Soarin had not responded as well to the cake as I had hoped but it was Sunny’s first attempt after all. Well, sort of Sunny’s attempt anyway. We’d gone a full week and he hadn’t said a thing about it or tried to make contact with her. At least not to my knowledge.
Sunny was still on her ‘don’t speak to Azurite’ mission. It was starting to really hurt my feelings, too. I’d started avoiding her for the most part. It was easier not to see her than be Warrant Officer Azurite.
When I got into work there was a massive pile of files in my inbox and another two beside it. Another ruse from Silent Knight no doubt… well, some doubt. There wasn’t a note. Actually a lot of doubt. I remembered that he’d suddenly took sick and was out on medical leave. Officers in the palace had a tendency to do that. I wonder why?
I sat down and started to flip through the first one. This file belonged to a new guard right out of training. The second, third, fourth, and fifth were the same. I was part of the palace guard pony resources section. It was rare for us to see a lot of guards without experience.
“Who left these here?” I asked Mr. Clockerson.
He stared down at me through his monocle and shrugged his pointers.
“You’re no help.” I got back up and walked out of my office and right into Lieutenant Brook’s breastplate. “Ow!”
“Oops… are you alright, Azurite?” he asked, stepping back.
My nose hurt but I seemed to be in one piece. “Yes, sir. I was coming to see you.”
He nodded. “Yes, I imagine you were after seeing your desk. It has been a crazy morning, this was the soonest I could get down here. Captain Akane from the Canterlot City Guard dropped by late yesterday and met with the major. Evidently the city guard is going to be increased by about 10%. That is far beyond what their pony resources sections can handle at the moment. So he asked for help which, as you can guess, means us.”
“Why are they adding that many guards, sir? That is a huge increase!”
Lieutenant Brook shrugged. “I don’t know. If I were to guess I’d say it has something to do with the fact that city has been attacked twice in two years. That is what I hope anyway.”
I squirmed. Canterlot had been crazy recently. When the changelings attacked I was still in warrant officer’s school. That fight I’d sat out. It happened so fast and ended just as quickly. Not that I would have been able to do much at that time. I was still in a bad place.
The second attack had come on suddenly but lasted almost a whole day. Superpowered cockatrices had assaulted the city and I’d been in the thick of that. To be honest I didn’t want to imagine another attack coming soon.
“I’m going to hope that, too,” I said. “A precaution, not an expectation. So basic onboarding?”
“Good idea. Easier on the brain that way,” he said before nodding. “Yeah, it isn’t exciting work but I know you can process faster than anypony else. I’ll even be working cases.”
My brow arched. “You, sir?”
He chuckled. “I still remember how. I just won’t finish as many as you do.”
I gave a confident nod. My job I was confident about. “Time to go earn that second bar then.”
“That’s the spirit. Come see me if you need anything.”
“Yes, sir!” I replied before heading back into my office.
♦♦♦
My eyes were getting tired. I hadn’t moved since lunch and it was an hour after I was supposed to go home. “Okay Mr. Clockerson, I’m punching out.”
“Tick, tock, tick,” he replied.
“Yeah, I’ll miss you, too. See you tomorrow!”
I got out of my armor and locked up before heading towards the stairs. On my way I caught a glimpse of Sunny as she went past one of the cross halls. She wasn’t in armor and that was the direction of the locker room.
When I got to the intersection I hesitated a moment before continuing on. Should I go after her? I should go after her. She’s not in uniform! No excuse. I’m going to go after her! One left turn later I was hot on Sunny’s trail.
I went down the hall to the locker room and peeked in the door. The light was on but no pony was inside. Although the sound of water running suggested where she was. I slipped inside and made my way over to the showers. Yup! One golden mare in one stall showering.
As quietly as I could I crept up behind her and into the stall. “Hi Sunny!”
“Ahhhh!” she screamed.
“Ahhhh!” I screamed.
Then she clocked me. I staggered a bit and fell onto my rump right outside of the stall. “Oww…”
“Serves you right sneaking up on ponies! What are you up to?!” asked a voice that was not Sunny’s.
My vision was finally starting to clear. All of the little stars disappeared. I gasped. “Oh Celestia, I am so sorry! I thought you were Lieutenant Day!”
The mare who was, to my credit, golden and red-maned peered at me. “Go figure that now mares would jump into the shower with her.”
There wasn’t much I could say other than: “Again, sorry. I’m just going to awkwardly leave now. Enjoy your shower.”
“Mmhmm,” she replied, turning back to the water.
Slowly I scooted away. My face had run into a lot of things today. I got up and hurried out before I managed to cause any other trouble.
♦♦♦
“Soarin?” I called after I finally let myself into the dorm room. Stupid keys. “Hello?”
The whole place was dark. He was probably still at practice even though I was late. I went about and started turning on a few lights and doing my meager chores. There weren’t many to do since we had a weekly maid service.
Pink Pony was settled on the couch so I joined her. Briefly I looked around before I took her in my hooves and rocked onto my back. Holding her over me I said, “I miss mare kisses.”
The plush’s muzzle pressed to mine and I giggled. “Okay, okay, I miss Sunny’s kisses. Yours are nice, too, though.”
I hugged Pink Pony against me and nuzzled my cheek with hers. She was soft and squishy. “I miss her smell, too, or when she’d nestle on top of me just like this.”
Two button eyes peered down at me sympathetically. “I knew you’d understand. I just really miss her. You never really got to know her.”
We snuggled a bit more and I was off in fantasy land in my head. Me and Sunny back at the beach, snuggling under an umbrella while Soarin fought off some crabs that had taken offense to our presence. The things we did that night…
I never heard the door open or Soarin come home. He walked into the living room with no less than twelve balloons tied to his hoof. They floated above him with messages like, ‘I’m sorry,’ ‘Please forgive me,’ ‘You’re a stud,’ and ‘It isn’t contagious.’ His eyes found me and Pink Pony.
I gasped and stiffened. “It isn’t what it looks like!”
He blinked in confusion. “It looks like you’re snuggling with Pink Pony.”
“Okay it is, but it doesn’t mean anything!” I replied guiltily. My eyes caught Pink Pony’s. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. Your snuggling means a lot. Don’t be cross.”
Pink Pony stared at me.
“Um… Azurite, are you alright? Hey… did you get into a fight?” Soarin asked as he came over to look down at me.
“What?” I asked in surprise. “What makes you think that?” He gently touched his hoof to a spot just below my right eye. When he did, it hurt! “Ow!”
The stallion peered closer. “You have a black eye. What happened?”
What happened? I snuck up on some twitchy palace guard! That is what. Why though? I couldn’t tell him that I had jumped into the shower with Sunny. Azurite you’ve been in a lot of sticky situations lately. Just tell him most of the truth.
“It wasn’t a fight. I accidentally scared a palace guard and she went all combat reflexes on me. Totally my fault.”
He looked skeptical and asked, “Then why do you look guilty?”
Carefully I set Pink Pony aside and looked up at him. “I didn’t want you to think I was cheating.”
The stallion stared at me more. “With the doll?”
“Yes? And Pink Pony isn’t a doll.”
He softly patted me on the head. “I can deal with it. All of it.”
The balloons finally caught my full attention. “Did you have trouble flying today? Is that why they tied balloons to you?”
Soarin laughed and then shook his head. “No, they’re apology balloons from Sunny.”
“Aww, that is sweet!” I replied.
The stallion untied the strings and then tied them to my hoof. “They’re just balloons,” he said before heading towards the kitchen. “I’m going to get you an ice pack and then get cleaned up. Do you want to go out to eat or would that be embarrassing?”
“Ice would be nice, thank you. Mmm, I’m not super ashamed and I do want noodles and broccoli,” I called after him.
While rummaging around in the kitchen he shouted back. “I know just the place.”
I listened to the sounds and looked up at the balloons. They were brightly colored and fun. The rummaging continued. I looked down at the strings, untied them, and tied them around Pink Pony’s hoof. “I’m sorry, I got scared. You mean the world to me.”
Pink Pony looked back, no judgment in her eyes.
We hugged and then I went after Soarin into the kitchen. “Do they deliver?”
“Maybe? Why?”
“I would rather stay in and cuddle you. I had a really rough day and I’m feeling kind of low.”
He nodded and set the ice pack into my hooves. Soarin pressed a soft kiss to my nose and replied, “I’ll go pick it up and come back once I’m done showering.”
“You really know how to treat a filly,” I said.
Soarin just winked and went off to get cleaned up.
♦♦♦
“Wow, partner, she got you good!” Sandy said as she stared at my eye.
“Well, she was bigger than me and a palace guard. So, you know, there is that. Evidently punching unicorns comes natural to her.”
Sandy snorted as she tried to keep from laughing and held a hoof up. “I’m sorry. I’m not laughing at your pain.”
I shook my head. “No, no, go ahead. I’m the stupid pony that jumped into the shower with a random mare.”
She hugged me and softly patted my back. “I always told you to keep your guard up.”
“Uh huh. Get it all out. Anything else?”
Sandy paused and settled back into her wheelchair a moment. “I guess she didn’t take a shining to you?”
My eyes rolled. “You really stretched for that one.”
“I do what I do. So are we going to go fly kites or what?”
“Actually, I needed your help with something. An acquaintance of mine has been looking kind of rough lately and now he’s sick. He likes these little toy airships but I haven’t found them in any of the toy stores. Have you ever heard of anything like that?”
The mare’s head tilted. “Toy stores are full of toy airships. You couldn’t find any?”
“Not like his. His are really high quality looking. He says they’re for wargames.”
“Oh! One of the ponies I work with at the market talks about stuff like that all the time. There is a store he plays at, Crystal... something. Why don’t we see if they have anything?”
“It sounds like an adventure! Off to Crystal Something!”
♦♦♦
The day was dragging on slowly. I was excited to get to quitting time so I could go to Silent Knight’s place with the little wrapped package that was sitting on my desk. Normally I’d have gone first thing but sneaking off during work hours was out of the question. There were simply too many ponies to process.
“Would you hurry up!” I said to Mr. Clockerson.
I swear the minute pointer went backwards.
“Don’t you start with me!”
“Tick, tiiick, tiiiiiiiiick.”
“So help me, I’ll get up there and take your new monocle back!”
“Tick, tock! Tick, tock!”
I nodded. “And don’t you forget it.”
He finally moved his pointers in the right direction and I hopped out of my chair. My magic encircled the gift and I trotted proudly up to the main floor and out of the palace.
Sandy and I had used our whole day together looking for the right place. It hadn’t been easy either. Evidently most ponies were as perplexed as we were as to the difference between a toy store and a game store.
That store, once we’d eventually found it, was called the Crystal Delicacy. That was the easy part, however, as I’d been inundated by the proprietor with questions like “what faction,” “what size ship,” and other similar nonsense. I picked the one that looked the coolest to me.
I also learned that toy airships that are marketed as wargame pieces are a lot more expensive than I imagined they would be. That was alright though. I wanted to cheer the lieutenant up and maybe smooth out any awkwardness that may exist between us.
When I got to his quarters his door was open. A white and blue pegasus mare was coming out. She looked a lot like him but her mane was lighter.
“Is Lieutenant Knight home?”
The mare blinked and looked down. “He isn’t… He’s staying with a friend. Can I help you?”
“Oh… well we work together and I heard he was sick. I brought him a gift,” I replied.
“That is very sweet of you. I’m his sister Winterspear. He’d probably like a visit.”
“Nice to meet you! I’m Azurite. Is he coming home soon?”
She shook her head. “Not today, I thought he’d be better off separated from the other sick ponies. His friend is actually his fiancée. I can give you directions. I’d show you myself but I’ve got to go pick up my filly.”
His fiancée. Crystal Wishes. Yeah, I know where she lives. “Directions would be fine. You don’t look old enough to have a filly.” Woah, where did that come from?
Winterspear laughed and replied, “Thanks, but she isn’t mine mine. She’s… uh… well…” She looked at me a moment before shrugging. “She’s my marefriend’s little sister. We’re raising her.”
“That is nice of you! I don’t have any siblings.” Get to the point, Azurite. “I’m sorry. I’m not good at first impressions. If you point me in the right direction this awkward small talk could end.”
The mare laughed a bit more and went back inside for a moment. She returned with a scrap of paper. “Here is the address. Have a good evening.”
“You, too!” I chirped before heading over to Crystal Wishes’s place.
I knocked on the door. There was a brief wait before it opened. Velvet was standing there looking down at me.
“Hi Azurite!” Velvet said with a smile. “Omph!”
Crystal Wishes was suddenly by her side and had subtly elbowed her roommate.
“Oh, I mean, hi… uh… you,” Velvet corrected.
Further back in the condo I could see Silent Knight sitting on a pillow with a book in front of him. He eyed the mares curiously and then looked at me. Finally he shrugged, let it go, and said, “This is a surprise, Azurite.”
Crystal offered, “Won’t you come in? Azurite, was it?”
“It was. I didn’t mean to interrupt this… whatever this is,” I replied as I walked in.
Velvet gasped and pointed at my eye. “Did you get into a fight with Su— OW!”
Crystal Wishes looked innocently the other way, her hind hoof having stepped on Velvet’s.
“Crystal, I swear to Celestia I’ll—”
“You’re not interrupting. Come on Velvet, let’s go make a snack for our guest while she spends some time with Silent,” Crystal said before heading toward the kitchen.
As Crystal and Velvet made their way past me Velvet whispered, “Come tell me what happened later.”
My ears wiggled but I didn’t react otherwise. I just made my way to Silent Knight and landed the wrapped package in front of him. He didn’t look that different out of armor. Most ponies do. You take down the barrier and find out they’re just normal ponies.
Not him though. Even without the armor he was large and fit. The armor may have been off but his guard wasn’t. He looked every bit like the officer I knew… mostly.
He also looked… vulnerable? He had a few scars around his ribs. Even in his white coat I could see them. Big ones. His eyes were heavy, too, like he wasn’t fully there. Physically he looked fit but... He looked like a stallion in peak health but something was off. Maybe he needed a hug?
Silent Knight looked at the box in surprise. “What is this?”
Focus, Azurite. Stop staring. “Well, you’ve been a little frowny lately and now you’re sick. I know the feeling. The frowny part. Plus I never really thanked you for saving me that one time or for treating me with respect around the palace. So I got you a gift. It is allowed under the gift regulations.”
“Frowny?” he asked, his brow arching.
“Yes, sir, frowny.”
The stallion shrugged at that and replied, “Alright. Thank you. Should I open it now?”
Of course! I was giddy to see if I’d done well. Open it, open it, open it! Calm down Azurite, play this cool. “If you’d like sir. I’m curious to see if I guessed right.”
Silent Knight nodded and carefully pulled the wrapping paper off the box. When he saw the colorful front panel he said, “Oh!”
“Oh?” I asked nervously.
“This is one of the newest figures. You must have been shopping recently. It’s great!”
“So you like it?”
He nodded. “Absolutely. It is a very thoughtful gift. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome! I didn’t know what I was doing. I just guessed.”
“You did well. I think I’ll name it The Azurite and paint the sails blue, if you’re okay with that.”
I’d never had a ship named after me. Neither a big one or a small one. “I’d love that! Thank you.”
“Consider it done,” he replied.
“Sir?” I asked.
He was staring at the back of the box. “Hmm?”
“Are you going to be well soon?”
Silent Knight looked up. “I hope so. I’ve been getting stronger every day. With any luck another day or two under Crystal’s care and I’ll be ready for anything.”
“That is good!”
He smiled at me. “Of course surprise visits also lift my spirits, so I’m sure that will help, too.”
I settled in front of him and nodded. “That is good. I hope it works out for you.”
“Me too. Why do you feel frowny?” he asked suddenly, going back to the start of the conversation.
“Me? Oh… well. It seems stupid compared to you being sick.”
“Try me?”
I squirmed and looked towards the door. “Sunny won’t talk to me.”
“Oh. I’m really sorry to hear that,” he said and it seemed genuine.
“Yeah… that is how things go I guess.” My ears folded back. “Oh. Well… maybe I should get going.”
“You don’t have to. Are you still with your friend Soarin?” he asked quietly.
Why was he asking about Soarin! How did he know about Soarin? “What! Uh, yeah, kinda. I should go. I think I should go.”
“Alright, drop in my office sometime. I’ll show you the airship when it’s done.”
“Okay. I’ll do that. See you later, sir!” Quickly I stood up and hurried out the door. “Bye Velvet, see you tomorrow!” I called without thinking.
Stupid Azurite! Oh well, I’m sure Crystal would fix it.
♦♦♦
Velvet peered at my eye through a ridiculously sized magnifying glass. “Wow! You got clobbered.”
I glared at her which caused her to gasp and lean back. Not because I was scary but because of the giant magnification of my glaring eye. “Yes, she did.”
The mare scrunched her nose and asked, “Any word on the Soarin talk to Sunny front since your Azurite talk to Sunny battle is going so badly?”
My head shook. “No, he doesn’t seem to be getting the message. A cake and balloons are nice but I guess he isn’t feeling it yet.”
Velvet sighed. “Stallions should just know what we mean! Clearly she wants to talk to him.”
“Clearly!” I repeated.
Velvet’s head tilted. “Wait, are we buying into our own subterfuge? She’s not actually sending these things is she?”
“No, we are.”
“Oh, okay. Well… I was going to go pick up Red for a trip to the park. Would you like to come?”
“I would! I want to pick Soarin up from training later but I’ve still got at least two hours.”
“Good! When we get to the bakery I’ll tell Mom you fought off a giant eagle or something and got a black eye.”
I arched my brow. “Why would you do that?”
“Do you really want to explain to her that you jumped into a shower with a random mare thinking you’d surprise Sunny with some happy fun times?”
I felt myself flush all over and quickly shook my head.
“Giant eagle it is then!” Velvet chimed happily.