I closed my footlocker at the end if my bunk, catching a glimpse of the medal I had recieved alongside the rest of my squad a year ago we had come so far and now we were to make sure a wedding went according to plan. Reading about it made me feel suspicious, as the bride's special talent was spreading love. It would've just been too easy for Chrysalis to take her place. I didn't want Canterlot to be taken over by her, contrary to my first thoughts.
The rest of my squad arrived in the barracks, breaking my train of thought as I looked up from the closed locker at them. Straightening the cuffs on my uniform, I followed them to drink some apple cider. It had become tradition for us to drink ourselves silly two days before a mission. We shared insane stories of our assignments with others on location, no matter how much we changed them from the truth. My fondest one was from our first mission. Nightmare Moon's return was what we called it. No matter how intoxicated we were by the sweet beverave we binged on, we told of that exactly as it had happened.
Later, that evening, we stumbled back to the base and into the barracks to sleep off our stupor, stocking our fridge full of caffeinated sodas. Sparkle Cola was what we loaded it up with this time. It was a special edition for a video game coming out at the time and they were the only labels they had. Usually, these were simply labeled with a graphic of a sugarcane, so it was nice to be able to call them something other than sodas with a sugar picture on the bottle.
We had no problem drifting off to sleep that night, cider does that to you. My slumber was dreamless, I saw, heard, and felt nothing. My eyes opened to the golden light of the morning sun the next day. Dead center was holding a radio blasting bugle music while drinking a Sparkle Cola. Twig felt around on his nightstand, picking up an airsoft pistol and pulling the trigger which sent the pellet straight into the center of the speaker, stopping it from making a sound.
"Wow, Twig! That's the fifth time in a row, I'm impressed!" Said Dead Center.
Twig groaned something impossible to make out as he rolled out of his bunk and began making his bed. I got up and pulled two sodas out of the fridge, opening them and setting one on Twig's footlocker, and drinking the other. I made my bed as I usually did, afterward chugging the rest of my drink and grabbing another. I put on my uniform, beginning to drink the other soda. Lighting Strike walked in, yawning as he began to put his uniform on. Once we were all fully clothed, we proceeded to the briefing room.
We were instructed what to do depending on the events that transpired and what we were to do on tjis day in particular. We were supposed to help escort ponies to their rooms. It was going to be a slow day, and I hated slow days. Granted, they were better than days full of battle, but at least those kept you more entertained than many normal ponies. We set off to dawn our armor and make for the castle so we could take rich ponies who thought next to nothing of us to their rooms; at least it would get us paid.
We arrived at the castle, waiting at the entrance for ponies to lead to their rooms. The first one came, he was lead by Twig. The second was following Malana. The third was behind Lighting, and the fourth guided by Dead. While they were off, a grey mare in light bronze armor without anything but the shoulder and torso plates. She d a scarf covering the pendant of a necklace. Her front left and back right legs had lines that were slightly more reflective than the rest of her fur arranged like circuit board lines. She obviously had robotic legs.
Her hair was light brown with the occasional visible copper colored strand. Her cutie mark was a gear with two wrenches crossing in front. It was set up like a skull and crossbones if the skull were behind the bones. Her other features were overshadowed by her stunning green eyes. They caught the light perfectly, almost emitting a glow somewhere between the emerald and lime variations of the color.
I was glad to let her follow me to a room of the castle. I made sure it was one of the further ones into the castle so I could be in her presence that much longer. Opening the door, I gestured her into the luxurious room within the castle. Then, something I didn't expect happened; she flirtatiosly rubbed up against me. Shocked, I had no idea what I had said. I only knew that her name was Sprocket, and we were to meet that evening in the courtyard.
The rest of my day breezed by as I guided various ponies to rooms in the castle eventually returning to the barracks to take off my helmet and head to the courtyard of the castle. I waited for about an hour before she arrived in a beautiful dress, with polished golten boots on her front hooves. Her hair was freshly cleaned and groomed. She clearly cared about this and went as far as getting a dress just to impress me. And I could tell that's what happened, as she had no luggage when we walked to her room. I was already in love with this pony, and hoped she would be in love with me. I informed her about my race, and she accepted it. I knew I had found somepony to love. That night, I slept pleasantly in my bunk, ready to resign the next day.