The Strings Of Life:
Chapter 31- Maestro’s Actions:
“Wake up you filthy maggot whores!” was all the train heard outside from within the train, but then the voice was now heading into the cars. They knew it seemed too quiet for comfort when the train came to a stop and remained for so long, and not a sound was made, nothing but the sound of hundreds of ponies sleeping.
“Your mothers would be disgusted in you! Get up, get up, let’s go, let’s go!” the voice yelled once again over a mega phone, and this time yelling as loud as he could while he barged in door to door on each train car, getting everypony up to line up outside.
Maestro and Starlight were the second to last car, but they could still hear him very clearly as far up front as he still was.
“Hey get up!” Starlight whispered.
“Just like five…more…minutes okay?” Maestro mumbled.
“But nothing, get up.”
He didn’t listen, as the voice kept getting closer and closer to them over the megaphone. He sounded ruthless, unforgiving, and unsympathetic. You told him any of your family members died; he’d congratulate you on a job well done of killing them with your stupidity. His voice sounded like bats out of Tartarus when he sounded off to the ponies from car to car.
“Please Maestro, get up, he’s getting closer.”
“Ugh, fine.” Maestro forced himself up.
“Not good enough, get your flank up, and standing on the ground.” She jabbed him in the side.
Causing him to immediately get up.
“You mean we’re here already?”
“Yep…oh…good morning.” She replied with a sarcastic smile on her face.
“Oh ha-ha, You’re hilarious.”
Starlight giggled at his grumpiness.
Maestro’s ears then quickly erected into the air, hearing the drill instructor now approaching their car.
“Stand up straight beside me, now!” Starlight quickly stated to him.
“Get up you sorry sacks of shit! Work your asses outside lining up, go-go-go!”
The drill sergeant then noticed Maestro and Starlight standing firm beside each other.
“You two, don’t just stand there! Get your worthless asses down there lined up, good job you two wastes of life!”
Saying nothing, Starlight and Maestro immediately head out of the car as fast as possible, and lined up, with only a few dozen others.
“Is that guy for real? This guy kind of scares me.” said Maestro.
“Heh, yep…and he’s more than that.” Starlight replied.
“Wait…you know him?!” his pupils dilated.
“Sure do, he’s my uncle, he’s the closest thing I’ve got to what my dad actually looked like, he’s his twin brother.” She replied.
Maestro couldn’t believe what he was hearing; it sounded like what she said to him seemed like the pony in charge of instilling the devil himself with fear from his voice was her uncle.
“Your family is something special with this guy then I’d assume.” Said Maestro.
“You got no idea, I’ve only met my uncle like three times in my life though, so with him being so focused on making your life miserable here, he’s probably too focused to know it’s really me.” she replied.
The camp they were located at was within a small deserted area within the region. It was hot, and it would be dry for the next couple of days, and it was going to be a miserable day it looked like for Maestro and the others. Maestro at this very moment had never been so terrified of one pony in his life, not since that psycho Silver Strings, lost his career went berserk after blaming it on him. Never mess with a drill instructor; they were there to do there job of getting ponies ready for combat, for there was never time for anything else, but preparing them mentally and physically to their limits. If one recruit messed up, everyone was disciplined, that’s how it went there.
A few minutes later, and everypony was lined up the entire length of the train. The train however then gave off one final blow of the whistle before it chugged off onto the tracks once again.
Maestro knew he needed to stand completely still next to Starlight doing the same, they knew that getting this guy’s attention would really suck for them. The drill sergeant continued watching each and every one of them like a hawk. It didn’t matter how long the line was it seemed, to him it seemed like he had been doing this for years…which he had been of course.
“Lines A through Z move it or lose it fatso’s! We’re gonna get you in shape, yes we will am I right?!”
“Sir yes sir drill sergeant!” everypony in the line yelled out at the same time, except for Maestro who was a bit off.
“Stooop! What do you all think you’re doing here anyway? Wasting my precious time training you cowards!?”
“No sir drill sergeant!” they all yelled out again.
“Bullshit privates! Until you all can prove to me that I’m wrong on that, let’s do some running ladies! Three miles up, three miles down…hi-hooooo silver!” the drill sergeant yelled out, as everypony off of the train then started following the drill instructor up a rocky hill.
“Did he just say three miles up and three miles down? Is that three miles or actually six miles total? Is he trying to kill me and you?” Maestro looked over at Starlight, not liking the idea either, but what other choice did she have?
“It’s six miles total, hah! Does it look like I’ve done this before?”
“Uh…no.”
“Okay, then I think we might as well listen to him so we can get by. Besides, have you ever ran or got any exercise in your life?” she asked.
“Well I worked out in my high school years, and did a bit of running in fact, but that’s about it. That was quite some time ago considering my age now, ha-ha!”
“Well it looks like I’m more in shape than you are.” She bragged.
“What? Get out of here.”
“No really, I know for a fact that I’m more in shape than you. I’ve played sports all of my life, and I did cross-country for my school. You could say I’ve been trying to keep myself up my entire life, but I still enjoy kicking back and taking it easy, who doesn’t?” Starlight stated, as they both continued uphill.
Maestro looked at her with his mouth a bit open, looking like he was about to say something about her statement, but closed it back since he forgot what he was going to say.
They continued uphill, and the majority was already starting to feel the burn of just how rigorous it really was.
“Aw come on, would you all like a cold glass of water right now? Who needs water when you got your own tears and sweat to drink, drink that ladies!” yelled the drill instructor once more.
“Sir yes sir drill sergeant!” they replied back once again in unison.
This was utter hell to Maestro, and he could now see Starlight starting to as up many other up ahead.
“Darn, leaving me like this Starlight? I thought we were buddies.” He mumbled.
The drill instructor then noticed Starlight gaining more ground than the majority, and dropped back to where she was.
“What do you think you’re…wait…don’t I know you?” his voice subsided to everypony’s surprise.
“Yes sir you’re my uncle sir.” She replied.
“Starlight? Well that doesn’t mean I’m going to give you the royal treatment does it missy?” he raised his voice back up.
“No sir!” she replied loudly back to him.
“That’s a badass niece right there fellas, look at this mare?!” he said to all of the runners, noticing they were falling behind her.
“She’s doing great drill sergeant!” a pony in the crowd replied.
“Who said that?!” he called out.
The drill sergeant than found the pony luckily being pointed to by another one.
“Was it you string bean?! You skinny ass looking mother fucker?!”
“Yes sir.”
“What’s that, Are you dying? I can’t hear you private.”
“I said-”
“You said? Oh ho ho…you said? Are you stating something to me now son? Cause I can break you day in and day out if I wanted to! I’m through with you, get your ass back to camp and scrub those toilets with your toothbrush!”
“Yes sir drill sergeant!” the pony then immediately turned around, heading downhill afterward.
Maestro gulped after seeing how ruthless this guy really was.
“By the grace of Celestia, I hope I don’t get called upon this guy to do something.”
After those passing hours and lunchtime had now hit, but everypony was now standing around exhausted or lying on the ground of exhaustion feeling like they were about to faint.
Starlight however decided to approach her uncle.
“Sir, it is lunchtime.”
“Quiet private!”
“Yes sir.”
“I like spaghetti.” He added.
“Sir?”
“Give them spaghetti for lunch, that’s your first order…get to it.” he jabbed his hoof towards the mess hall.
“Yes sir.” Starlight then went into the mess hall, passing the information to the cooks working there at the time.
Starlight made it out of the mess hall’s entrance, but noticed Maestro was “dying”.
“Sorry, but he’s one of the toughest instructors in the entire military. Are you okay though?”
Starlight was out of breath too, but nowhere as bad as he felt though.
“I’m…I’m dying aren’t I? This is the end for me…” he trailed off, as he felt a slight breeze touch his body.
“No silly, you’re not going to die…but you’re probably going to suffer, but that implies as much to me too as it does you. But I’m just fessing up to it, being what my uncle wants me to be.” She replied.
“You…you look…up…to others…don’t you?” he asked her, still trying to keep himself from fainting. Maestro was seriously out of shape, a lot worse than he thought…much worse.
“No, I…okay fine maybe a little.”
“Yeah, cause…cause you did…that to me…on the train, I noticed.” He said still trying to catch his breath.
“So what? What if I am huh? What are you gonna do about it?” Starlight’s attitude changing like that showed she was hiding something from him, something big, and he just needed to find a way to get her to slip up just once.
“Uh-huh…I can tell…”
“You can tell what?” she wondered curiously.
“You’re hiding something from me, I just know it.” he replied with a slight smile.
Starlight looked at him for a moment, turned away from him, but looking back at him from the corner of her eye then walked off leaving him.
“Goodness, she’s a tough one, but there’s just something she isn’t telling me about…it’s gotta be family oriented, that’s the only thing she has shown to me from her.” Maestro recapped to himself.
It was now lunch, and everypony was digging into their plates in the mess hall. Passing Parmesan and spaghetti sauce everywhere you looked, they were now finally managing to have a great time being themselves. Sharing laughs between bites, friendly pushing and shoving, and the occasional roll being thrown at somepony when the CO’s weren’t looking.
Maestro however noticed that Starlight was sitting at her own place at a table in the back. There were still some ponies sitting back there with her, but not near her overall. So he decided to sit beside her.
“Aren’t you going to eat?”
“I’m not hungry.” She looked out the window, pushing it slightly towards him.
“You need to eat…what’s on your mind?” Maestro however atleast still tempted enough to take her roll, since they were out of this world.
“Nothing you need to be concerned with.” She replied again.
“Of course it isn’t.”
Starlight then turned to him after he made that comment.
“Yeah. That’s right, it isn’t.” she raised her voice a little more towards him, causing a few ponies to look over to them but turning back around after it returned to normal volume.
Maestro then sighed and said nothing, as he then kept his mouth shut and continued eating.
“Are you-.”
“Yes I’m damn sure I don’t wanna talk about it.” she replied frustrated now. She however turned her face away from him for some reason, like she was really in fact hiding something from him. What is family oriented? If so, did it have to do with something Maestro hadn’t been let known about yet? He still didn’t know for sure, but he still wanted to get to the bottom of it, or it would start to drive away her focus whenever they train.
After an amazing lunch, the CO’s then assigned them all to their sleeping quarters. They were six-pony cabins, which provided them beds to sleep in, and a small personal closet for each pony to store their things within them.
It had reached the evening, and everything in the camp was going quiet, getting ready for bed at 8 o’ clock. Luna’s moonbathed night was gorgeous this time, and the stars she had scattered across the night sky were truly a lovely sight to behold since the sky was completely clear that day.
Maestro managed to luckily claim himself a spot in the same cabin as Starlight was assigned to.
Cabin seven was their quarters, and it was the recruits’ first night within the Griffon Kingdom. The air was still dry, and only the occasion somewhat cool breeze from the mountain ranges could be felt flowing in through their cracked windows. Into the night though, about midnight, Maestro was awoken by words he could not comprehend. He sourced it out to where Starlight was sleeping he discovered. He woke himself up, seeing her wings twitch a bit and ears twitch along with them, seeming like she was having a rough time.
He got out of his bed and closer to her bedside, what he was hearing surprised him.
“B-big…brother…I-I’m…s-s-scared.” Her actions were going along with her words she mumbled to herself.
“A big brother? She never told me she had one? I knew she was hiding something from me…” he turned back around facing his bed on the opposite side of the room, but stopped once again by her mumbling.
“C-cold…” was all he heard from her, she then began shivering even though the temperature wasn’t that bad at all. It was actually pretty reasonable at this time. But again, her dreaming was carried out in her actions as well, as she her body kept shaking like she had been flying in the arctic. Maestro felt sort of bad for her and he got down closer to her bedside, very lightly placing one of his hoofs over her shaking body.
“You’ll be fine.” He whispered.
“T-they’re…c-c-coming…” Starlight’s voice fading out again towards the end.
“Sounds like she’s having a bad dream, or what will soon be one.” He thought.
“Broth-er…t-they’re...oh no…”
“Don’t tell me…” he thought again.
“P-please…stop hurt-ing him…please.”
Her voice growing increasingly loud until she all of the sudden woke up with a gasp, and tears formed in her eyes ready to be shed.
She then noticed Maestro next to her bedside, as he felt very awkward now having his hoof over one of her wings.
“Maestro?”
“You sounded like you had a bad dream.” He whispered back to her.
“Y-you don’t know w-what I dreamed about, it…it could’ve…” she then turned her body away bringing the cover back over herself.
“Starlight it’s fine…I heard many things, you talked in your sleep.”
“I…I…” she then looked back at him, knowing she was caught red-hoofed having a look on her face like she was about to cry, holding herself back but failing in the process. Her pain felt was too much, and she decided to just let it go.
“I miss him so much.” She got herself close to Maestro, quietly crying into one of his shoulders.
Maestro merely stayed quiet and proceeded embracing her.
“Fine, I’ll…I’ll admit it.”
“Admit what?” Maestro asked.
“You remind me of my big brother so much.”
“W-what?” Maestro was caught off guard at that moment. But now it was no wonder they seemed to click with each other. His personality, his fur color, all reminded Starlight of her once older brother whom she greatly missed.
Maestro knew it was even stranger that they both seemed to have become friends awfully quickly on the train, almost like they had known each other for years as stated before. But it was the way he seemed to just carry himself, act like himself, and even his fur color that cause her memories of him to flood back to her. Those memories she had been suppressing for so long in her lifetime, knowing that all it would do was cause her pain in the future, finally made its way out of her once again.
“What will I do?” she whimpered.
“Shh, I’ve never had a sister you know?”
Starlight then drew herself off of the top of his chest wiping some of her tears away from her eyes.
“W-what?”
“You know all good and well what I said just then, you’re a better listener than that.”
“You still act so much like him.” she smiled, with tears continuing to come down her face.
“You just want somepony like him to be there for you don’t you?” he asked her sympathetically.
She merely gave a nod as she put her head back under his, trying to stop her own crying, and kept on drying her own tears.
“Well you got me then.” He said
“Huh?” she looked back up at him again.
“I’ll be more than happy to take you under my wing…metaphorically speaking of course, since you’re the Pegasus here, heh.”
“You’re willing to do that for me?” her face slowly lighting up.
“If you want me to that is, and if that makes you feel better about yourself and more comfortable, then I suppose I’m down for it.” he replied.
Starlight then quickly hugged his neck, for her pain had drifted away just then.
“I don’t know what to say…I really don’t…but this just leaves me almost speechless. You act like him so much it’s uncanny. It’s almost like he’s still with me or something.”
“If you want to think that, you go right ahead. But let’s just get some sleep okay? We got a big day ahead of us tomorrow.”
“Right.” she sniffled.
She then laid her head back down, as he kindly brought the covers over her, and made his way back to his bed.
Starlight then recalled what he had said to her just then: “But let’s just get some sleep okay? We got a big day ahead of us tomorrow.”
“He said that to me once…it was one of the last things he said to me.” She thought to herself with a frown, before closing her eyes for the remainder of the night.