A Squire's Tail

by BBkat

Chapter Eight

“So what’s it like, getting to work with one of the older guards?” asked Chase, looking across the table at Wish and the twins.

It was one of the few times that both of their schedules meshed together in a way that allowed them to have time off at the same time, so the lone unicorn and trio of Nocturns had gone out for the evening. They were all a bit too young to drink, though only by about a year or so, so they found themselves sitting at a small café sipping on caffeinated drinks instead. Chase had a large glass of soda, while Wish had white hot chocolate with marshmallows. The twins each had had coffee, though they took it vastly different.

Chase had just recently learned that they were going to be mentored and most likely trained by older guards. In addition to this they would be shadowing the guard that was mentoring them, seeing how they did their job and even working alongside them. Chase was surprised at how soon they were moving into this, he’d thought for sure the basic training would last a lot longer than only a month or two. This was not the case, first hoof experience was the best teacher so while they would still have classes, most of their time was going to be spent shadowing someone and learning from them.

So, curious for some insight into it all, Chase had gone to Wish and the twins, Comet and Star Dust, to ask them about their experiences, as this was something they’d already gone through.

“It was interesting,” said Wish, “You get to learn a lot, and it’s fun.”

“Speak for yourself,” snorted Comet, taking a sip from his drink, black coffee with an ungodly amount of sugar. “I got saddled with following a total drill sergeant. Worst months of my life ever.”

“It couldn’t have been that bad,” said Chase.

“Oh yes it could. I’m pretty sure he had his sense of humour surgically removed and transformed into a stick that someone shoved up his-” he was silenced by a hoof up the backside of his head and a glare from Wish.

“Watch the language, what if someone’s foal heard you?” she scolded.

“What are you now, my mother?” he asked, rubbing the back his head. “Besides all the pint sized ones are probably back home by now. Any that are still out have probably heard worse than ‘ass’. But no, he was about as much fun as a test. Not to mention if I were late for any reason, even by a minute I would be forced to do push ups, on my wings, with armour on my back! Not to mention I was practically turned into his errand boy.” He rolled his eyes, “’Comet go get this’, ‘Comet go do that’, ‘Comet clean my armour’, ‘Comet you’re being so slow’.” He gagged and shook his head, “No thank you.”

Wish sighed and gave Chase a reassuring smile, “Well, they’re not all bad. I shadowed and apprenticed under North Star, he’s actually what inspired me to keep making my maps I the first place. Sure, I’d always loved stargazing and mapping out the skies, but he’s the one who said to make maps for ponies. I’d never originally thought about doing it as a career before.” She smiled happily at the memory and the twins began to giggle.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure you had a crush on him too,” said Star Dust. “What with how you kept going on about him every morning when you got back?”

“That, that is not true,” she stammered, a heat rising to her cheeks and not from her dink. “I admired him and nothing more. He’s a very noble stallion with a strong heart; unfortunately he was transferred to Manehatten shortly I finished my apprenticeship.”

“Yeah, and I bet he had nice flanks too,” snickered Comet.

“Oh, like I haven’t caught you checking out some of the guard’s flanks yourselves?” she shot back. They both squeaked, cheeks darkening under their coats. “Yeah see, you’ve no right to poke fun at me when you’re just as guilty,” she said. “I can fight just as dirty as you can when it comes to teasing.”

They grumbled something under their breath, ears pinned back as they looked down at their drinks.

“You fight dirty,” snickered Chase at the sight of the humbled colts, or at least embarrassed.

“And don’t you forget it,” said Wish with a triumphant grin. “So, when are you going to meet the guard you’ll be working under?”

“Tomorrow I think; we’re all meeting out in the big court yard. So I guess I’ll find out then who I’ve been assigned, or who’s been assigned to me.”

She nodded, fanning her mug before taking another sip, a ring of foam clinging to her muzzle before she licked it off. “Well I can’t wait to hear what stories you’ll get to share about all this.”

They finished off their drinks in due time before heading on back to the palace, a yawning Chase more than ready to turn in for the night.

His room was empty when he returned, and if the voices coming from the common room were any indication, it would probably be empty for a while more.

---

All the new recruits paced about the courtyard nervously, the air abuzz with their voices as thy chattered among themselves. This was the first time in a while that they had not broken off into groups after morning warm-ups and even though the group had shrunk a bit since the start of the year, mainly due to drop outs, it was still quite full.

Chase made a beeline for Lance, searching out the splotched unicorn from the sea of wings and horns.

“You excited?” asked Lance. “I know I am. Who knows, maybe I’ll get to learn from one of the palace guards, you know, the ones that stand in the day court. Or maybe even the princess’ guard themselves.” He gave a giddy sounding squeak, prancing on the spot in excitement while Chase merely shook his head.

“Calm down, you’re acting like a foal on his first day of school for crying out loud,” he said, putting a hoof on his shoulder to try and calm him.

“Well, in a way I am. I mean think about it, we’re learning right from the more experienced guard themselves. That’s completely different than what we’ve been doing so far. I mean, we’ll still be doing this, but we’ll actually get to see what it’s like on the job.”

“Only some of the jobs,” Chase reminded him. “Remember, we’re not following any that are being shipped out to the borders or anywhere dangerous. If I remember what the captain said we’ll still all be in and around Canterlot for the most part.”

“Yeah I know, don’t make it any less cool.”

“Besides, when you start getting excited your accent starts to show through.”

Lance paused for a moment, before covering his mouth with one hoof. Despite having grown up in Canterlot for a good part of his life, he had been born in Trottingham and spent the first couple years of his life there. The accent was all but diluted, but as Chase had learned, when he got excited or overly emotional in some way it bled through.

Chase laughed, “Yeah, so try to tone it down. I’m not sure why you’re worried about how you sound though.”

“I told ya, my accent sounds funny and everypony laughs at it.”

The sound of a shrill whistle cut short the rest of their conversation and all heads turned in the direction of the noise, a few curious ‘hmms’ accompanying them. The sound of the whistle came from the one around Bronze Shield’s neck as he strode into the courtyard, the crowd nearest to him parting to let him through.

“Alright recruits, or what’s left of ya, I’m sure you all know why you’re here rather than off in groups.” There were a few nods of agreement. “Good, that means you’ve been paying attention, a useful skill for any guard not matter the job. Today is the day you start your apprenticeship. Not only will you learn valuable skills but it will also help to determine who really has the skills for this job. It is not a walk in the park despite what you might think. It’s a hard job and sometimes a thankless one. Not to mention the hours can suck.” This elicited a few laughs from the crowd before he raised a hoof to quiet them. “But I can assure you, if you really are dedicated to the job then you should do just fine.”

---

Trail Blazer, the name of the large burly stallion in front of Chase was Trail Blazer. He was a large, barrel-chested earth pony with an amber-brown coat and charcoal black mane and tail. Chase was pretty sure that he was even larger than his father and just the sight of him was rather intimidating. They were no longer in the field, Trail Blazer had just gotten off his shift for the day and was waiting in the tackroom for Chase.

“So, you’re Sun Chaser huh?” he asked as he removed his helmet, sitting it on the ground and resting a foreleg on it.

“Y-yes sir,” squeaked Chase.

“Easy, no need to use ‘sir’ here little one,” said Trail Blazer with a warm laugh. “I don’t bite.”

“S-sorry I just, I’m just nervous I guess.”

“Well try to take is easy. I’m certainly not that high ranking that’s for sure so there’s no need to throw titles my way. Just a plain old guard, been on the force several years now. Just got back from being stationed on the Equestrian border.”

Chase’s eyes widened, “Wow, that sounds like a really long trip. What, what was it like out there?”

“Hot, dry, and full’a cranky griffons,” he replied with a nod.

The griffon borders, that was even more interesting to Chase. He couldn’t help but to feel like a foal as he stood in awe of Trail Blazer. “Griffons?”

The guard nodded, “Yup, I was helping monitor the trade routes, make sure no one pulled anything funny and make sure stuff gets where it belongs safely. And checking everything that goes in and out of the country.” He made a face and shook his head, “Some days it’s interesting and some days it’s not. Most of the time it’s the latter. But for now, why don’t we start your training with something simple.” He turned his head, unclipping the straps of his armour and sliding out from it and tapping it with one hoof. “So, you can start by helping to polish my armour. Armour is a guard’s best friend, next to his wits of course, so you need to best learn how to take care of it. It could save your life.”

“I’ve never polished armour before,” said Chase. “I’ve helped clean dishes and sometimes I helped clean stuff my father made in the forge but, that’s it.”

“Well, that’s why you need to learn, and I’m going to help you. Trust me, it’s not as easy as some would lead you to think.” He chuckled and shook his head as he picked up the armour and gestured for Chase to follow. “You can’t just dip in it water and clean it with soap, that’ll do the exact opposite of what you want, it’ll only rust faster if you aren’t careful.”

“So, how do you clean it then?” asked Chase. When cleaning off stuff at home water, a bit of soap, a cloth and a bit of elbow grease always did the trick.

“Oil and wax if you’ll believe it. You can throw in a bit of water initially to get off dirt and grime, but to really make it shine and keep it from rusting, you want to oil and wax it up.”

He set the armor down with a heavy thud as they reached what could only really be called a cleaning room. It was large, very open room that reminded Chase of pictures of barns, only emptier.

“The oils and waxes should be over in that cupboard,” he said, pointing to a series of cupboards on the far wall. “They’re all labeled so as long as you can read you should be able to find everything. Grab a bottle of each, some clean rags and a bucket and bring them over here.”

“Wax, polish, rags, bucket, got it,” repeated Chase with a nod before trotting over to the cupboards.

True to his word, all the bottles were neatly labeled and aligned in neat rows, or at least most of them were. The rags were all stored under the cupboard, as were several buckets and bins, as well as a hamper full of filthy rags.

A soft glow enveloped Chase’s horn and a couple of the bottles, lifting them from the shelf while he pulled out a bucket to toss them and some rags into. He carried the bucket back to Trail Blazer and the armour, looking between the two for a moment before speaking.

“So, what first?”

“Well since it’s not all that dirty all it needs is a scrub down to get rid of the dust,” he said, indicating to the rags. “So put a bit of oil on one of the rags and get scrubbing, and don’t forget to get into all the cracks.”

Chase pulled out the bottle of oil and one of the rags, uncorking the bottle of oil and carefully pouring some onto the rags. “So I just, rub?” he asked as he picked up the oily rag.

Trail Blazer nodded, “Exactly, just rub it down good and hard.”

“Is there any particular place I should start cleaning?” asked Chase. “Or just anywhere?”

“Start at the top and work your way down.” He pushed the helmet closer to Chase, “Here, try starting with this instead, it’s smaller so it should be good practice.”

Chase sat down, the helmet sitting in front him and the rag in a telekinetic grip.

“And don’t be gentle, this stuff is sturdy so scrub hard if you have to. You want it to have a nice glossy finish. Not only does that mean it’s clean but it’s smooth, so there’s less areas for it to rust,” he explained as Chase started scrubbing at it, moving the cloth in circles around the armour.

He shifted the cloth, moving to follow the contours of the shining metal from the top to the bottom in repetitive strokes. Chase frowned; nothing seemed to be happening other than dragging a layer of oil over the metal.

“Use more force, use your muscles,” said Trail Blazer with a grin.

Chase scrunched his face up in concentration, taking the rag in his hoof to use more force in scrubbing. It was indeed a lot harder than it looked as Chase found himself beginning to sweat as he scrubbed, holding the helmet in one hoof and the rag in the other. He only switched the rag to his magic to get into the tiny grooves and crevices that adorned the armour. There were so many of them and they were so fine, he almost wished he’d asked his father about how this was done, it was so detailed.

Off to the side Trail Blazer stepped out of the shoes before emptying the bucket and dragging it over to a tap. Once it was filled he carried it back to Chase. He looked around for a moment and then rather unceremoniously stuck his muzzle in, drawing a big gulp of water to quest his thirst with a sigh.

“Don’t tell anyone about that alright?” he asked with a chuckle. “I’m not sure I’d live it down, but darn am I thirsty.”

Chase nodded, trying not to laugh, “Alright, my lips are sealed.”

“So, tell me about yourself Chase, what made you decide to be a guard? You can clean while talking.”

Chase sighed, pausing a moment before continuing to scrub the armour. “I guess I just always wanted to help ponies. One summer my mom took me to see the Summer Sun Celebration and during it they have that, event where the guards perform and showcase their skills. I was inspired, they seemed so big and strong and not afraid of anything while I was just a tiny foal frightened of his own shadow. I mean, who doesn’t want to be brave right?” He chuckled and shook his head, taking a moment to add more oil to the rag before continuing to clean. “And I guess I wanted to prove I could do whatever I wanted if I tried hard enough. And of course, once this appeared,” he gestured to his cutie mark, “I knew that I wanted to be a guard, to protect everypony, especially those who couldn’t. Of course, if my dad had his way I wouldn’t be here at all.”

Trail Blazer tilted his head, giving him a curious look, “Oh? Does he have something against the guard?”

“I’m not really sure. When I first told him I wanted to be a guard he was furious and insisted that I work in the forge with him. He told me to ‘banish the idea from my mind’. So when I said I was going to join, he told me he wasn’t going to help and I had to do it on my own.”

“Ah, so it’s also a matter of pride, you want to prove to your father that you can do this.”

“Yeah, I guess it is that too. I hadn’t thought about it that way. I don’t even know why he’s so against it. I mean I’ve asked him before but won’t say. He just gets quiet.” Chase shook his head, “Yet I know he respects them, he always attends the Memorial Day service and he’s very respectful. He just didn’t like the idea of me becoming one it seems.” He sighed, setting the cloth down and picking up a clean one to continue his work. “My mother encouraged me though. ‘If that’s what you want to do Chase then follow you dream and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise’ she told me anytime I started feeling down or got worried I wasn’t good enough.”

Trail Blazer smiled, “Your mother sounds like a smart mare.”

Chase grinned, “Yeah she is she’s the best mother ever. I wouldn’t trade her for the world.”

He returned to scrubbing the helm, carefully avoiding the large plume on the top. The helm wasn’t even all that dirty; most of the dirt was in the cracks and crevices.

“Just be lucky you’re cleaning that today,” said Trail Blazer. “I haven’t done much to get it dirty recently so it’s just acquired dust and dirt. Imagine if this had caked on mud and dirt, or even blood, cleaning that would be a lot harder I assure you.”

“So this is easy cleaning?” asked Chase. “I think I’m going to be sore by the time I’m done.”

“Well maybe it’ll help you build up some muscle, you’re going to need it if you want to be a guard, unicorn or not.” He gestured to the armour, “You’ll need the muscle just to wear this, try picking it up.”

Chase looked down at the helmet, setting aside the rag. It didn’t look that heavy, Trail Blazer had carried it effortlessly as if it wasn’t very heavy at all. “It doesn’t seem very heavy.”

Trail Blazer just smiled, “Then try to lift it.”

“Shouldn’t be to hard,” said Chase, resting his hooves on either side of it. Gripping it carefully he picked it up, or at least he tried to, the helmet turned out to be a lot heavier than he thought and he just about dropped it after managing to lift it only a few inches from the ground.

“And if you think that’s heavy just try and imagine wearing it, and the chest piece for an entire day,” said Trail Blazer with a nod. “Now do you see, you’re going to need to work hard, and not just on your magic.”

Chase looked down at himself and sighed, “Yeah, I am kinda scrawny aren’t I? I look so small beside everyone else. Perhaps I should practice lifting these, that’ll build up my muscle.”

“For now just focus on cleaning, you still have a long way to go.”

Chase sighed, the older stallion was right, he wasn’t finished with the helmet yet and he still had the body armour to clean and more than likely the shoes. Picking up the rag he went back to cleaning.

“So how do I know when I’m done?” asked Chase.

“If you can see yourself in it then you’re done.”

Author's Note:

Hey look, a new chapter! (And yes I will go back and add line breaks to the previous chapters for consistency).
I could site many reasons for the lack of updates-work(which doesn't help, especially with rotating shifts and stuff), Camp NaNo in April(which I completed, whoo) but really, I think it just comes down to lack of motivation and laziness. I am a bad bad writer.

Comments

[MoistGooDragon]

I have to say, this story did remind me of The Golden Armor at first but I'm glad it's taken a different turn.

[BBkat]

6021843
I've never even read that fic (or heard of it) so xD Anything similar is total coincidence.