Arrival 5: Moving forward
It was a clear, if a bit cool early October morning a week after Midnight’s first magic lesson. It was also a day after a particular note addressed to the white coated colt made it’s way to the orphanage.
Said unicorn colt raced downstairs after he woke up and took care of his private needs on that special Saturday morning. As he entered the dining room for a quick and early breakfast Midnight almost ran into Mr. Soup carrying a jug of milk.
“Sorry!”
“Eh, nothing happened Midnight, but be a bit more careful in the future. What’s the rush anyway? It’s early even for you.” Surprisingly enough, when he met the orphanage’s cook for the first time, it turned out that he was a unicorn. Mr. Fresh Soup was a middle aged, corpulent unicorn with an olive green coat and smartly stylized, short mane that was dark gray, almost black in color.
What was probably more surprising was that apparently his family was famous for their cooking skills for some time now and he was splitting his time between managing their family run restaurant and cooking for the orphanage.
All things considered, he was a caring stallion that loved good food.
“A friend is coming soon to take me for another tour of the city.” Midnight said while taking a ladle of cereals filling with it one of the prepared bowls. It was kind of amazing how on weekends their breakfasts looked like the kind of spreads prepared in good hotels. Well, there wasn't really that much to choose from but the gesture was appreciated by everypony.
When Midnight sat down at one of the closest tables, a jug of milk held in a pale green aura hovered over to him to pour some of the milk into his bowl.
“There you go, lukewarm milk for your cereals just as you like it. Have fun then, there’s sure a lot to be seen in Canterlot.” Mr. Soup said returning to arranging the breakfast spread to his liking.
“Isn’t that the truth…” While he had spent in the city almost a full month now, Midnight still hadn’t seen even the half of it. In his memories of of the show it mostly focused on the castle with only occasional glances of the city.
And if today went as the note from Silent Flight said it would, he would get a glance at it from the plains again, now with a more calm mind and more time to appreciate it.
Just as he finished - or more like inhaled - his quick breakfast and downed a glass of orange juice, he heard somepony coming into the orphanage. With a loud scratching of wood against wood Midnight leapt of the chair and trotted towards the hall… where he stopped dead in his tracks.
By the entrance doors stood a pegasus with pale blue coat that gradually darkened at the tips of his wings. His brown mane was cut short in a clearly military style and from where he stood he could see the pegasus’s cutie mark. Two white wings folded around a sword.
By his manecut, his cutie mark and by the very small chance of a random pegasus showing up at the exact time Silent Flight was to show up, the once human came up with only one conclusion.
“Uh, Silent Flight?”
“Surprised? You didn't really think that only white or off white ponies got into Royal Guard, did you?” Silent asked with a small, knowing and teasing smile. “I’m off duty right now, so I left my enchanted armor at the garrison. Ready to go out?”
That question took Midnight’s mind of the questions he wanted to ask and he nodded his head.
“I’m ready. What are we going to see this time?” Midnight asked as he moved forward to walk beside the adult pegasus as they both left the interior of the orphanage and walked out into late autumn sun.
Some leaves were being tossed around on the mostly empty streets by the weak, cold wind that was a sure sign of approaching winter. The pegasi could control the clouds, rain and snowfalls however they wanted, but the cycle of seasons was a mechanism far beyond their control… At least that was what Ms. Note said to them when she lectured their class on the Magic of the Three Tribes.
“I managed to talk to a few friends of mine, so we will start with something that should be really interesting… Sky Harbor.” The dramatic pause made the white colt look at Silent Flight with intrigue and then his eyes got wide with wonder.
“That’s so cool!” And Midnight wasn’t ashamed to admitting later that he did jump up a little in his excitement.
“Though so.” Silent Flight said smiling as they slowly trotted up the main road. “So Midnight, I heard that you did really well at your first magic lesson.”
Midnight looked up again.
“How do you know about that?” There was no accusation in his voice only curiosity.
“I have my ways.” The older pegasus answered cryptically, receiving an annoyed huff in response. In Silent Flight’s opinion there was no reason to burden the young colt with knowledge that he was one of the gossip topics of the past week among some unicorns in the guard. He didn’t know who started those rumors, but he would gladly punch the one that did. “Did you try to practice on your own?”
Midnight sensed the trap in that question.
“Well I talked Summer Dew into helping me a bit. She’s an older unicorn.” Then he frowned, firstly it was no small feat to talk the older filly into helping him. Secondly... “But it turned out harder than during the lesson. It’s hard concentrating on my magic when there's a bunch of other, loud ponies doing stuff close around you. And Summer Dew was stubbornly not letting me close my eyes and focus only on my magic. She threw pillows at me when I did that...” Midnight wrinkled his nose in displeasure. “Not too gently at that.”
Silent Flight listened with interest and smirked a bit at the last sentence.
“She would make a good drill instructor then.”
“Don’t go giving her ideas…” Midnight shuddered a bit. He had a foggy idea about life in the military but in his past life his boss was a retired colonel, so he had heard enough of his stories to forever discourage him from joining the military.
As they both talked Silent lead them through the city that was slowly beginning to stir. At some point they turned right from the main road, toward the mountain side. The road - still as wide as the main one - gradually became more inclined as they climbed up the mountain's slope until it weaved in a serpentine.
Their trek took them all in all about half an hour.
Midnight looked to his left to see the city sprawled beneath him, when he looked up he could see over the highest spikes of Canterlot Castle. Good thing he was not afraid of highs…
“Well, here we are. The main gate of Sky Harbor, just stick close to me and don't wander.” Silent said with a serious voice.
“I’ll try…” Midnight said not even looking at the older pegasus, as he was busy staring at the massive gate in the mountain’s wall. It was wide enough that three carts could go through it side by side or so he guessed and it was at least twice as tall. And the gatehouse was just massive. It was at least five stories tall and at least as wide, with even higher towers at its sides. Right above the gate the roof of the gatehouse was flat and he could see three massive ballistas poking out from behind the battlement... and they were loaded with pitch black arrows. “It’s huge!”
It was surprising - or not - that it blended in so well with the mountain that he didn’t notice it from the city level.
“Well it’s a whole separate garrison, most of it is carved inside the mountain though. Come on.” Silent nudged the young unicorn with his wing.
Midnight finally came out of his daze and moved. At the base of the gatehouse they were meet with four Royal Guards keeping watch.
“Halt! Identify yourself and state your business.” The one on the left asked harshly, somehow managing to keep his expression blank.
“Sergeant Silent Flight and his charge, Midnight Blackmane here to see Engineer Arcane Bolt.” When Silent was done speaking one the Royal Guards moved inside the building through a door Midnight just noticed to his right.
After a few minutes of silence and standing still, the Royal Guard returned.
“All is in order, sir.” As one the guards saluted Silent and stepped aside to let them pass.
“Have a nice tour kid.” One of them added in with a small, but sincere smile as they entered.
The main tunnel had many smaller offshoots and when they got in a lot deeper the tunnel expanded into a giant, circular area with many balconies and terraces. Two other main tunnels went out of it to his left and right.
Midnight could see rail tracks for small carts and platforms, cranes, stacks of supply boxes and barrels. Stacks of wood, metal and other raw materials that was used to build a ship hull.
Also what was worth mentioning was the noise. In the closed space of that massive circular cavern the noise was almost deafening. Clopping of hundreds of hooves on stone, hammers hitting wood, stone and metal. Sawing of wood. Yelling of work ponies that moved around... It was overwhelming, making his chest vibrate as if he stood near a high powered speaker.
His ears laid themselves flat against his head only slightly dampening the sound.
“Silent Flight!” Somepony yelled and waved to them from one of the terraces one floor above them. It was quite amazing how his voice carried over the present noise, but the pale violet glow on his forehead could be an explanation.
Silent once more had to nudge the unicorn colt to get him moving towards the nearest staircase. After climbing up one flight of stairs, they were greeted more warmly although just as loudly by a beige colored unicorn stallion with light brown, trimmed mane. He was wearing what to Midnight looked like and officer’s uniform with unfamiliar markings and to his surprise, rectangular wire glasses.
“It’s good to see you, Silent! And you must be Midnight, right?! Let’s go to my office, at least it’s shielded against all of this noise!”
After a few minute walk around the cavern and then entering a balcony stretching along a wall of the left tunnel they entered a modestly sized office. But Midnight was not really paying attention to where they were going.
Upon entering into the tunnel, it’s opposite wall opened up into open space that was separated into open ended docks with the blue sky in the background. Rows of stone columns divided the space. Five air ships of moderate size were being serviced. Another nine docks stood empty and in one a truly impressive and unique, if an almost gaudy ship was tended to.
Then they entered the office, that was separated from the docks by a floor-to-ceiling window. When Arcane Bolt closed the glass doors all outside noise quieted down to an easily ignored hum.
“Well that’s better.” Arcane smiled and firmly shook hooves with Silent. “And you must be Midnight, right? I’m Lieutenant Arcane Bolt, chief engineer of the west wing.”
“Nice to meet you, sir.” Midnight said before looking around. Cabinets, racks and pinboards with schematics dominated the office creating a feeling of organized chaos. The desk was a nightmare though... rolled up plans upon books, upon unrolled plans and so on created a small mountain that probably was holding itself together only by some magical trickery.
“You came in at a busy time sadly, so I can’t give you the grand tour you probably imagined but we can chat and catch up a bit Silent. Coffee?”
“Could have told me Arcane, I don't want to intrude.” Silent said with a bit of a sigh. “Yes please. You have anything for Midnight?”
“Um… Let's see… And you’re not intruding.” Arcane dived behind his desk and started to dig around. “We just have a bit of a standoff with the crew of HMS Judgment. And I Have coffee, more coffee and oh… what’s that doing here, bleh… Oh! Orange juice!” While he talked, several mugs in different states of uncleanness sailed over the desk to a small sink that was in the corner.
Midnight looked at Silent Flight with a flat and decidedly unamused expression.
The older pegasus just smiled sheepishly and shrugged.
“You're sure about that, we can come later for a longer visit.” Both Silent and Midnight watched as Arcane set up a kettle that he dug out from somewhere over a ruby red, circular pad after filling it with water. At the same time he poured some orange juice into a glass and levitated it over to Midnight.
“It’s fine, trust me… I’m an engineer!” The older unicorn puffed up in pride and snickered quietly.
Midnight groaned and began to massage his temple with a hoof… while Silent Flight blinked owlishly at his old friend’s exclamation.
“Anyway, I got you an entry into one of the ships that’s currently grounded due to repurposing works.” Arcane said while they waited for the water to boil.
At hearing that Midnight perked up and graciously accepted the glass of juice that was floating before him and took a sip.
Just as the water began to boil Arcane levitated it of the pad and poured boiling water into two waiting mugs. The strong smell of coffee hit Midnight’s nostrils and he cringed, he was not a fan of it.
“HMS North Star will be rented to a civilian company as a cruise ship.” The older unicorn took a careful sip of his drink before continuing. “That reminds me, I don’t really feel like using those so here you go Silent.” An envelope was levitated from one of the drawers towards the pegasus.
Silent took the envelope in his hooves and breathed in sharply. Carefully, with the help of his wings he opened the envelope and took out two slips of colorful paper.
“I can’t take those Arcane! It’s too much.”
Curious about the reaction the once human set down his glass of juice on the floor near the desk and approached the older pegasus.
“Yes you can. They will just waste otherwise.” Arcane said with a small smile.
“What are those?” Midnight asked after getting a better look at what Silent was holding, but as he could not see the front of whatever those two slips were and the logo on the envelope told him nothing, he was left with the need to ask.
“Two tickets for the maiden cruise of HMS North Star around Saddle Arabia.” The pegasus guard said silently still in a state of mild shock.
Now Midnight was beginning to feel torn between being happy for Silent and feeling jealous.
“Thank you Arcane.” Finally, Silent said after putting the tickets into the envelope and storing that in his small saddlebag that hung hidden under his left wing.
After that, the two older stallions engaged into idle chatter about their past few months. Midnight was left to his own devices for the moment, so he just wandered around the office looking at the plans and books that laid around.
Twenty minutes later the trio left the office, returning to the halls of the harbor and its deafening noise.
Midnight was once again excited and he decide to ask some questions. Well, one question in particular he wanted answered.
“Mr. Arcane, how come that large white-gold ship has no balloon?” The young unicorn had to almost shout, even if he was walking side by side with Arcane Bolt.
“Ah, that’s HMS Judgment. It has no balloon because it need’s none. You see it’s unique design and the sheer amount of enchantments allows it to literally sail in the sky. You see the four main masts? And the extendable “fins” on the sides? All of the sails have gold and even True Silver threads stitched into them, forming magical circles. It’s one great magical conduit and so expensive that just maintaining it consumes a third of our budget.” The older unicorn voice turned fully professional and a spark of pride could be seen in his eyes. “This ship has been serving in the fleet since the Second Griffon War now, more than two hundred years. Crewed only by unicorns serving in Princess Celestia’s Personal Magical Division it has never lost a battle it took part of! It’s ours, that is unicorns, greatest pride here in Canterlot!” During his small tirade Arcane Bolt puffed up and Silent Flight just rolled his eyes.
Midnight just listened with rapt attention, impressed and a bit surprised at the pride and conviction in the older unicorns voice.
“But because of that it’s also a pain in the flank to deal with… The crew of the ship is feeling so self-important and whatnot, that if you so much as sneeze in the direction of their ship they go into almost fanatical frenzy.” Now it was Arcane Bolt’s turn to roll his eyes.
What followed after that talk was a short walk towards one of docks, where HMS North Star was being repurposed. The tour of the ship, although short was quite enjoyable and informative to the young unicorn. After about an hour of walking around the mostly deconstructed ship their tour ended.
When the trio said their goodbyes, Midnight followed Silent Flight out of the Sky Harbor into late morning sun. The wind picked up in strength, making their way down towards the city a bit less pleasant than their trek up.
“So where now?” Midnight asked as the duo returned to the citi’s main street.
“I was thinking about grabbing a take out basket from one of the restaurants and heading down to the plains. It’s still nice enough for a short picnic.”
“I would like that.” The white coated colt answered with a small smile.
Canterlot was large, sprawled on the side of the mountain with the castle nestled above the city, which on itself was positioned on the mountain side on many terraces and ledges obviously extended with magic or outright build from cut stone. To be honest when Midnight tried to compare it to what he knew, he thought it looked like a more spread out, less fortified and much more colorful version of Minas Tirith from his beloved movies.
The view and that thought made him think about the last three weeks of his life.
A glance to his side revealed snoozing Silent Flight, whose presence started growing on him. Closing his eyes and concentrating for a bit allowed him to feel the comforting coolness of his magic.
“Is it strange that I don’t really miss my old life?” Opening his eyes Midnight looked at Canterlot. “This is now my home…”
Somehow that thought just now was beginning to truly settle in, but he just smiled contently.
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Hello, and good chapter. It was very interesting, are changelings going to show up at some point in the future?
can't wait for more. Glad this story's not dead.
Great to see this story continue, & I like the hints that Midnight's abilities are sufficiently out of the ordinary to have attracted attention.
Where will that go I wonder?
6779508 It will go places I'll tell you that
6781756 Why thank you, although be advised that my update schedule is full of "Soon (TM)"
Very good story so far, here take a thumbs up and a follower.
Im liking this so far. Can't wait to see where it goes.
update any time soon?
7000660 Well I'm about half way done with the next chapter. Real life and a distraction in the form od Elder Scrols Online stole a lot of my time the past two months. However I got passing grades on my semifinals of this year at my Uni so that's one major pain in the a** out of my way
"It’s fine, trust me… I’m an engineer!"
Hm..... where I heard this? I know.
I'm more of a tea person, myself.
7582553 The first thing I thought of...
8527745
Glad I'm not the only one.