13 December 1008
They’d switched trains at Canterlot, and now they sped across the plains of the southern Great Basin as the afternoon turned to the evening. Sunset had long since finished her book on the finer points of soul magic - one of many books she’d collected from the Royal Canterlot Archives months earlier - but she kept pretending she was still reading it. It was decidedly more fun than staring out the window, or attempting to converse with her two companions.
Suddenly, Twinkle stood up. ‘’I’m going to the toilet,’’ he announced, and then he was gone.
Finally, some peace.
Sunset waited for a few more seconds after the door had closed behind the stallion, and then she put her book down. ‘’So.’’
Sweetie’s eyes snapped towards her. ‘’What?’’
‘’Why you?’’
Sweetie looked at, brow furrowed, before shaking her head. ‘’I don’t know.’’
‘’Come now,’’ Sunset said, ‘’surely she told you her reasons? Or you suspect them, at the very least. Nightmare Moon is many things, but she is not someone who acts without cause.’’
‘’Maybe,’’ Sweetie agreed, ‘’but she only told me that I was powerful magically - which I guess is true? She also told me that since I haven’t really had any proper magical education, she would have an easier time teaching me?’’
Sunset considered that. ‘’I don’t fully agree, but I can see her logic. And of course, being able to train you herself has its advantages. Where she’d find the time though, I have no idea,’’
‘’I don’t know either.’’ Sweetie sighed. ‘’I don’t know anything, that’s the problem.’’
‘’If Nightmare Moon wants you as her apprentice, she sees something in you. As do I.’’
‘’You said earlier that you were going to offer me an apprenticeship. Why?’’
‘’Because I think I see the same things that she sees. You have potential, Sweetie, more than you realise. You’re young, you’re smart and you’ve got power, you just don’t know how to use it properly. I recognise that from someone else.’’
‘’Who?’’
Sunset smiled. ‘’She was a unicorn too, but she didn’t have friends or family, like you do. So when Princess Celestia took her in, she did her very best to please her. And when that didn’t work…’’
‘’You see yourself in me?’’
‘’I was not aware my history with Celestia was public knowledge.’’
‘’It was a guess.’’
‘’I’m sure. But yes, I do see myself in you. And I think that you could be like me, though I do pray you do not end up making the same mistakes I did. I paid for mine, I hope you shall never have to do the same.’’
‘’What sort of mistakes?’’
‘’The kind of mistakes you can’t fix with a song and dance recital.’’
Sweetie considered that, then nodded slowly. ‘’Alright. So, any tips?’’
Sunset grinned.
The train rushed onwards through the landscape. It would be far more interesting if Shrouded hadn’t already seen most of said landscape before. As it stood, he watched it pass by mostly because off-shift he had nothing better to do.
Besides him, Misty yawned. ‘’Boring, isn’t it?’’
‘’Just a tad,’’ Shrouded agreed. ‘’At least there’s drinks.’’ The train’s catering had been ever so kind to provide them a whole bottle of chilled mango juice, and they had been enjoying it for over an hour.
‘’At least there’s drinks,’’ Misty echoed, before taking a long sip from her glass. ‘’Good drinks too.’’
‘’Now I know where the budget went.’’
Misty snorted. ‘’Must have cost a fortune to import mangos here.’’
‘’Aren’t there financial issues in this nation?’’
‘’Eh, who cares. We’re still getting paid, no one’s rioting, and we’ve got mighty fine mango juice here. Things could be worse.’’
True that.
Shrouded tipped his head in acknowledgement, then set about consuming his own drink. It was still delicious.
‘’So, what do we do once we get back to Crystal City?’’ he asked after a few minutes of content silence.
‘’Get on duty again,’’ Misty replied between sips of her drink, ‘’and make sure no one gets into the Palace.’’
‘’I love work.’’
‘’Hey, you volunteered for it.’’
‘’I volunteered for action and to serve the Empress.’’
‘’And you are doing just that.’’
‘’I’m not getting any action.’’
‘’You can get that tonight.’’
‘’I’ll take you up on that,’’ Shrouded said, and then someone opened the door.
‘’Good day,’’ Captain Darkheart greeted as he strode in. ‘’I’ve just come back from a most enlightening conversation with the Governess’ secretary. How have things been here?’’
‘’We have mango juice,’’ was all Shrouded needed to say to answer that question.
Darkheart’s eyes narrowed. ‘’Give.’’
Shrouded handed over the bottle. ‘’Here you go.’’
‘’Much obliged.’’ Darkheart took a swig straight from the bottle and let out a content sigh immediately after swallowing. ‘’Just what I needed.’’
‘’Isn’t it?’’ Misty remarked. ‘’Anyhoo, how long until we reach Crystal City?’’
‘’It’ll be late at night. Close to midnight, probably,’’ Darkheart answered, before taking another swig. ‘’This is really good. I want two.’’
‘’Go to the bar. It’s three cabins down.’’
‘’I will do that, I think. I need alcohol too, for a day like this. Pray you never get promoted to Captain.’’
‘’I’m perfectly happy as a Sergeant, thank you,’’ Shrouded remarked dryly. ‘’The pay’s adequate, the job is not too boring, and I get to watch you do all the boring work.’’
‘’I can and will demote you.’’
‘’That will just give me more time to watch you.’’
‘’You are insufferable.’’
‘’You’re both idiots,’’ Misty spoke up, before snagging Shrouded’s glass and draining it of juice. ‘’Case in point.’’
‘’I was drinking that!’’ Shrouded exclaimed.
‘’You were, then I was, and now there is nothing to drink.’’ Misty’s grin was shit-eating.
‘’Urgh. Why do I put up with you two.’’
Darkheart chuckled. ‘’The pay is good, or so I hear.’’
The pillow that went soaring towards his head was, in Shrouded’s opinion, a deserved punishment.
The answer he got to that, however - several pillows at his head - were not deserved. Not deserved at all.