Stormy sighed. “I can’t.” He lowered his head and opened the door to the Weather Factory, inside the white hallway stretched before splitting, light sent through the clouds by refracting sunlight. What is the point? The pegasus asked himself. I don’t know how to fight this kind of uphill battle, not really.
“Then Learn!” A voice inside his head chided. The familiar silken yet gruff voice.
His ears perked up, it took a moment for him to realize the feminine voice wasn’t spoken, but a fragment of his imagination. Stormy quickly shot his rear leg out and caught the door before it finished closing. His mind raced along with his heart in turmoil. He knew he kept going back and forth but he didn’t want to disappoint anypony. Stormy rushed out the Weather Factory and took flight.
Upon reaching a holding pattern somewhere between the Weather Factory and Canterlot Castle, Stormy pulled out the list of places to go and ponies to see. His doctor’s appointment wouldn’t be until the next week, work was now no longer needed, so the only things of real importance were the two things at the Castle. He would wait until slightly later to grab his stuff from his parent’s house, early enough though that his dad would still be out or would think he did a full day of work. He fumbled the parchment back into the bag, almost dropping it several times. Meanwhile his upper lip kept finding itself in his mouth.
There weren’t that many pegasi flying about this early which was nice, so few people around, no having to watch his step or getting his tail stepped on. The parapets and towers of white, gold, and purple were always so easy to see and the morning sun rising over the top of the mountain left no doubt as to how kind the Princesses were in their ruling and tending to their celestial charges. The few lone pegasi were either guarding the castle or placing a few shade clouds for ponies to enjoy.
Landing upon the Castle entrance, Stormy was stopped by two golden clad guards just as formal as the last pair, they could even have been the last pair for how similar they all looked.
“Reason for visit today?” The pegasus guard asked while the unicorn patted Stormy down.
“To visit the Canterlot library and hoping to see a guard by the name of Ai.” The former weather pony asked, a slight break in his speech on the second part.
“The library is still in the same spot, go down the hall and up the stairs. If you want to use the computers you will have to wait in line. Seeing Ai Kido will be rather hard though as she left the Royal Guards a while ago and the scuttleflank is that she was hired by some private security firm in a human city called New York.”
“It was probably having to deal with all those space ponies.” The other guard filled in.
“Space ponies?” Stormies stomach summersaulted.
“Yeah. That’s what their head is filled with, empty space. They come here and slow us guards down with stupid pointless questions and need their hooves held. It would be enough to drive anypony away.” There was venom to the unicorn guard’s words that forced the student back a step.
“We’ve lost a lot of good guards the past few years. Between replacements to join the Lunar Guard. Deaths in the fight against NightMare Moon and Chrysalis. Dangers at the borders, human companies trying to recruit our senior members and ponies needing protection on Earth.” The pegasus guard moved between the two and used a wing to escort the young pony to the front gates which hung open. Then in a lower voice. “It’s a lot for a guard to deal with somedays. And yesterday a contingent got sent to the frozen north including our Captain. So please don’t think too poorly of some of us.”
Stormy left the two guards behind him. He had heard nothing about the frozen north. Was some new army coming to attack? Why had so many incidents happen lately? He also felt heavier at not being able to thank Ai, even know it felt like what she said was helping him. But maybe it was something I did… she was pretty mad that one time. With a shake of his head he banished that thought, it was unproductive and unhelpful.
The walls felt brighter and cleaner than usual, everything shined. The marble was practically a mirror while the drapes were perfect sheets of color. The wooden doors more brown while their iron framework stood black as night. It seemed new and clean while Earth had looked older and more run down. More than once Stormy got lost wandering the halls of Canterlot Castle. It was open to the public on most days, the library being the one many serious students visited. So the guards and attendants were always more than happy to point a hoof in the proper direction.