Today brought the day of reckoning. The time for me to depart from here and go to the military training camp had come. I knew that Twilight had a brother who works as a royal guard, and maybe I could get a special sort of reference, or at least directions from them both.
I got out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom. I washed my face above the sink while looking in the mirror and contemplating still how I had gotten this far. I grabbed some breakfast from my local diner and told them to put it on my tab. My supposedly never-ending tab. The sunrise mesmerisingly shot its golden rays all across the town, reflecting off of the windows and into my face when I looked to the left. Maybe I could invest in sunglasses when I go on my next shopping spree. Not that I ever browsed for anything.
I kept my pace going as I neared the large treehouse with the many windows cut into the branches. The peace of the early morning felt as pleasant as yesterday, with the birds continually chirping in different places. I knocked on the door with the large candle symbol pasted on the upper section. The pony I felt the most distant to in terms of friendship had opened the door upon my response, and greeted me formerly. She seemed to be half awake, judging by her untidy mane and yawns.
“I’m sorry to disturb you at an early hour, miss Twilight, but I’ve got a really important place to get to in a while and I was hoping you could help me get there,” I asked politely, wondering why I addressed her by ‘miss’.
“Oh, I see, where are you going today, Blue?” she returned with another question.
I nodded and told my destination to her. “I’m going to the military training camp to the east to get in better shape. I’m going to be a royal guard, like your brother. Do you think you could take me to him?”
“Shining? Of course, we’ll go see him, let me just get ready. Come in for a sec.” The purple mare beckoned me inside.
I noticed another purple creature, this time with green spikes and took the form of a baby dragon. “You must be Spike, nice to meet you.” I stuck out a hoof in hopes of getting it shook.
“And you are?” he said in a casual tone, looking at me with a puzzled expression.
“I’m Twilight’s friend, Electric Blue.”
“Don’t worry, she’s not harmful!” A voice echoed from above us.
My hoof eventually got taken and lightly shook by the reluctant dragon. “So what do you do around here?” I tried not to sound patronising, like talking to a child. It felt like it I needed to compose myself in that way at the time, for who knows what reason.
“I keep Twilight’s place in check; she’s a messy pony in this place, and I run errands for her, as well as write her notes and letters. I’m her best assistant!” The pride in his words brought a smile to my face.
“She must be lucky to have such a diligent worker. I mean, who wouldn’t like an assistant?” I admired.
He got close and told me in a quieter voice, but just enough for Twilight to hear, “she gives me some back breaking work sometimes though, and doesn’t even pay me for it! It’s outrageous I tell ya!”
“Spike, you know that my gratitude and respect are more valuable than anything else I can give you...” the studious pony shook her head as she walked down the short set of stairs with a properly brushed mane.
“Yeah I know...” he grumbled. Jokingly, of course.
“Now, I’m going to go out for a while, please take care of the place and yourself while I’m gone, okay?” she requested of him.
He nodded.
“Great, see you later!” Twilight said as I lead my way out of the house in front of her.
“Interesting assistant you have,” I told my guide.
She chuckled. “He’s such a good dragon when he needs to be.”
We made our way to the train station and boarded the next locomotive that had arrived. It didn’t have many passengers in the cabin, as would usually be seen. We sat down and the train began its journey.
I had only just noticed Twilight’s new pair of wings. “Hey, where did you get them from?” I exclaimed in disbelief.
“Oh yeah, I became an alicorn recently,” she nonchalantly announced.
“How...how did that happen?” The bewilderment increased.
The mare explained to me about her predicament where all her friends had the wrong cutie marks, and she helped bring them together and fix their incorrect roles; while in the process casting a spell which revealed the true power and magic in the essence of friendship, giving her the privilege to become even stronger than her older form. “I’m yet to master flying well however,” she added.
“Wow, friendship can grant you powers beyond normal thought. I never knew. I wonder if I’d get any special abilities if I recited the correct ancient magic that I know...” I laughed at the idea. It would be long before I could get anything special like that.
The scenery passed by quickly as we watched out of the window. The terrain changed frequently, transitioning from light green to dark, sometimes grey and sometimes brown when they blurred together. I turned back to the one sitting next to me.
“Say Twilight, can I ask you something about your parents?”
“My parents? What about them?”
“Well, I mean...how are they?”
“They’re fine. They’re the best parents that any pony could have. I couldn’t have gotten this far without them. Why do you ask?”
“No reason, I just felt like conducting an investigation into pony’s parents, that’s all. So far you are different, because your parents haven’t taken a turn for the worse, as I’ve noticed in other cases.”
I thought to myself for a moment. She had literally been the only one to have good, or living parents. Why just her and not anypony else? It didn’t seem right, or fair. I would guess she didn’t have a tragic backstory like the rest of us. Saying anything more about the subject would have been pointless though, I don’t feel too strongly about it. All I would say is how lucky she is, but I didn’t want to feel sad about myself today.
We reached the Crystal Empire station at around noon. We got off and continued on to the palace, housing Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, as well as the regional guards, explained to me by Twilight. This whole place looked peculiar to me, because everypony had crystallised forms, but were still moving.
“Uh, Twilight? I’m scared. How are these statues trotting around like these?” Yes, I genuinely asked that question.
“Don’t be silly, the ponies that live here draw power from the crystal heart that floating blue gem over there,” she said as we passed the object hovering under the palace’s supports, “which gives them their appearance. Let’s say they have magic in the air.”
I tried to keep a straight face on that last sentence. We made our way up the palace steps to see a young couple comprised of a cerise-coated alicorn and a white knight sitting in separate thrones next to each other. They both looked alarmed when they saw us approach, then got up and ran to my lavender coloured companion and embraced together. I’d never seen anything quite as nice as that before.
“Ahem. Good afternoon, miss...” the blue-maned stallion addressed me.
“Electric Blue. Call me Blue; everypony else does. Pleased to meet you both.” I stuck out a hoof to be shaken two more times today.
“I see. I am Prince Shining Armor, and this is my lovely wife, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, Or Cadance. She’s the strong pony of the relationship,” He chuckled. This new Princess took my hoof after him.
“She wants to be a royal guard, Shining, and Blue was hoping you could take her to the training place. Do you know it?” Twilight intervened in the pleasantries.
“Oh yes, I know the place; I show all the new recruits there. When would you like to leave, Blue?” He asked in vehemence.
“Hmm, I suppose now, unless you want to catch up with your sister here, which I can wait around for.” I gave them the offer to spend some time together, seeing as these siblings were far apart in terms of location. They agreed, and so I left the building for a while as the three got chatting with each other.
The ponies around here must lead noble lives, accommodating themselves in gem shaped designs as houses, and well-groomed lifestyles. It had the atmosphere of Canterlot, save for the pretentious personalities. There were a few scattered market stalls with light masses of the populus visiting each, but not much activity apart from the haggling. I thought the city to be strange, seeming peaceful and bustling at the same time.
The next thing I knew, I began looking for a bar. I needed a cool drink on this sweltering day. I soon came across a large two-storey building with a fancy sign labeled, ‘Restaurant Bar’ in cursive, so I had found my match. I quickly entered to see a plethora of cloth covered tables with numerous crystal ponies talking and eating with each other happily. I passed through the middle of these round tables to get to the barkeep in the center of the large room.
“One of the coldest kola nut sodas you have, please,” I ordered charismatically.
“Coming right up,” the red slick-maned stallion returned, lowering himself to get a bottle of the dark liquid, uncapping it for me and passing it over. “On the house for a first time customer such as yourself, miss.”
“Oh, what good service! Thank you very much,” I heartily complemented, thinking to myself how much of a relief not making another tab meant to me.
I put my back to the counter as I sipped from the bottle, watching the glistening ponies supposedly talk about their day and who gave their friend a most foul look the other night. Meaningless jawing to what I felt. I didn’t have too much strength in social skills so I couldn’t say anything though. A mundane life, would it have been easier? I wondered for a moment. I only had one of those for a few years, and I had trouble remembering the time I spent living easy. What I do remember is too action and drama packed for these folk to handle. I laughed to myself quietly.
“What’s so funny?” The bartender asked me.
I returned a question to the cream-coated pony. “Hey, why did you want to work in a bar instead of going out adventuring?”
“Uh, because I gotta earn some bits for my family.”
“Okay, that’s all well and good, but why not go out and see the sights, the foreign plains, discover new and fascinating creatures?”
“Not everypony is cut out for the life of adventure.”
“Sure they are, I’m one of the most cynical, laziest fillies around, but I’ve still had a life of danger and exploration, and to be honest, it feels better than the lives you would expect to see sitting at these tables.”
“But still, some ponies don’t want to get themselves hurt. They can just read an exploration journal and learn from that.”
I contemplated for a moment. “You’re a smart stallion. But deep down inside you want to go out there, everypony has to have that feeling.”
“Well...I’ve craved seeing the other side of Equestria once or twice, I’ll give you that.”
“Right? And surely you’ve been sick of seeing these folks from day to day?”
“Not really...they’re nice ponies. They provide my salary, after all!”
I nodded in a mutual agreement. I finished the soda and placed the bottle on the counter, tipped my non-existent hat to the bartender and left. Kinda fun putting thoughts into another's’ head, I admitted to myself.
And now to get back to the trio. I thought about Twilight and my relationship with her as I passed the pleasant, sparkling ponies that greeted me casually. We were the most distant out of my friends. Why did we not converse with flowing emotions like I did with others? How come we understand magic and have a similar amount of intelligence, but don’t collaborate like colleagues should do? Nothing wrong affected her personality or appearance, and I could relate to her on certain levels.
It dawned on me just as I thought of everypony else I knew. She had family. Or parents that actually still provided for her in multiple senses. She has more support than the rest of us. Somepony with the privilege of parents; I could never seem to relate to. I grew up without them, my friends, especially Destiny, grew up without them, so it brought difficulty being a friend with Twilight, I could assume. The envy grew inside of my heart, but I only wanted to push it down. It hurt knowing she had the ability to visit her mother and father when she wanted, and I had no access to mine. Not even their graves, with the Earth being disfigured by the bombs.
I approached the palace with intermittent sadness or anger, whichever alternated at the time. Heading up the spiral staircase I reached the floor the three were still located, and met up with them.
“Ah, you’re back!” Shining Armor cried. “Do you want to go now?”
“Sure, I just want to take care of one thing first.” At that, I marched up to the purple student pony, and proceeded to raise my forehoof in rage. I wanted to hit her there and then, because of my desire to have parents again. It had soared to the highest peak of feeling at this point. Did she see it in my eyes? The veiled, fearful look affirmed that thought. I lowered my hoof and placed it on her shoulder. “Goodbye, my friend. I’ll be gone for a while, so make sure everypony remembers me, okay?”
“Okay, Blue, I’ll make sure of it. Good luck with your training!” She smiled at me as the Prince escorted me out of the palace and to the station.
We boarded the waiting train and sat down in yet another almost empty carriage. “It’s the prince!” I heard from a few hushed voices.
“So how’s this going to go down?” I requested the details from the white-coated stallion.
He cleared his throat for a second. “It’s simple, really. I’m going to put in a good word for you as taken from Princess Celestia herself, and the instructors will be training you to become military grade in combat and other related formalities. It will take a couple of weeks for regular recruits, but as you’ve been in battle before, you will only need a few days to renew your skills. You’ll then get shipped off to Canterlot Castle and take an alternating day and night shift depending on the week, guarding the castle from evil-doers and the like.”
“Easy. In theory anyway. The training’s going to be as rigorous as I’ve imagined it to be,” I predicted.
A couple of minutes flew by after his agreement, as the land moved faster than the train, it seemed. The cerulean-maned pony spoke once again, but about something I wouldn’t expect. “It seems Twilight speaks very highly of you. you’ve helped every one of of her friends in one way or another, there's your knowledge of magic which she is very interested in, and you’ve managed to change Ponyville too, one in small ways, and others as saving it from total destruction one time. You’re such an unknown pony, but you’ve made a huge impact at the same time.”
“Heh, I suppose you’ll have to thank her from me when you see her next.” That almost changed my outlook on our friendship. I would never get over the parents business, but she cast herself in a new light to me.
We reached a station in the middle of nowhere by the looks, and we took our leave from the steamer. There stood an open building in front of us, with multiple ponies looking active in an enclosed patch of sandy ground, doing push ups and lifting weights, plus other various exercises. Shining Armor showed me through the doorway and we were met with a rough-looking receptionist.
“Good afternoon, Corporal Boulder. We wish to sign up this little filly...”
He had been cut off. “Hah! This squirt? I bet she couldn’t lift a rock above her head let alone join the army!”
“It’s serious business, Boulder. She’s covered wars, you know. She is to become a royal guard by order of the Princess herself.”
“I see. I’ll keep my suspicions close, but oh well. All you have to do is fill out this form, then you’re all set.”
A contract looking piece of parchment turned and laid out in front of me. I skimmed the menial words and got to the bottom, where I had to sign my name and put in details about my birth and address, et cetera. I turned the form around to the receptionist, he nodded his mohawk laden head with somewhat muscular force, and Shining accompanied me as I walked through the barrier.
I could see to my left a large amount of obstacles, climbing walls and frames, hanging bars, hoops, and other facilities for physical training. To the right stood a row of bunkers housing plain beds and lockers inside. Parades of camouflage-suited ponies prance past me, shouting two opposite directions repeatedly at themselves. This definitely looked like an authentic army camp here.
“Seems like my kind of place,” I remarked with a slight sarcastic tone.
“Don’t worry, you’ll be out in a few days, trust me,” Shining Armor returned as he continued showing me around.
The armoury was not anything to get excited over, with a rack of spears on one wall, crossbows on the other. Had gunpowder came about yet? I never researched the subject before, seeing as weapons were not priority on this relatively peaceful world. The mess hall became crowded as soon as we set hoof in the room, while an alarm bell rang loudly above us. I started to feel hungry, so I ushered my white-coated tour guide out of here.
“And this is where you’ll be staying,” he smiled as we stood at the end of one of the beds at the far end of a mare-only bunker.
“Cozy.” I said the one word answer to my sleeping quarters, and Shining laughed.
“I suppose I’d best be off, write to us if you can!” he requested as the stallion started to the door.
“I’ll only be here for a few days, you won’t miss me that much, haha. Also, thanks for taking me here, Shining.” I gave him a bright grin of joy as well as nervousness for what could come about for me.
“You’re quite welcome, Blue.” The Prince waved as he backed slowly out of the bunker, in aid of not saying goodbye too quickly.
I hopped on the hard, springy bed backwards, and exhaled greatly. “Let’s hope this will go through quickly...” I thought aloud.