//------------------------------// // Epilogue // Story: Blue Skye's Story // by Skyfire Storm //------------------------------// October 16, 2012 It was a sunny day in October and Blue was in his Ponyville house getting ready to go to work, little knowing that today would be an important day for him. A very important one indeed. Blue put on his guard armor and helmet, before going to the train station, which was only two blocks away from his house. Well, not exactly his house anymore. After he proposed to Meadow back in July, she moved in with Blue and the two have been living happily together ever since. Blue and Meadow had already planned the wedding, which was scheduled to take place in early November and were waiting eagerly for it to occur. At the train station, Blue looked at the train timetable and tried to find when the train to Canterlot would arrive. It was 10:17 AM and Blue's train was supposed to arrive five minutes ago. He didn't like long waits and was already beginning to get agitated. As Blue concentrated on the timetable, he felt his wing being tapped. He turned around to see Thunderblast standing in front of him. "Hey Thunder." Blue simply said. "Gaah. When is that train coming?" "I don't know, dude." replied Thunderblast. "It should be here soon. We don't want to be late for work..." "Yep." said Blue, turning to look at the oncoming train. "It's finally here..." he said, groaning. A few moments later, the train stopped at the station and ponies begun to spill out of the carriages. "By the way, Shining Armor has something for you when we get there." Thunderblast begun. "You weren't at home yesterday, so he asked me if I can give you the information." "What exactly does he have planned?" asked Blue. "Am I in trouble or something?" he asked. "I don't know. You'll find out soon enough." replied Thunderblast. "Right now, we better go. We're supposed to be in Canterlot by 11 AM." Both stallions, including some other ponies then went on board the train. "Alright then." Blue said as they both walked onto the train. The train pulled off from Ponyville Station and arrived in Canterlot about an hour or so later. Blue and Thunderblast stepped off the train, along with dozens of other ponies, and flew towards the guard outpost in the south side of the city. After getting there, Blue went to Shining Armor's office while Thunder went to join the rest of the guards, who were doing five laps of the track. Blue knocked on the door to the captain's office and waited for Shining Armor to let him in. Blue had no idea why he was called here, but he'd soon find out... "Come in." said Shining Armor from behind the door. After some reluctance, Blue opened the door and walked into his office. He was only here several times before, so naturally it seemed big to him when he entered. "Hey Shining." Blue awkwardly said. "Am I in trouble or anything?" he asked. "You? In trouble?" Shining questioned him. "No... In fact, you're anything but in trouble, Blue Skye." "So... why did you call me up here?" asked Blue, confused. "Well, you know the Equestrian military?" begun Shining. "They want you to join them for six months." Blue's heart stopped. He had been a guard for several years now, and quite a good one in fact. But the one thing he wasn't expecting was to be signed into the military. So, naturally, his reply was... "Why me?" asked Blue. "Why not somepony like Thunderblast or Spear or whatever?" "Well, you and Thunderblast are my best guards and have surpassed my expectations by far, and even though Thunder has been in the Royal Guard longer than you have been, he's definitely going to be transferred in a year or two." Shining explained. "You both are by far my best guards behind the elites." "Thanks, Shining..." Blue replied nervously. "Does that mean I have to fly fancy aircraft and fire guns and stuff like that?" he asked. "I'm afraid so." Shining replied. "But luckily for you, you will receive training before you actually get to join." "Shining... I can't accept this. I'm sorry." Blue replied. "I'm getting married next month. What will I tell my marefriend? My family?" he asked. "I'm sorry..." Shining replied, sighing. "But you have to join the military, and it's not my decision. It's the military's decision." "Right..." Blue replied. "But when do I leave?" he asked. "Next Monday, take the train to Los Pegasus from Ponyville." Shining explained. "The base is around twenty-five miles north-east of Los Pegasus, and once you get to the station, you'll meet one of your fellow soldiers who'll take you there. I'm sure you'll do great, Blue." "Alright." Blue said and sighed. "What do I tell everypony?" he asked. That Sunday... Blue lay on the sofa in his living room, lost in thought. He still had a day before he had to leave for Los Pegasus, but he didn't really want to leave. As much as he was interested in joining the military, he wanted to stay with Meadow, but he had to leave. After all he had no choice. He was needed in the military and sulking and pouting wasn't gonna get him out of it. Meadow was bringing him some hay pizza when she noticed him lying on the sofa, visibly distraught. Despite having the weekend off, Blue also did some training with Thunderblast, to make sure he's in top condition for the military. "Blue, is everything alright?" she asked. "You seem a bit off." "I'm definitely alright..." he lied. "I'm just tired." "You sure?" she asked. Blue sighed and turned to look at her. "No, Meadow. I know you're not gonna like when I say this, but I, uh---I joined the military." Blue confessed. Meadow's warm and friendly smile seemed to fade away and was replaced by an emotionless stare. "You joined the Equestrian military?" she asked, bewildered. "Yes. I did..." Blue replied. "I don't want to tell you this... but we can't get married. Not now we can't." "Well, at least you're happy..." she replied and put her head down. Blue got up and came over to her, wrapping his wing around her, making her feel much more comfortable, although the glare didn't disappear from her face. "No, Meads. I am anything but happy..." Blue explained. "Especially since I was just told about this and especially since I won't be seeing my love for six months..." "Yeah, sure. I knew this was all for nothing." she replied and teared up. Blue put his hoof on her shoulder to comfort her, but she pushed it off and glared at him. "I knew that you don't care for me." "What?! Of course I care for you!" Blue shouted. "You're the love of my life, Meadow. I would do anything for you." "Yeah, sure..." Meadow replied, still crying. "If you really did care about me, then you would stay." "Meadow..." Blue begun. "I told you that I can't stay. It's not my decision." "Sure, it's not your decision." Meadow replied. "You promised that you and me would be married in November..." Indeed, Blue had promised Meadow in August that the wedding would take place in November, although it'd have to be postponed now. "I'm sorry, Meads..." Blue replied. "I'm so sorry..." "Just save it, Blue Skye..." she said and went upstairs, crying. Blue sighed and jumped onto the sofa, trying to process what just happened between them two. As much as he didn't want to leave his beloved marefriend and soon-to-become wife, he had no choice. Blue begun to regret even becoming a Royal Guard in the first place. As good and as experienced he was at being a Royal Guard, he didn't like to be away from his family, but Blue eventually had to stallion up and had to do what's right. He groaned and finished the hay pizza, before going to sleep. The next morning, he went to clean himself up before packing himself up for the long journey to Los Pegasus. After packing up, he kissed Meadow, who was still asleep, lightly on the cheek, before taking a piece of paper and writing a note on it. Dear Meadow, If you want to see me before I go, I'll be at the train station. My train arrives at 10:30 AM. I'm sorry I have to leave. I wish I could stay with you for as long as possible, but unfortunately this isn't possible. Please, don't think that I left you because I don't care about you or anything like that, because that ain't true. I love you and care for you more than you can imagine, and it hurts me to have to leave you. I love you Meadow, more than you think I do, and all I ask from you is that you can forgive me. Love, Blue Skye Teary-eyed, Blue put the note beside the sleeping mare, kissed her lightly and carried his bags outside. Although struggling with the bags, Blue eventually managed to reach the train station and looked at the train timetable. It was 9:52 AM, meaning Blue still had almost forty minutes left till his train comes. Before he left, Blue hoped to repair his relationship with Meadow and say goodbye to her for six months. It hurt him having to go away for such a long period of time and leaving his precious marefriend and family, but he had no choice. No choice whatsoever... Blue sat on his luggage and waited patiently for his train to arrive, with his head facing downwards, not noticing that a large and muscular gray Pegasus stallion with a long dark mane placed his suitcases beside him. "Excuse me, do you know when the train to Los Pegasus is going to arrive?" asked the Pegasus stallion, towering over Blue. "Yeah. Check the timetable." Blue simply replied. The gray Pegasus shrugged and walked over to the timetable. As Blue watched the stallion walk towards it, he begun to notice similarities to a Pegasus stallion he hoped to meet. A Pegasus stallion he knew at school. Blue turned to look at the cutie mark on his flank, and to his surprise, the cutie mark was a thunder cloud with a fork of lightning coming from the bottom, exactly the same as the cutie mark on that same Pegasus stallion... "Thunder, is that you?" asked Blue, looking at him. "Uh, yeah..." the stallion turned around and replied awkwardly, before noticing who was speaking to him. "Blue Skye?" he asked. "Yes. That's me." Blue replied, with a grin forming on his face. "Remember dude? We used to be best friends in elementary school!" he said. "Man, you haven't changed much." Thunder replied and grinned. "And so haven't you." Blue explained and ruffled his mane playfully. "Man, there are so many things I'd like to share with you..." said Thunder. "But first, how has life been for you? How's the family? How's your little brother or sister?" he asked. "Well, it's been going good for me. I just wanted to say that over the past few years, I've been a guard in Canterlot..." Blue explained. "You've been a guard in Canterlot?" asked Thunder. "That's cool. I've been one as well..." he said and smiled proudly. "I've heard. You were at my outpost, and for some reason I never got to meet you before." Blue replied. "Yeah, I got transferred to Appleloosa, then back to Canterlot, but to another outpost, and after Canterlot, I was transferred to Baltimare." Thunder explained. "And after that, I returned back to Canterlot and now I'm going to Los Pegasus. Apparently, they want me to join the army or something." "That's exactly the same thing that's happened for me." Blue explained. "I'm going to join the military too." "That's cool." Thunder Storm replied. Just then, Meadow walked into the train station, apparently after reading Blue's note. She saw him sitting beside Thunder Storm and went over them. She had a small and sad grin, which seemed to be looking at Blue. Blue turned to look at her as well, and smiled at her. "Who's that?" asked Thunder Storm, looking at the mare in front of him. "This is my wife-to-be, Thunder Storm." Blue explained and got up. "Don't get any ideas." he warned him. "Right, right." Thunder Storm replied. "Bluey, I read your letter..." Meadow begun. "I just wanted to say how ignorant and foolish I was to walk out on you like that... I just didn't want you to leave. I just wanted you to be safe and I didn't want to be alone..." she replied, crying. Blue held her in his hooves and smiled gently at her. "Meadow, it's not your fault." Blue reassured her. "It's not both of our faults... Unfortunately, we're going to have to live with it." "I guess so..." Meadow replied and nuzzled him. "I just don't want you to go..." "I don't want to go either, Meads..." Blue comforted her. "But just remember, I love you more than anything in the world... and please, don't worry about me, honey. I'll be alright. I promise. It's nothing too serious." "I hope so..." she replied and looked up at him, grinning. "Please, stay safe honey." "I will. You stay safe as well." he replied and kissed her. Their tender moment was interrupted by the announcer's voice booming through the speakers. The train to Los Pegasus Central Station will be arriving shortly. the announcer spoke through the speakers. Blue sighed and gave Meadow one last hug before walking towards his bags. He looked into the distance to see the train approaching and then turned to face Thunder Storm. "It's time, Blue." he said and picked up his own bags. Blue then turned to face Meadow and smiled at her, knowing that this'll be the last time he sees her for six months. "I love you, Meads..." he said as a tear rolled out his eye. "See you in six months." "Bye honey..." Meadow replied. "I love you too... stay safe." "I will..." Blue replied and winked at her, before boarding the train, along with Thunder Storm. The two stallions found two seats which weren't taken by anypony, beside the window so Blue can see Meadow for a final time before leaving. It was hard for him to leave, in fact, very hard. However, he knew that his service in the military will pay off one day and he'll get to see his marefriend again soon. As the train pulled off from the station, Blue looked out of the window and waved at Meadow, who was still at the station. She waved back at him and blew him a kiss, which Blue chuckled at, but then snapped out of it. "So, it's a fifteen-hour trip from here to Los Pegasus..." Thunder Storm begun, but Blue was too busy looking at the station, which slowly faded away into the distance as the train moved, to reply. "Hey, Blue-boy." "What do you want, Thunder?" asked Blue, who seemed a tad bit depressed. "I was gonna ask you what do you want to do for the duration of the journey. I mean, it's a fifteen hour-long trip." replied Thunderstorm. "I don't know..." Blue said. "We'll come up with things to do." "I guess so..." Thunder Storm replied. "Why the long face?" he asked. "You know darn well why..." Blue replied, a bit agitated. "I had to leave my marefriend and family here and I have no idea if I'l make it back home." "Well, it is just training..." reassured Thunder Storm. "Don't worry, dude. You'll do fine." "I hope so." Blue replied, feeling unsure about himself. Although he was one of the best guards there were, he had no idea how good of a soldier he was, but only time will tell. Only time will tell...