[Choking's Entry]
Writing is harder than I thought. I mean I know I wanted to start my own diary when Blaze showed me his but I kinda forgot it and had no problem with it. They can be useful though, much like when I read his again after his freakout and a drinking binge. So... what now?
Right. Sorry, Blaze, for writing into your thing but you didn't seem to mind last time and you're not in your office right now and the thing is still here. You never leave it out (and I can see why!) and you're not practicing with the guys either so something must have happened. I'm gonna go check your apartment now.
If you're in trouble again and you didn't tell me I'll tell Luna and show her this. I mean it this time!
Oh... the important stuff. The Elements of Harmony are here for the wedding and I can't attend cause Nightguards aren't really invited but at least I'll get to the afterparty and maybe even get to check out the groom. I'd like to sneak to the chapel but the security around the ceremony is insane and some of my friends in the Royal Guard told me that something else is worrying them.
Gotta be off now. I'll keep this on me so you don't get into more trouble.
[End Entry]
The wedding day is here and all I want is somepony to talk to since all the paperwork needed to make the guard shifts work around it is insane. But the dummy disappeared without a trace few days ago and all I found in his office was some crunchy stuff from his, eh skin? His apartment was completely empty and I don't want to go into detail how I got inside. Let's just say I'm pretty good with my hooves. At least that's what all my bedmates say.
I grin to the emptiness of my office but it quickly fades away.
"Aaaargh, I can't think!"
Blazing's disappearance just keeps gnawing at my thoughts because there's being unlucky and there's his uncanny talent for getting into trouble. I've attended Blazing's sessions enough to keep the recruits occupied and I have enough free slots this month to delay his patrols but it just feels like closing my eyes when the problem is right in front of me.
"Soooo what could the problem be? Drinking? Nah, he's in the norm. Smoking? Nonsense. The stuff he's into is less dangerous than filly scissors. The bar he's going into is plainly weird but it's one of the most peaceful joints I've ever seen. Money? Pfff, hardly. He'd go to work then. It must be something really stupid or something really... big."
My mumbling stops and so does the pacing in circles around my office. The last time something really big happened was when he had trouble with his changeling thing, could it be it? That also doesn't sound right because if somepony can go for half a year without going crazy about it then they probably can do it forever.
But it's still him... I hate to say it but he's not the most stable of stallions. Perhaps it's some sort of rare magical disease which doesn't allow him to get his cutie mark and it got to him. Or somepony might have laughed at him about it and he's hiding away somewhere.
... or humans could have got to him in their flying teacups and are now probing him with their 'hands'.
Bleh, I'm no closer than before after making a small groove in the carpet.
"Screw the paperwork. Gotta get my blood flowing so I can think properly."
I know the ruling class frowns on it but I open a window and fly down to the training grounds to join Blazing's recruits. Hoping to see him around I stretch my wings and fly around the castle a bit before the session is about to start.
I also hate that bucking shield, it hurts my eyes and the entire city looks trapped inside a chewing gum bubble. I suppose it's necessary even though not even my granddad can remember any hostiles invading this place.
I pass a blue pegasus in the air and I change direction to follow the unknown intruder. At this time there are only guards supposed to be here. But it turns out it's Rainbow Dash, one of the Elements, and she's not mad at me for stopping her mid-air but kind of impressed I was able to catch up with her. If she had to fly around in heavy armor during whatever weather the pegasi make every day she would have not been surprised. She's super slim and definitely good-looking in her own way but without at least rumors passing around about her being open to mare-on-mare relationship I'm not going to make a move. She also looks too young to be experienced well enough to make a shared evening interesting.
I slap myself to get a grip on reality. There are important things to take care of so I just wave her off, land on the grass and wait until the recruits come. Thank Luna it's such a beautiful day. Most batponies don't go out during the day but I try to keep my schedule fifty-fifty to see the best of both worlds and most batponies are too serious all the time. I guess it makes sense. Luna returned to Equestria some two years ago and while there were batponies serving in the guard at the time they were not really liked. And just like that they were all taught to obey, be respectful and hard-working to fit in and not get persecuted.
"Stupid Blaze. Doesn't think I know how it feels to be an outsider."
"What, ma'am?"
I open my eyes and realize I drifted off a bit again. The recruits are already here and milling around. In the distance, the castle bells announce that the wedding ceremony is beginning.
"Nothing. Let's have a shorter warm-up today, you are fit enough to do fine at your finals so let's have a lesson focused on what the real task is, which means combat. Got any weapons around?"
They all look at the crate full of practice weaponry. The exam doesn't allow those though.
"Solid Steel, you and two others go and fetch a crate of real weapons with enough for all of us. Your final combat exam requires you to use those and you could use the hooves-on experience. Nopony actually tells you that but the point of the finals isn't to measure your skill but to see whether or not you leave a brown streak when you find out you have to use steel against steel, no pun intended."
The ex-soldier picks two other recruits and without any complaints they all leave to do their task.
"Any news on the sargeant?" asks Heavy Hoof, one of the more talkative newbies. I'm not sure why but he seems to like Blaze a lot so I hate to keep telling him all the time.
"Nothing. I'm sure he's fine though. Not even a mountain falling on him would stop him from eventually coming back here," I lie, believing it today even less than before.
He turns away and begins doing his exercises inspiring some of the others to do the same. Damn, once that guy gets out of basic training I'll be on him like a bee on honey.
"Alright, do some pushups, wingups and whatever stretching you think will be useful and then we'll see who's got the balls and who doesn't. That goes for you as well, Lily!" I wave at a pegasus mare who bit another pony once so hard his horseshoes came off.
I gotta admit that despite coming here often enough myself I had no idea they would be this disciplined and determined to succeed. The other drill sargeants stick to the standard rulebook of shouting and putting the recruits down to make them eager to prove themselves and I was afraid Blazing's soft approach would make them weak physically and mentally but that was before the mountain bootcamp.
He did an excellent job.
I laugh at the desperate dodge of one of the ponies and then Tartarus itself breaks loose.
First thing that happens is the shield I tried so hard to ignore breaks with a deafening boom and a shockwave that hurls all of us to the ground. Next thing I notice is the advance of black, flying creatures towards the city with them splitting into groups and aiming for the population centres and security bases which means the guardhouses in town and... us.
"It's the bucking bugs! I knew I shouldn't have trusted that bronze swine," yells Rising Thunder and grabs a sharp looking polearm with practiced ease.
"Calm down, Rising. There's no proof he had something to do with this. EVERYPONY GRAB YOUR PREFERRED WEAPON AND SPLIT INTO THREE GROUPS. THEN WE ALL RUN TOWARDS THE CASTLE WALL SO THEY CAN'T SURROUND US. ANYPONY WITH HEALING MAGIC HIDE BEHIND US," commands Solid.
I don't even think about contradicting a guy who actually knows something about military tactics and feel a pang of pride when none of the recruits panic and follow the given orders.
"Yea? He suddenly disappears and now there's a huge bucking army on our backs. Nopony is coming to help from the garrison and the shield supposed to protect us is useless. How do we even know he isn't the one leading the charge?"
"THAT's NOT IMPORTANT NOW! We have to protect the recruits and retreat inside," I yell at Rising. It really does look bad for Blaze but I refuse to believe it. If there is somepony who wouldn't willingly hurt anypony else then it's him. And if not, then he's lost everything that made him, well... him and is now just a monster.
"You shut up and listen when adults speak. We can't retreat because they are faster and if we drop formation then they will just overwhelm us and since nopony is coming from the castle we don't even know if it's safe," explains Solid Steel while running.
I don't have the time to doubt his decision and we stop when we reach the closest point of castle walls.
"Heavy Hoof, take the left wing! Choking, take the pegasi and cover us from above! Rising, take a group on the right side and I'll handle the main wave," commands Solid again.
"You wish! I'm taking the front and you're not gonna stop me. This is the day they pay for all they've done," contradicts him Rising and pushes through the front group to the front line.
It's soon apparent that Solid's decision about not running was the correct one. The other groups that tried to get to the castle gate got taken from behind and only some of the ponies managed to get to us and strengthen our ranks.
Still... we are ready and we know we have nowhere to run but the courage and despair of about fifty ponies can't hold against thousands of attackers.
"Don't think about them when you see them up close! They are just animals! They have no strategy! They will try not to kill which isn't a good thing! You MUST kill every single one of them otherwise they will take away your families, your friends and drain them until they can't even recognize who or what they are. That's their nature!" shouts Rising Thunder.
Then the wave of attackers hits us and breaks. Again and again we hold them off without losing anypony thanks to healing spells and us not having a problem with killing them. The sheer amount of them is just too great to handle and we begin to get tired without even making a dent in the invading force.
Suddenly their buzzing gets louder and the ranks attacking from Solid's side break and panic as if being attacked from behind. Then one of them charges right through the group of ponies and ends in the back with the healers. His armor isn't black though and he's too big to really be one of them.
"Blaze?" I can't believe my eyes but still rush to stop the ponies from clobbering the invader.
"Can't talk now, too tired. Got two swords?" he asks, sweating and trying to catch his breath.
I point to the weapon crate we managed to carry with us.
"Good. Now do what you were doing and don't bother me."
I'm in an obedient mood today and too happy to argue so I just fly back up and try to protect us from the aerial assault. The last thing I hear from him is his mumbling:
"I really need you to work with me for now."
I don't have the time to find out who he's talking to but the wave of attackers stops completely and when one of the changelings explodes in front of me I back off having no idea what's going on. Curious, I glance at Blazing and see his horn glow faint, orange light. The same light as the two sparks which fly between the changelings and cause them to drop to the ground. Blaze himself is just sitting there and concentrating. It's the two swords he asked for flying through the air.
The changelings have no idea what's going on and back off to regroup from constantly running and flying into what seems to be a sharp blender. Blaze's magic gives us time to take a breath but the seconds we have are by far not enough and the changelings charge again.
We can't win. Even with our wounds rapidly closing mid-combat the fatigue is slowly breaking us and the healers are dropping one by one. When it all becomes too much even for me and one of the creatures takes me to the ground I'm just content with biting through its neck armor and tearing it to bits. I can't get up anymore though and my thoughts slide to Blaze who is bleeding from his nose, ears and dripping bloody tears from his closed eyes. The swords don't relent in destroying the enemy though.
I can't get up anymore. The sun hasn't moved much since the attack so despite it feeling like an eternity we can't have been here more than an hour. I grin at the sight of changeling corpses which other changelings drag away to get to us.
We can't win though... they don't care about how many of them die. Then an another bubblegum looking barrier passes through us and everything is over as soon as it started. Almost everything.
"MY ASS IS ON FIRE! MY ASS IS ON FIRE!" I hear Blaze's voice and roll around to look at him. The wave made me feel a lot better and I can even stand up when I try hard enough.
Blaze really is on fire though. The wave, instead of passing through him like it did with us, rammed him to the ground and really set him on fire so I run to douse him and some of the others join me.
"Shut up, you idiot. You're fine... oh?" I yell at him when he doesn't stop despite looking okay and when I look at his rump I see a cutie mark which wasn't there before.
Two black and white rings interlocked together. He is a bipolar, bi-species, bi-I'mrunningouttawords-g idiot and now he's got it official.
I begin laughing crazily and slowly everypony else joins, happy just to be alive.