//------------------------------// // Chapter XV: Trip // Story: Astral Aegis // by Silvak //------------------------------// "Okay, I think I can understand the rock dodging, the climbing a cliff without wings or magic, and that weird test where you had us stuck in a pit full of whipped cream." "Better that than the alternative," I replied. "But there is no way I expect this training session to have a point!" yelled Stalwart Jack, a brown coated earth pony with an orange mane. "Oh really?" "Yes really, I bet you wouldn't even do it yourself." "...Challenge accepted," I simply said as I put on a pair of goggles as I turned my attention to another pony. "Do it." "Are you certain that you want to do this? This is dange—" "I'll toss in thirty more bits if you just do it." "Alright miss, but I did tried to warn ya," said the earth pony in a beekeeper's outfit, who let out a whistle. At his cue, a swarm of bees covered my entire body instantly, buzzing all around me as I just glared at Stalwart for his disobedience. "...What is wrong with you?" was the only words he could mutter out, as all my recruits stare in horror at what they will be experiencing soon. Two weeks had passed since the little meet and greet at Canterlot, which were spent in a highly productive fashion, for once. The morning of each day was spent with exercises devoted to make the recruits fit; the thestrals and pegasi had to do wing ups while the earth ponies, due to their innate strength, had to do triple the effort. Though, to keep the ponies from toppling over when they pretended to be exhausted, I had to keep walking around the lot while holding a stick with my magic, smacking any pony that started to slack off. At noon we had our lunch break, though it was more of a lunch for me and a challenge for the ponies to endure their meals. I asked Twilight to come up with a nutritious meal that would give my squad the energy they need to continue their work out, along with the requirement that it had to be edible. I even told her that if it came out as some sort of paste in a tube, it would even be better. This turned out to be a delightful project for her, which resulted in the recruits trying to force a rather nasty paste down their throats. Incidentally, the paste tasted a lot better than the kind I had in my former life, which made me wonder what was actually put into it. The afternoon was spent on either dodging exercises, parkour training, fighting drills that Silver oversaw, or the occasional weird scenario that I manage to come up with. It's rather hard to come up with scenarios that simulate the experiences I had to go through that would end up without some recruit being horribly maimed, traumatized to the point that they are babbling nut jobs, or killed. Though Stewart Jack was starting to show that he was a stubborn whiner, to the point that he wanted me to break my leg to prove that I can handle it a few days after the Canterlot incident. Which I nearly did if the rest of my recruits and Silver didn't stop a lead pipe that I borrowed from the construction worker before I could smash my left foreleg with it. Ponyville was interesting as normal as usual the past two weeks, if you call seeing a mob of foals running by chanting Twilight time normal, and some kind of mini-ponies called Breezies flying by the town. Seriously though, how could something so small and so darn dependent on help from other ponies avoid extinction? You think somepony would do something to fix that problem. Though, I myself received a letter from Celestia that she was going to send me to the Crystal Empire to meet with one of Equestria's finest military commanders for a week. Apparently she thought we could trade notes on training or something, though I found it odd that I received it via the local mailmare instead of through Spike. Though, I wondered what kind of place this Crystal Empire would be, since I haven't reached it in my studies yet. Thus on the day before I was going up north, I gave my recruits the 'bee session' before handing off training to Silver Shield and some unicorn drill sergeant that was told to follow my training procedures. As per the norm, he laughed at the idea of a filly like me being able to come up with actually training, till he saw my instructions upon which he called me a 'psychopath'. Though, before I could make my trip, Pinkie insisted on me writing her a letter everyday, after throwing me a small party and giving me one of her bone-crushing hugs. While Pinkie normally cares for me like she had from the beginning, due to my reveal of my past, she was willing to let me go off for a week alone, but not without giving me a week's worth of 'affection' during the little party. Hence, I was sitting alone on my seat looking out the window at the snowy landscape that was giving me the idea of dumping my recruits here for a week when I saw the climate shift to a warm grassland almost instantaneously. Huh, guess magic can be used for some level of terraforming the area, I thought to myself before I caught sight of the Crystal Empire itself. Damn did they put emphasis on the crystals here to the point that it was an eyesore. Unless they did it as a tourist attraction, then it made sense. After the train came to a halt, I walked out to see a white unicorn stallion with a blue mane with a light blue streak in it, wearing some kind of uniform. Must be some Equestrian ambassador that is here to greet me, I thought to myself as I went over to him as he gave me a smile. "So this is the alien filly I heard so much about from Princess Celestia," the stallion said as he extended a hoof, to which I just cocked an eyebrow before bumping it with my own. "Well, since you already know who I am, mind telling me your name then?" I asked, only for his jaw to drop a bit as his eyes widen a bit with shock. Dear lord, if this is another noble pony with an inflated ego, I swear... "You... don't know who I am? How could you... didn't Princess Celestia tell you about me? Not even Twily?" the unicorn stammered out. "Twily? Are you talking about Twilight Sparkle?" I asked with a raised eyebrow as I scratched the back of my head, while storing that nickname of sorts for Twilight in my memory for future use. "Sorry, but nopony told me much beyond the Princess telling me that I was going to meet some military commander for an exchange of military tactics and advice." The stallion open his mouth for a bit before closing it, his eyes telling me that he was lost in thought. As I was about to find the nearest object that I could use to poke his face to get his attention, he finally said, "While I'm dismayed that you don't know me... I guess it can't be help. I'm Shining Armor... well Prince Shining Armor. Though you don't have to address me by my title, I don't really like using it that much." This caused me to tilt my head for a bit, before I suddenly realized something. "Wait, if you're a prince... and with that nickname you used... are you related to Princess Twilight Sparkle?" "Yeah, I'm her older brother... though I can't believe she never mentioned me." "Well... in her defense, she was mostly preoccupied with learning my language and teaching me magic. With my reveal of my origins... that only fueled her desire to learn more from me," I deadpanned as I remember all the damn questions she asked me. "Heh, that's my sister. At least that explains why she didn't say a thing about me," Shining said with a chuckle as he turned around and started to lead me through the city towards... a massive crystal castle. "Yeah, between the lectures and the never ending questions, there wasn't much for anything else. Regardless though, mind telling me about this commander that I'm suppose to meet? I'm curious since I heard that he's one of the best military minds on Equus." "Well... you're looking at him," Shining said with a grin that could have been a smirk if he wasn't being so friendly with me. "Oh? That's... surprising to say the least, though it's nice to meet a prince that wasn't a fool." "You're talking about Blueblood, aren't you." "Yeah, guess news got out about that." "Not really, I only heard about that from the letter Princess Celestia sent. She's trying to keep it under wraps for now, she didn't even say what you did to him." Cocking an eyebrow, I said, "Really? That's awfully nice of her to do. Though it makes me wonder if I hit Blueblood hard enough that he forgot about that incident." "You hit him‽" Shining exclaimed with a look of utter shock. "Yeah, with a chair... I guess the Princess didn't tell you about that part judging by your response," I answered, only for Shining to stand there, his mouth still open. "Can we get a move on already? I swear, everypony I meet always ends up gaping at me at some point." Crystal crystal crystal. Damn this place went way too far with the crystal motif. The crystal guards were wearing crystal armor, there was crystal furniture. Even crystal produce! What next, a crystal alico— and there's an alicorn here too. Of course... at least she's not crystal too, though she's almost as pink as Pinkie Pie. It didn't take long for Shining and me to reach the castle, where I started to question why royalty lived in castles that had very poor foundations after getting a closer view of the lower portion of the place. Though I did see that there were crystal unicorns and pegasi on the way to the castle, which made me wonder if I could recruit some of the locals here onto my squad. Ponies with a tougher hide would be quite useful in some harsh environments. Moving on, we entered some hallway within the castle where I caught sight of this pink alicorn with a mane composed of a pink, purple and white strip. When she saw me she gave me a warm smile, which started to falter as I just responded by eyeing her with suspicion. "Another alicorn? And before anypony asks why I never heard of her, I only gotten so far in my education of this world's history." This caused the alicorn to blink at what I said, before regaining her composure. "It is nice to finally meet you Aether Aura. My name is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, though I prefer if you call me Cadance." "Glad that you want me to call you that, your full title is a mouthful," I said, which caused all the guards to do a double take at me while Cadance just looked at me in surprise. "What? Aren't there other ponies besides me that are this informal with royalty and nobility?" "Well... most ponies tend to address us formally most of the time... though I think Princess Celestia would enjoy your... bluntness." "Oh... well, nice meeting you Princess Cadance, but I’d rather get to work now. Time isn't on my side... maybe... well I can't be sure, I might have weeks, months, or years. But better safe than sorry," I said as I turned my attention to Shining for him to move on, only for him to just stare at me. "Okay, you may be a busy pony, and it is nice that you're not as formal as other ponies, but maybe you can treat my wife with a bit more respect," Shining said, causing me to raise both my eyebrows in response. So they're married... grand... "Shining, please, it's not a problem. This is one of the reasons Aether is here," Cadance replied, causing me turn give her my full attention. "Wait, one of the reasons? What are you talking about?" I asked, to which Cadence only gave me a nervous smile. "Well... while you are here to discuss military tactics with Shining Armor here... Celestia also wanted you to spend some time with me to help you with your... temper issues." Narrowing my eyes, I asked, "Oh really? Why did she want you of all ponies to help me with my temper?" "Well, I did help Twilight with her stress, and I'm good with foals. With Shining here to help you learn some things about Eqeustrian military, I guess Celestia thought you could get two things done at once," Cadance answered with a weak smile, only for me to tilt my head a bit. "Did you just said you're 'good with foals'?" "Well... yes... I was a foalsitter once, I even foalsa—" "Celestia just sent me here cause she wanted to punish me since you two would make an excellent way of keeping a violent, scheming filly like me in line." "I wouldn't sa—" "Oh cut with the... nice words. I can see it as clear as day, and you both know it too," I countered, only for the couple to look at each other before Cadance slumped a bit as she let out a sigh. "This is going to be a long week..."