make trying to work with them… untenable.’
“I had hoped I had seen the last of you.”
“Nice to see you too, Doctor Hoarse.”
She sighed and looked at the nurse’s notes. I was back at Hooferville Hospital, laying on my back in bed with a brand new set of bandages on my right shoulder. After taking off the prosthetic, I was treated to a very bloody scene. I guess stomping on the rat was a bad idea as it ripped out a few stitches that had to get replaced, recleaned, and rebandaged.
“Did you at least try to stay out of danger?”
“I stuck to the back lines. Unfortunately, the monsters had the same idea. Some pony had to stop them before they ripped up my fellow guards.”
“... I see. In that case, instead of rebuking you for giving me more work, I’ll have to thank you for saving lives.”
“That’s what they pay me for.”
“Speaking of they, your three guard friends are waiting outside. Are you ready for visitors?”
“As long as the morphine keeps flowing.”
She eyed me suspiciously.
“I hope you don’t get too used to the stuff. Frequent usage can lead to addiction, you know.”
“I’ll keep that in mind and ask the next group of monsters to get a doctors note first before attacking.”
“Hmmm. If staying away from danger doesn’t work, perhaps asking politely will. With your luck, I would be willing to try anything.”
She put the notes back onto the bed frame.
“... Stay safe, Far Sky. You’ve got a nose for trouble, far more trouble than anypony can deal with alone.”
“See you soon, doc.”
Doctor Hoarse rolled her eyes and left, leaving the door open behind her. A minute later, Search, Bray, and Dew all walked in sans armor and weapons.
“Deja vu,” I said.
They chuckled as they stopped at the foot of the bed.
“So. Feeling like explaining now?” Search started the conversation.
“I don’t know of any excuses not to.”
Bray frowned, “What’s there to avoid, Sky? You just saved my flanks, and the flanks of a number of us guards who were in the back line! I’d bet the Captain will give you a medal for that!”
Search nodded, “The Captain does want to see you later this afternoon. I suspect he’ll drop by before heading home for the day.”
‘Ah fuck, I had rather hoped to avoid dealing with the brass.’
“I don’t want a medal.”
“But you deserve one!” Bray argued.
“I was just doing the job you paid me for.”
“Thank Celestia for that!” Search cheered. The other two ponies nodded.
“Even if you don’t accept a medal, there’ll be guards who will want to thank you personally. And a lot more who will want you to teach them some moves,” Dew added.
“So where did you learn that sword spell, Sky?” Bray asked. She undoubtedly wanted to learn the spell herself.
“... I learned it growing up.”
Search of course pointed out the strangeness of that, “You learned how to cast war spells in Fillietown? Where and why does a unicorn in small town Equestria learn war spells?”
I had formulated a backup plan on the journey here to the hospital, as well as during my physical check-up. If necessary, I would pull Luna into this to cover my ass, but I had hoped to keep this as low and quiet as possible.
“... Family tradition.”
“And why does your family have a tradition of learning combat spells? You’re certainly not from one of those upper class Canterlot Houses. I’d have recognized your accent if you did. Name and Cutie Mark, too.”
“No.”
“So…?”
“I’m afraid I’m not allowed to say.”
Two of the three guards immediately became confused. Dew on the other hoof, became suspicious. Little bits of fear and anger were telltale signs that he suspected that something was up. In fact, I suspected he was always suspicious of me. His body language didn’t change one bit when I said that.
“Not allowed?” Bray and Search asked at the same time.
“Tradition forbids it.”
Search pressed a hoof to his temple, “Wait, so you have a tradition to train in combat spells and also a tradition to not speak about it?”
“More than that, but yes.”
“You’re not really from Fillietown, are you?” Dew asked.
“... No.”
Bray and Search shared a look.
Search asked, “Then where are you from?”
“I cannot say.”
“Can’t? Or won’t?”
“Is there a difference?”
“Sky, please. We just want to understand what’s going on. If you keep being this mysterious, ponies will start to think you’re a… you know. A changeling.”
I scoffed, “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“You know combat spells even before entering the Guard and you have a mysterious past that you keep secret. It’s getting hard to draw conclusions other than that.”
I looked out the window. Unlike this room, the view this time was the roof of the nextdoor building. Not a very interesting sight, unfortunately.
“I suppose we do have some things in common with changelings. For one, we have kept our existence a secret. I don’t look like my family, but I was born and raised as one of them. We share the same blood, after all.”
I looked back to the guards. They were hopelessly confused. Dew was still looking at me with a slightly grumpy expression, though.
“I am allowed to share some facts. My mother was a unicorn. She died during giving birth to me. My father, my siblings, and the rest of my family… They are all thestrals.”
“What’s a thestral?” Bray asked.
“We– they are pegasi of the night. Sworn servants of the Moon herself, we withdrew from the world after the… civil war.”
“Never heard of them,” Search said plainly.
“That was the idea. Day ponies would forget our existence, and leave themselves– ah, I forget myself. Just know that we chose to be forgotten.”
“Okay…” Search said slowly. “So your thestral family trained you in combat?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
I shifted around uncomfortably.
“I am not allowed to say.”
Dew cleared his throat, “Were you some kind of warrior or something?”
I looked at Dew in faux shock.
“Perhaps.”
“A warrior of your ponies? Why did you leave?” Search asked, looking for answers.
“It was not by choice. A change in hierarchy led to a change in policies, and… They disagreed with my continued presence.”
“So all that horrible stuff that happened to your family–” Bray started.
“Was a lie.” I finished. “My father was protecting me from the stigma against non-thestrals within and without our family. Once he was out of the picture, my uncle attempted to fill the gap. I suspect that there was foul play in his death.”
“Murder?” Bray gasped.
“Fear and jealousy are far more potent motivations than kindness and acceptance, Bray.”
“Why would anypony want to hurt you or your family?”
“As I said, fear and jealousy. It wasn’t only the fact that I was the lone unicorn in a massive community of thestrals. There was something else, something I really cannot speak of.”
“Did you piss off somepony famous or powerful?” Search probed.
“Heheh, as a matter of fact, the most powerful pony within the tribe.”
“Who? How? Why?”
“I cannot answer these questions, only know that I left in the middle of the day to escape a potentially early death. That is to say, I essentially ran away in the middle of the night.”
“Thestrals are nocturnal?”
“Yes.”
“Wait, so do you know spells that only thestrals know? Spells long lost to history that nopony else knows?” Bray asked excitedly.
“I know a fraction of our accumulated knowledge, yes,” I answered.
“I’ve been teaching you our spells. Could you teach me some of yours?”
“I… have never been a teacher of knowledge.”
“Surely you have something you can teach me? Please?”
Bray stared at me with big eyes, a large pouty frown, and spoke with an increasingly softer voice.
“... I suppose there is one or two spells–”
“YES! Ahem, thank you so much Sky! I promise you won’t regret it!”
“I am already regretting it. Still, it should go without saying that nothing I said today leaves this room.”
Search rubbed the back of his neck, “You’re going to have to tell the Captain all of this. You know that, right?”
“Ah. I had forgotten about him. Yeah… Uh… I trust you guys–” ‘Sorta,’ “– but I don’t know what the Captain is really like. How do I know if he will not pass this information along to his superiors? This is no small act of, again, trust.”
Search and Bray smiled. Dew squinted for a second before relaxing his features.
“I’m glad to see that you trust us, Sky.” Search beamed. “I promise we’ll keep this a secret and look out for you.”
“But the Captain?”
“We don’t lie to our superiors,” Dew responded coolly.
“I can vouch for Captain Lance,” Search interrupted our burgeoning argument. “I know he’s trustworthy. He and I go back, as far back as Bray and I. He won’t tell his superiors back in Canterlot if he doesn’t have to. After all, he answers directly to Captain Shining Armor, who is off fighting a war and has little time for his underlings.”
I rolled my jaw, “If you trust him… I suppose I must as well.”
‘As soon as I see Luna again, I’m grilling for as much information about thestrals as possible. This is going to be very awkward and bad if it turns out that they don’t even have families, or that they actually are not nocturnal.’
My backstory had been pieced together from what I thought I remembered about the mysterious ponies that Luna had described on very rare occasions. They seemed like tribalistic vampires, though I doubted the complete truth of that.
“Can you tell us what life was like back with your family?” Search requested.
“I’d rather not, even if I was allowed to.”
“If you left, why are you still following their rules?”
“They exist to protect us. There’s good ponies that would be potentially hurt if I started talking…”
“I see… Well then, I guess we’ll come back tomorrow. I’m sure you’ll be discharged with an order of having to sit down all day for the next few days, at least. I’m sure you’ll heal up just as quickly as last time thanks to the skill of this hospital and their healing magic. In the meantime, get ready to do a lot of paperwork!”
I groaned.
Captain Lance did indeed come to my room later that afternoon. Cleaning up the breach must have put him in quite the bad mood because when the white earth pony stomped into my room he just looked at me silently for a whole minute before speaking.
“You saved lives, Specialist.”
“I suppose I did.”
I mentally prepared myself to rehash my faked thestral origin story to the large pony.
“... I admit I saw you as nothing but Sergeant Quick Search’s pet project up until today. Or if you’d prefer, a drain on taxpayer funds. I am thankful that you proved me wrong, far more wrong than I’ve ever been. Your help with the shield and your stand against the rearguard attack bought priceless time for us to get ready and counterattack. There is no doubt in my mind that there would have been serious injuries and likely deaths had you not kept the shield up, or simply retreated when they attacked from behind us.. If it were up to me, I’d pin a Bronze Star on your chestplate and give you the week off.”
“It isn’t up to you?”
He leaned back and nodded towards the door to my room, which lay out of my sight.
“There’s two ponies who just came into town today who want to ask you a few questions. I’m sorry son, but I’m afraid you have to answer all of their questions, and you are not allowed to leave until they are satisfied.”
He stepped back and made room for two new occupants.
One was a teal unicorn with a white and green mane, blue eyes, and a Cutie Mark of a magic wand that sparkled at the end. The other was a grey earth pony with a black mane and no Cutie Mark. He did, however, have a strange collar around the base of his neck.
It was the teal unicorn who spoke.
“Hello Specialist Far Sky. I am Cogent Flourish. I am here on behalf of Division-P to ask you a few questions. I would appreciate honesty in this matter, as it would make things nice and easy.”
‘Division-P?’
Captain Lance was annoyed. He was annoyed likely due to these ponies’ intrusion and the mountain of work he still had to do today.
Cogent Flourish was calm. She wasn’t feeling any particular emotion at the moment, except perhaps a hint of annoyance of having to come all this way from Canterlot.
The third unnamed pony did not feel anything. That was because he was a disguised changeling. Or, judging by the collar on his neck, a caught changeling.