//------------------------------// // Chapter 10, Part 2: Confessions can lead to startling revelations. // Story: Colonel Hooves and the Empire of Crystal // by KarmaSentinal //------------------------------// “It’s not working..the whole outfit needs to be resized!” Topaz yelled as she fumbled with the dress blouse, trying to unbutton the few she managed to fasten as I moved next to hear and grabbed hold of her hooves.  “Nervousness. Trepidation. Doubt.” I noted Topaz’s..our feelings. My landlord turned friend, turned companion, dropped her hooves to let me button up the remainder of her dress blouse. “I find these accurate.” “At least I’m not alone.” She muttered before raising her head and gave me a warm nuzzle. “Just until the speech is over, then I’m to join Sergeant Shifting Winds for a general inspection of the recruits. This is where you come in.” “Oh, really? And what could a simple professor of Entomology be needed for?”  Topaz left me once I had finished buttoning her blouse, twirling around once as her wings hummed with a playfulness. I started to follow the happy pegasus out of the dressing rooms located next to the training field, the sweetness of her newfound merriment washing away the old concerns. “The recruits are skittish, we hope you could distract them with a riveting tale of daring and adventure- Bugisher and the Queen Bee’s trap.” Topaz’s excitement was waning a little, but quickly rebound as she spun around to face me while walking backward. “Which one?” another smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, earning my interest.  “There’s more than one?” Impossible. When could they have had the time to orchestrate a conflict while escaping notice? “You might find out during the inspection…” Topaz sang while doing one more spin before resuming her trot along next to me. “Perhaps you should be the one giving the speech, you are the poster mare after all.” Her positivity was infectious, and had always left me feeling more sporadic, and energetic.  A side-effect both of us have theorized formed from our symbiotic lifestyle revolving around her providing the love and happiness needed for my survival, while I did everything to ‘eat’ the negativity afflicting Topaz. A system we have slowly worked on since first establishing our living arrangements, and continually having to adjust since our agreement to become a more traditional familial unit.   “As if! You’re not slinking out of this that easily.” She emphasized this by sticking her tongue out. “It was merely a suggestion given your prominence on the recruiting poster and natural speaking skills as a professor. I simply wanted to better the chances of this being a great success.” Topaz didn’t buy this feeble attempt, and let me know it with a lite, ‘humph’. “You’ve been hanging round the princesses too much, you’re developing a silver tongue”   “No more than is required of me, I find the taste to be lacking.” I stuck my own tongue out to show Topaz, who looked confused before lightly smacking me with a wing. “These jokes are becoming more natural, I fear what is to come if you should master them.” Exposure to this hidden knowledge had eluded me for a number of years before, but for a reason unknown to me Night Light, Shining Armor’s father, had taken both of us under his tutelage. In the hive, this was an unknown privilege, but under ponykind it is a deeply ingrained belief to pass on the knowledge of their forebears; because of my friendship to Shining Armor and lack of a patriarchal figure, his father bestowed upon me the privilege of learning the ancient power of ‘dad jokes’.  I’ll forever be grateful for this trust, and have sought to inject some of his teachings into my daily interactions. I hope to make all dads, past, present, and future proud.  “Would you like to hear another one?” I asked, wanting to get a little more practice. “Alright, another one wouldn’t hurt. Whatcha got?” Topaz moved closer to better hear more of the ancient tradition. “Do you know why Lady Applejack is an authority on apples? It’s because she’s an expert in her field.”  “That’s pretty bad Idol, but cute.” “It’s this expertise that allows Lady Applejack to sort a good apple from a bad apple.”  I felt pride with that one, and even more when the warming touch of affection mixed with a pinch of exasperation. Not every pun would be received well, but the good ones will trot the fine line of humor and the need to attend clown school and I’m glad to say the lessons were paying off.  “Ok..ok. I don’t know if you’re serious or trying…” her laughter won out, making her hide her muzzle behind her wings.  “As it should be.” I stuck my chest the rest of the way to our meet up with Shining Armor, proud to have successfully used what Night Light had taught.    “The turn out..turned out.” Shining Armor said as the three of us looked through one of the windows of the complex the guard used to change and store their training equipment.  I didn’t reply as I observed the nearly full training field worth of cadets herded into a loose formation of sorts. Never had I imagined a turn out of this magnitude or one radiating so much positivity I felt nauseous standing this far way. Topaz had a good idea what I might be feeling, but Shining took the paleness as anxiety.  “You’ll get used to the attention, I know I did once I was made Captain of the Guard and married Cadence.” I had to move slowly to avoid losing my already lite lunch.  “Duty requires some amount of sacrifice, but what if the one having to make the sacrifice doesn’t seek the attention?” “Well…” Shining looked thoughtful as he sorted the words he wanted to use, before gesturing toward the field full of ponies and shrugged.  “... don’t get promoted?” “I’ll strive to do better in the future.”   “Try, being the word.” Topaz added. I didn’t even try hiding my disappointment. Not at their teasing, but the understanding that may not be possible for much longer.  Before my own ascension to the dormant rank of Colonel, Captain of the Guard was the highest rank a pony could hope to receive during their service to the princesses, but with Shining Armor’s marriage to Princess Cadence that changed- prince was now the highest rank a pony could earn. Until the authenticity of the rumors could be fully validated, I will happily assume my supposed marriage to Princess Celestia is just the wishful thinking of others, and not some ancient decree.   Not willing to stir these worries anymore, I decided the need to move had been reached, and we were ready to begin with the opening ceremony for the open enlistment.  “Shall we begin?” I asked my companions, who took their eyes off the field to answer.  “I’ve been ready since Cady and I first arrived.” “This uniform is starting to itch.” Happy with their answers, I inhaled a great breath of air and slowly released it along with any doubts and worries not related to today. “Then let us go forth, and replenish the ranks.”  The moment the three of us stepped outside was when the entire field erupted into unrestrained excitement. Shining Armor was used to the attention and fell into a sort of auto pilot by waving and smiling at the gathered ponies, while Topaz was still learning to deal with the increased attention shied away from the front to be a bit closer to me. Unintentionally, the pegasus’s action drew even more attention to us as they tried to get a better look at the ‘famous’ couple, with most either having missed the welcoming parade, or having only seen the recruitment posters.    Their reasons are their own, but it was becoming harder to focus as the metaphorical blizzard of positivity pelted the stage. “I’m full.” “Don’t you dare start chickening out now, this was your idea!” Topaz whispered as she tried mimicking Shining Armor’s movement, while I tried to keep from expelling the excess love by changeling resin.    “Never, but I’m afraid what would happen if we wait any...” I stopped, almost ejecting some resin. “...any longer.”  Not wanting to risk revealing myself, nor be seen in an embarrassing position I inhaled a deep breath of the clean empire air and took some steps forward. The potential recruits noticed, and started settling down as Topaz and myself made for the little podium and magically enchanted microphone graciously provided for this important event. I stood in front of the mic while Topaz decided to take a spot on my right, shifting her attention between me and the mass of ponies below before finding her smile and began waving to them. Shining Armor had ceased his own greetings, and with a wave and nod, gestured in my direction. With no clearer sign, I said a small prayer to Celestia and the Order above and proceeded with my speech. “Are you willing to fight and die to protect her majesty, Princess Celestia, may the light shine forever on her? That was the very question they asked me when I joined the Royal Guard.” I’m not sure why I suddenly recalled those exact words, but as I looked out into their expecting faces I felt they were appropriate.  “That question is what propelled me into a career I’ve come to cherish, and couldn’t imagine pursuing anything else…” I paused to gauge their reactions, noting their interest before continuing. “...but what is right for me, may not be for you. If I should ask you the very same question, would you accept?”  I couldn’t explain where or how I came up with a confession turned speech, but the words seemed to flow out at a pace that held no restriction, nor desire to be dammed up. The free expressions of joy and positivity were muted as the gathered ponies digested my question, and when I noticed a few becoming restless in the silence did I start again. “I am a ch..pony that stumbled his way before you, and would continue to do so if my princesses asked me. To join the guard isn’t a choice a pony makes on a whim, but when they feel compelled to give back to the ones that have given them everything.” The movement beside me wasn’t completely lost to me, but I couldn't take the time to acknowledge their presence.  “To join and serve is to do so without doubt of the possibilities that could befall a pony, and the understanding your square shoulders will be the foundations of your city.” Where was all of this coming from? How could I, a changeling living in a pony world comprehend the words I was passing along to these recruits when I joined on an impulse? “As a pony who joined to better serve the princess, now princesses, I do so without any aspirations of glory or grander than the knowledge my service is enough. This understanding is enough to ease my heart and mind when I enter Luna’s quiet realm, or step outside into Celestia’s welcoming rays.”     I could feel those very rays watching over everypony here as we entered the final stages of what I wanted to say before we could officially begin taking enlistment oaths.  “The Guard will push many creatures to their very limits, testing not only their bodies, but the strength of their morality. Don’t make this decision lightly. Thank you.” As quickly as the words came they were gone. After finishing my impromptu speech, and taking a step back from the podium I finally managed to blink, and regain familiarity of the world around me. I knew how and why I was here, but I couldn't recall most of my speech in greater detail than simply claiming I gave a speech. To further add to this discomfort, the entirety of the field was silently watching me with a silence normally reversed to process a pony’s botch efforts.  I turned to my left and to my right to see if Shining, and Topaz’s reactions matched the gathered crowd… The emotions hit one all at once with enough force to stun my senses, and the next thing I could feel was a pair of hooves wrapping around my neck and a separate one patting my left withers.  “THAT WAS AMAZING IDOL! WHEN DID YOU HAVE TIME TO WRITE THAT SPEECH?” “AND CADENCE SAID SPIDERS & CATACOMBS WAS A WASTE OF TIME! BARD SPEECH FOR THE WIN!” Their words were mashed together making it hard for me to understand what they had said as they pelted my back, and crushed my neck at once. So much noise was assaulting my ears at once, I couldn’t regain control of my senses for another few minutes, but once I did their need to yell became apparent.  The entire stadium was alive with yelling, clapping, and hoof stomping with unaccounted for confetti, and streamers falling from the sky onto the ponies below. My own recruitment was never met with a grand celebration of any merit save for Topaz and Honey Dew giving their own congratulations, but what escapes me is why I’m the target and not the recruits?  It was becoming too much. I felt myself being overwhelmed by all of this attention, and starting to fight Shining and Topaz’s hold over me, but the more I backed away the more the hugs, back patting, and overall affection came my way. The amount was overwhelming me until something clicked, and I saw something... I was beginning to see flashes of their wedding again, but unlike the nightmares that pursued me throughout Canterlot Castle during the night, I was in the city proper. I..it was crying, hiding amongst the debris as the buzzing overhead drowned everything else. It was brief, but the scene changed to it flying uncontrollably through the air. This too morphed, revealing branches and leaves, and guards down below looking frantically for something before the world became a single blur of trees and bushes before hitting a solid streak of blue, then nothing.  The blue faded to solid fields of white snow, and a bright light in the far distance.  “...ign my flank!” I re-entered the world in time to find myself being hurried away through the doors I just exited earlier.  During that unexplained daydream, the field of recruits got riled up, and some of Idoll fans tried rushing the stage. Unfortunately, Topaz wasn’t spared from the attention as an equal amount of the crowd split off for her with Deputy Affectionate dolls previously concealed. My stupor hindered our reaction, and nearly got us caught by the hyperactive ponies, but once more Shining Armor’s shield and teleport spells saved us.  While the rest of the guard fended off the herd of fans and recruits, I struggled to fully understand what I had just seen. I knew it wasn’t a daydream in the pony sense, but an actual string of memories experienced by another creature during and after the Royal Wedding. What frightened me wasn’t the fact I invaded another’s private thoughts without their consent, but the way these memories were present to me. They were, willingly or not, being shared with me by another creature.  ‘Another changeling.’