A groan from my stomach broke my train of thought, as it was probably a bit past lunchtime. Quickening my trot I went to get a snack from Sugarcube Corner, on the way back to the castle. Twilight will be able to convince them to take on other roles. She's been friends with them longer than I have and it’ll work out that way.
Coming up on Sugarcube Corner, the outside of the store was emptier than usual. Poking my head in through the doors there were only the three slightly taller than myself crusaders ordering from Mr. Cake with a couple of odd ponies in the booths. Attempting to quietly line up behind the trio proved to be unsuccessful, as Scootaloo noticed me.
“Hey, Anon!” Scootaloo greeted me.
“Hey yourselves too, Scoots, Bloom, Belle. School out earlier or is Cheerilee signing up to go to fight today too?”
“Hey, Ahnon. Miss Cheerilee let us all out earlier than normal so we could spend time with family before they signed up.” Apple Bloom explained.
“Makes sense. Glad Cheerilee isn’t jumping on the war wagon like the rest of town. What about all of you, how are you all holding up since the declaration on saturday?”
“Well, we’re too young to join the military, though we did try.” Sweetie Belle admits, carrying a tray of milkshakes with her magic over to a booth. “Will you join us?”
“For a few minutes sure, I’m just grabbing a snack, then heading back to the castle.”
“Can I get an old fashioned muffin, Mr. Cake?” I asked, reaching into my saddlebags for the bits.
“Sure thing, Anon. Did you get those arrangements for Twilight?” Mr. Cake gestures to the flowers in Anon’s saddlebags.
“No, for dinner later with Starlight and one of the new guardsmares on a camping trip.”
“That sounds nice.” Mr. Cake said as he grabbed a muffin from one of the shelves on the wall behind the counter and traded it with me for seven bits. “Thanks, Anon, see you later.”
“Cheers, Mr. Cake.” I bit into the relatively plain muffin savoring the moistness of it for a few seconds before awkwardly walking up to the booth with the crusaders, on three legs.
“Hey, you three didn’t answer my question earlier. How are you all doing since the declaration on saturday?” I asked again.
Apple Bloom was first to answer, “Applejack says I gotta help Big Mac around the farm while she goes off to fight. I wanna help Equestria out too!” Apple Bloom groans. “I don’t want to be cooped up doing nothing for a whole war for the first time in centuries.”
“That’s a fair point. It can be agonizing if you don’t feel you have the power to change things.” I turned to Sweetie Belle as I continued eating my muffin.
“Rarity says we wouldn’t be able to help even if we wanted to. She says we just need to wait and let the grown up ponies handle everything.” Sweetie Belle pauses. “I don’t know what to do, we asked Miss Cheerilee when Equestria was at war last and she had to get this really old dusty book out to check. It’s kind of annoying when there’s no grown up or book that can give advice on what to do.”
I nodded as Sweetie explained her reasoning before finally looking at Scootaloo, who was quietly working on her milkshake.
Scootaloo stopped slurping through the straw for a few seconds to offer her thoughts, “I don’t like it. Rainbow has to leave to fight some Changelings who are hungry and can’t eat or something.” Scootaloo pulled on the lower part of her eyelids, in frustration. “Can’t we just trade love or something to the Changelings so we don’t have to fight?” She grumbled and went back to nursing her milkshake.
Finishing my muffin I spoke, “If I were to wager a guess I’d say that was already tried and it didn’t work.” I took a deep breath. “I know you three are going to try doing some crazy ideas regardless of what I tell you to do or recommend you to do.” And now for the lie. “But promise me if you do come up with something, you’ll at least tell me so I can help out maybe?” I smiled at the trio.
“Are you trying to pull something on us, Ahnon?” Apple Bloom queried. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo looked at me skeptically as well.
“I’m just trying to look out for you three is all.” I paused for effect. Now to reel them in. “Think of me as another pony to bounce ideas off of, that’s all.” I smiled again and closed my eyes. Come on, take a bite.
“Well, I guess we don’t have any ideas yet...” Scootaloo said looking at Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom.
“But if we get any ideas or plans thought up we can let you know,” Sweetie Belle conceded.
Apple Bloom nodded, “But you better come up with some ideas too, alright?” She asked.
“That won’t be a problem. I’ve got a couple I can share later. I should get going or Twilight’s going to transform my hide,” I said, causing the three fillies to laugh.
“Okay well get going then Ahnon, we’ll see you later,” Applebloom said as I started to make my way to the door.
“Bye Anonymous!”
“Goodbye Anon!”
“See you three later!” I called out before exiting out the door.
Making my way back to the castle was slower as I opted to detour around the sign up parade on market street. It also seemed a bit hotter as the lack of cloud cover meant there was little to no respite from the sun. Did the temperature go up or am I imagining things? A good thirty minutes later and I was once again at the doors to Twilight’s castle. Two guards stood outside, and they made no attempt to hide their amusement from me.
“Hello, Anonfilly, get everything for your camping trip?~” The pegasus guardstallion on my right said in a singsong voice.
I scowled at him, “Can I get in without playing twenty questions today, or are you gonna share the misery of Celestia’s unclouded day with me?”
The unicorn guardsmare on the left giggled, “That face is adorable!”
“I’m going in now,” I said ignoring the pair.
I proceeded in through the two large doors unimpeded by the pair. Looking around the main hall of the castle I saw Twilight had put the tents into some old large saddlebags by a corner. Approaching I carefully removed my own saddlebags with the bread, flowers, s’more kits and probably a teeny number of bits and placed them with the stockpiled gear. Satisfied that everything was in order for when we needed to leave, I proceeded to the map room. Did Twilight say she was having a meeting now or in the evening? Going down the hall to the map room there was a unicorn and earth pony guardsmare standing outside. Walking up before them I smiled.
“Greetings guardsmares, is Princess Twilight in there having a meeting right now? I don’t remember if her meeting with Celestia and Luna is now or this evening,” I asked.
The guardsmares looked at each other briefly before the earth pony on the left spoke, “Princess Twilight is currently busy in a different meeting right now with military officials. Did you need to relay a message to her?”
“Yes, tell her I need to speak with her in regards to Old Pink, Gummy, Winona and Tank,” I answered. The guardsmare raised an eyebrow. “She’ll know what I’m talking about. This isn’t urgent, so maybe if there’s a lull in the meeting or it concludes soon just mention it to her. I’ll be in the library.”
The guardsmare nodded. “Got it. Stay out of trouble, Anonymous.”
Turning back down the hall I walked to the far end of the castle where the library was. At least the inside of the castle is cool. Might have to cancel pulling tricks if it’s going to be this hot all summer. Arriving at a double door flanked by two unicorn guardstallions, I gave them a nod before going inside. The library was completely empty, save for one pale pink unicorn reading a book at the center table.
“Hey commie!” I called out to Starlight Glimmer, approaching her.
“Hey, Anon,” Starlight said, turning her head to me. “Twilight said I’m accompanying you and one of the new guardsmares on an impromptu overnight camping trip.”
“Yeah sorry about that, if I had known beforehoof what the punishment was, I would’ve done something else.”
Starlight looked at me disapprovingly before asking, “Did you get all the food for this sudden overnight trip?”
“Got it all and then some, even got some marigolds for you.” I answered sitting down on my haunches next to her, noticing a tome she was reading from.
Catching up on some reading, Starlight?
“Oh thank you. What else did you get?” Starlight turned to me.
“Lilacs, lilies, petunias, sourdough and some s’more kits. I figured the standard perennials for our thestral company. She suggested flower sandwiches.”
“What about stuff to drink?”
Buck.
I grimaced before speaking, “Shoot I didn’t even think of that.”
“It’s alright Anon, I’ll just grab some water canteens before we go.” Starlight offered a smile.
“Should've thought of it, especially since it's so hot out today.”
“It does seem warmer than usual, you got your head in the clouds today?”
“Just thinking about the ponies I saw lining up at the recruiting office today. They seemed so enthusiastic, and naive.”
“Naive?” Starlight cocked her head.
“It just reminds me of the attitude of people to an old war back where I came from,” I frowned. “I don’t want that to happen here, to my friends.”
Starlight placed a hoof on my back and rubbed it. “It doesn’t benefit you to worry over stuff like that Anon. I know you’re probably agonizing over it, but you shouldn’t worry.”
“I can’t help it,” I said leaning into the backrub. I remained quiet for a minute before speaking again, “Can we talk about something else? What are you reading there?”
Starlight stopped her rubbing and levitated the large book to the edge of the table. “A comprehensive after action report of the Stalliongrad rebellion, by Stubborn Hoof.” She read.
“Not exactly light reading material. Why are you reading it?”
“Twilight wants me to get up to speed with Stalliongrad-Equestrian history and relations, I think she intends to leverage the small experiment I was running in the Severyanian countryside to have me fulfill some sort of diplomatic role.”
“Wow, that sounds pretty important. Are you nervous?” I looked curiously at her.
“I am a bit, I want to make sure I’m not missing any details if Twilight wants me to serve as a diplomat.”
“Twilight wants to send you to Stalliongrad, to try and normalize diplomatic relations or something?”
“That’s my best guess,” Starlight said, shrugging.
“Makes sense to send somepony they kind of know, I guess.”
“Well to be fair I didn’t actu-” Starlight stopped talking as the doors to the library swung open to Twilight Sparkle, Pewter Prancer entering with a pair of unicorn guards.
“Sorry! Did we interrupt?” Twilight Sparkle asked, trotting into the room with Prancer.
“I think we’ll have to delay the revolution by a few days, comrade Glimmer,” I said standing and turning with Starlight, while giving a big dramatic wink. Twilight rolled her eyes.
“Did you grab everything, Anonfilly?” Twilight queried.
“Forgot stuff to drink but, Starlight said she’d magic up some canteens with water for us,” I looked at Starlight who gave an affirmative nod.
“Alright, seeing as I’ll be in a meeting with the princesses in an hour I think you can be dismissed for now Pewter,” Twilight turned to the thestral pony who gave a salute.
“Pewter Prancer?” Starlight asked. “I’m Starlight Glimmer, it’s nice to meet you.”
Peter Prancer offered a salute to Starlight and spoke, “pleasure to meet a colleague of the Princess.”
Starlight chuckled and smiled before speaking again, “I’m not military or royalty, so you don’t have to salute me, Pewter.”
Pewter dropped the salute and smiled awkwardly. “Sorry I’m pretty new around the castle,” she answered.
“That’s alright Pewter I don’t think anyone expects you to be perfect on day one,” Starlight reassured her.
“Are we going to head out now? Or are we going to wait for the sun to get a bit lower?” I asked, looking between Starlight and Pewter.
“Now seems fine,” Pewter answered to which Starlight nodded.
“Well if you two want to go grab the camping gear while I talk with Anon here about something quickly; that’d be great,” Twilight suggested.
“Not a problem, Twilight. See you in a few, Anon,” Starlight answered, trotting out of the library with Pewter.
When the library was empty save for the two unicorn guards and Twilight I looked up to her as she approached closely.
“So what’s the deal with Rainbow, Applejack and Pinkie? And who did you mean by Old Pink?” Twilight asks.
“Rainbow, Applejack and Pinkie were in the line up outside the recruiting office this morning. I tried to dissuade them from joining up but I didn’t exactly get anywhere,” I answered distressingly. Twilight walked beside me and attempted to stroke me with a wing which I gently pushed away, causing her ears to fold down. “Just promise me you’ll talk to them okay? They should be serving in propaganda roles or something, not the military,” I stated.
Twilight withdrew her wing and instead sat next to me. “I wanted to let them sign up of their own volition. They’ll most likely be reassigned by the Equestrian high command, not me,” Twilight softly clarified.
“So there’s nothing to worry about?” I asked, looking down at the floor.
“Nothing to worry about, Anon,” Twilight reassured.
I let out a breath I didn’t know I was keeping in. “Thanks, Twilight.”
“Are you holding up okay, Anon?” Twilight asked. “You seem upset.”
I’m just worried about losing my friends in stupid bucking war is all, Twilight.
“I’m fine,” I lied.
Twilight continued to look at me concernedly for a few moments before mercifully moving on with a new question, “who’s Old Pink?”
“Mayor Mare,” I said, perking up a bit. “She needs to meet with you regarding the Ponyville weather team, specifically retaining pegasi for the town’s agricultural needs if I remember correctly. She said she’d be in the public works building if you wanted to pop in.”
Twilight turned to look at the clock above the entry doors in the library. “I suppose I can do that before meeting with Celestia and Luna. Though I imagine the royal guards are only going to be selecting the most fit and able ponies by the end of the sign up bonanza, there should be enough for the needs of the Ponyville weather team,” Twilight reasoned.
“Yeah, that makes sense. Still, it would be good to meet with her and alleviate her concerns,” I countered.
“Yes it would,” Twilight said then paused. “There’s a thing I’d like you to do, Anon. On the camping trip.”
I turned to look at Twilight, “What?” I said surprised. “A thing you’d like me to do?”
“Yes,” Twilight paused then whispered, “I want you to get to know Pewter better. Just some small details you and I know off the books, incase of an infiltration or worse.”
Whispering back I answered, “Sure, but why are you worried about infiltrators now? Did something happen?”
Twilight answered, “No nothing like that, but I realized Spike was a more difficult target to replace due to his eating habits. With him going up to the Crystal Empire to help Cadence and Shining, well there’s a new avenue of infiltration to be paranoid about.”
I placed a hood on her shoulder, “proactive, Twi. You’re being proactive, not paranoid,” I corrected.
Twilight smiled genuinely, “Thank you, Anon.”
“I’ll get the information. Is Starlight doing this too?” I queried, removing my hoof from Twilight and cocking my head.
“No, she's not helping on this one. I want her to be completely focused on getting ready for going to Stalliongrad next month,” Twilight answered.
“Alrighty, well I’ll pick it all up in conversation so Starlight will probably know too. Just keep that in mind.”
“I know, I know,” Twilight said before looking at me.
“Was there anything else?” I asked.
Twilight paused and looked hard at me.
“Twi?”
There was a long pause as Twilight continued to look at me, inscrutably.
If she wants to say something she’ll say it.
“No, that's all, ready to go?” She asked, slightly distracted.
“Let’s pop outta here.”
Twilight smiled and rolled her eyes before turning to the two unicorn guards at the door of the library. “Going to the main hall,” She said to the guards.