A Sailor's Notes

by Thunderblast

8. Junior Officer Naval Reserves

I woke on the couch in the living room with a gasp, shooting upright and causing both my parents and the uniformed pony to jump. Panting and steadily calming, I turned to my parents, who looked right back with concern.

"I just had the craziest dream, you guys—" I froze, making eye contact with the Junior Reserves instructor. "Never mind, it's real."

"Are you okay, honey? You took quite a nasty fall," my mother said, holding a glass of water closer to me.

"I'm... fine," I shifted a bit and rubbed the back of my head, where I hit it the moment I fainted minutes earlier. "That hurt..."

"Looks like it did," the Lieutenant Commander, grabbing my attention a second time. "I was worried I did something."

"Just... left me shocked, is all," I let out a deep breath. "So, I'm... going to Alderneigh? To be in the Naval Reserves?"

"Junior Officer Naval Reserves, yes," my father nodded, then smiled timidly. "Me and your mother both know how much you love the ocean, and the Navy, to be more specific. We did some searching, and found out about a program for colts and fillies in their preteen and teenage years, and we decided to sign you up for your birthday."

"We thought about doing it when you were fifteen, Anchorage, but the process of signing you up took longer than we expected, so we held it off until now," Hazy smiled, nuzzling my cheek. "Do you... like it?"

"Like it?" A grin cracked on my muzzle. "I love it... I'm excited! Beyond excited, even. Thank you, thank you both!" I looped my hooves around both of my parents tightly. "I love you guys."

"We love you too, Anchorage," Sea returned the gentle hug, then released after a few seconds, as did my mother.

"Now, if you won't pass out this time," Reveille said, bringing a chuckle out of my parents. "I meant to give you this, before we go."

The stallion slipped a sealed package before me on the couch, then pulled out a small knife and placed it on top. "You might need that to open it, they tend to use the thickest tape for these."

Nodding, I picked up the knife carefully, beginning to cut down the center of the box and slice the tape neatly, then the flaps on the side. I handed the knife back to the Lieutenant Commander, then pulled the flaps open with a snap of the tape.

Layered above the contents of the package sat some bubble wrap, which I pulled out and placed off to the side, turning back to what sat beneath it. What I saw made my eyes grow wide.

Reaching my hooves in, I pulled out a brand new, all-blue uniform, in yellow wording on the name tag reading 'Anchorage', and on the opposite side, 'J.O.N.R'. Beneath that, an eight-pointed cap matching the color of the uniform. It had nothing on it but a silver anchor in center on front of the hat.

"You will have more options at the camp for your cover, depending on how long you stay with us. We have clothes for all types of weather," Reveille flatly added, expression retaining its blank nature.

My father smiled again. "Why don't you try it on, Anchor?"

Typically I had a strong dislike for trying on clothes for my parents, yet this was the one time I would gladly do it. Leaping up off of the couch and over the back, I rushed into the bathroom and shut the door, probably too fast for any of them to notice immediately.

⚓

One by one, the buttons slipped through the slit holes along the edges to close up the uniform. For this long it stumped me just how many buttons there were. Evidently, it was so the whole jacket couldn't come undone during a fight. It still made no sense, though.

I raised my chin, examining myself in the mirror and adjusting the collars to straighten them evenly. This would certainly take some time to accustom with after wearing casual clothes my whole life.

When nothing on the jacket appeared crooked or uneven, I reached off to the side, picking up the eight-pointed cap and slipping it on my head, sliding comfortably between my ears and covering the majority of my mane. I readjusted it a couple of times to pull the bill down, like a normal hat.

Except, when it came to the military, nopony wore them normally. Rather, they sort of just halfway sat on top of your head with not much stability, as if the slightest of breezes would knock it off your head.

After no more than a couple of minutes to contemplate which way I should wear it, I took it off, then placed it back on formally, then straightened my posture to look at myself in the mirror. Without trying to brag or anything, but damn, did I look good! The blue of the uniform matched my mane, and even went along with the white-grey of my coat.

Eventually, I had enough of staring at myself, turning and walking out of my bedroom, stopping at the door with a hoof on the light switch.

My gaze scanned across the room slowly, bringing a notable frown to my muzzle. I let out a deep breath, accepting this to be the last time I will see this room—sleep in that bed, sit at that desk, stare out the window—for months. Until Hearth's Warming, probably, which was only a month away, not that we celebrated it. The Lieutenant Commander had not been entirely specific on what holidays we would go home for.

Shifting my hoof down, the light on the ceiling fan switched off with a flick, and I pulled the door shut, further darkening the room, then striding down the hallway and down the staircase, and into the living room, where my parents sat.

"Mom, Dad," I said, grabbing their attention from the corridor leading into the room. I nodded once. "I'm ready."

⚓

In the gradually-brightening dawn, the three of us stood along a wooden pier at the marina. Few other ponies stood there as well, but not to watch me leave. They were among the few traveling to the mainland, like myself, waiting to board the ferry.

For minutes on end, I held my parents in a tight hug, one in each hoof. My mother quietly sobbed and trembled, not due to the cold, either. Out of them both, she hugged the tightest. Any tighter, and my lungs might have burst.

"Do you p-promise to write every week, A-Anchorage?" Hazy shakily said, sniffling as she released me.

"As often as they'll let me, Mom," I smiled genuinely, albeit nervously. "Cross my heart and hope to fly," I added, gesturing over my chest in an 'X' symbol.

"A-and you'll be home for the New Year, right?"

"I'll have to see about that. They might send me home for Hearth's Warming, but, he didn't say."

My father chimed in after a lengthy silence on his part. "They will, as long as the weather is in our favor."

"Is it ever?" I chuckled softly, breath steaming in the cold of dawn. "I promise, it won't be long before I'm home again."

Sea gently placed a hoof on my shoulder. "We know, Anchorage. And, we're sorry your friends could not come to say goodbye."

My faint smile faded, but I nodded. "It's too early for them to be out here, anyways. Plus, they already know I'm leaving, so it's not like they aren't aware."

He nodded back slowly. "I understand."

The horn of the ferry sounded, startling us three, the other ponies on the dock beginning to walk along the short bridge up to the deck. I turned back to my parents slowly.

"You better go, Anchorage. They hate waiting," my father said.

I nodded a second time, hugging him and my mother again, tightly, but briefly. "I love you guys."

"W-we love you, too," Hazy sniffled out with a cracking voice.

Releasing them, I turned around, walking up the bridge and stopping halfway, inhaling, then letting out a deep breath, continuing up to the deck of the small vessel. A worker on the dock began reeling back the boarding bridge, and the gate along the side of the ferry closed.

The horn blared twice, signalling the ferry's departure. I leaned against the railing, looking down at my parents standing side by side on the dock, waving to them as the boat steadily drifted away from the marina and started its engine.

My father raised his hoof, gently waving in return. Until they were out of sight, thanks to fog, I remained against the railing, before heading inside the ferry to sit down, glancing up at a small screen that showed a regional map, showing the island, and Equestria to the west. It projected our path, our current position, and where we were due to make port in Alderneigh.

It felt very strange, sitting here on the mainland ferry, all by myself. The last time I rode on this boat in particular was when we first moved to Gander Cove. To see Alderneigh again will be even weirder. I imagine, by now, it didn't even look the same as it used to.

⚓

With the fog a distance behind us, and the sun cresting above the ocean horizon, I stood up from my seat and made my way out of the passenger cabin and along the front of the ferry. A smile crept its way across my muzzle, gawking with awe as the skyline of Alderneigh gradually approached.

Many other vessels of all size bustled around the bay-like harbor, ranging from sailboats to dinghies, other ferries, freighter and tanker ships, and everything in between. Basically anything but a warship. It was almost a dream come true. Almost.

I ventured back inside when the nipping cold filled in through my sleeves and collar, sending numerous shivers up my spine. The city itself was not situated too far south from home, a couple hundred miles at most, or more, so a change of climate was not a thing just yet, except for maybe one or two degrees.

The ferry eased closer to the dock and the adjacent terminal on steel girders above the concrete pier, with moving staircases in either direction. After leaving the boat behind and following the other passengers to the moving steps, I came to a halt, scrutinizing on the strange mechanism. A moving staircase... what kind of world was I in?

Reaching a hoof forth carefully, I jerked it back and took a few steps away. My ears fell back, and not once did I remove my eyes from the conveyor belt-like staircase. I ran forward, leaping up over the steel grate, then landing on one of the steps with a relieved sigh, being gradually carried up into the packed terminal that bustled with activity left and right, and everywhere in between.

Stumbling at the top, I scrambled to regain my hoofing, catching myself on a light pole and standing upright. Without a doubt I was blushing at that very moment in embarrassment. Thankfully, it seemed, nopony was watching at the time.

Taking a moment to breathe out and beginning to walk further into the terminal, toward what appeared to be an indoor strip mall of some sort, with restaurants, shops, vendors, even a plaza—all of this beneath a glass-paned arched roof that looked up into the sky. The entire building itself seemed to be windows nonstop, with massive beams stretching every which way for stability. This definitely wasn't home.

I had to stop near the center of this massive structure, glancing around without a clue of where to go next. Ponies walked past, conversing with one another, or over what appeared to be mobile phones. Nopony in Gander Cove had those, either.

From this vantage point, nothing was even remotely familiar, nor was I aware to keep my eyes peeled for something or somepony in particular upon arrival. The slightest idea of where the camp was sat in my mind, as shown on a map that was somewhere in my backpack.

Sighing, I strode over to a set of eating tables where some ponies enjoyed a warm breakfast or lunch, sitting down in one of the chairs and leaning against the table with a yawn mixed in with a stressed groan.

Here I was, in the middle of a big city, in a building I have not ever seen in my life, around ponies I hadn't a clue of who they were, hours away from home and without any means of contacting my parents, or the Lieutenant Commander—whom I would've thought might accompany me on the boat, but nooooope!

Rubbing my forehead, I blinked slowly, looking down at the frosted-glass table. Think, Anchorage, think.

"Ahem."

Glancing up from the table, my eyes met the gaze of a scruffy-looking stallion in green overalls and a matching flat-billed baseball cap. In one hoof, he held a mop, and a wheeled water cart stood a couple feet away.

"Oh, I-I'm sorry. Were you about to clean here?" I picked up my backpack to stand up. "Because I'll move—"

The messy stallion shook his head and waved a hoof. "No, no, I wasn't. Do ya need some directions? You look lost, youngin'."

Stopping, I lowered my bag onto the table, nodding slowly. "Have you seen any sailor-like ponies around here?"

"None other than the ferry captains, I'm sorry," he shook his head, then tapped his chin with his hoof. "Actually..."

My ears perked and I looked up at him again. "Hmm?"

"I did see a stallion in them there clothes ya have on, somethin' like that, an' he was holdin' a sign. You lookin' for him?"

I shot up out of the chair, pushing it in. "Yes! Thank you, sir," then rushed off. Only a moment later did it set in, and I backed myself up. "Sorry, where did you see him?"

"Front of the building, near the main entrance. Ya can't miss 'im," the janitor responded.

"You're a lifesaver, man, thank you!" I smiled, trotting off toward the end of the building as told.

"Good luck in boot camp!" he shouted after me, then went back to mopping the floor.

Boot camp? He must have confused me with an actual sailor. Then again, the uniforms were strikingly similar in most forms. A look from afar between myself and somepony actually serving—Reveille for example—and somepony would believe we were one in the same.

I moved through some thicker crowds near the exit, slowing down and keeping an eye out for the Lieutenant Commander, or somepony he might have sent.

Walking around a corner, I stopped, gaze setting on a younger-looking stallion in a uniform not unlike my own at all. He stood statue-still, holding a small white sign in one hoof with the word 'Anchorage' on it.

Blinking twice and beginning to walk closer, I cleared my throat, then spoke up. "Sir?"

He turned his head just slightly, probably eyeballing me through the sunglasses he wore. "You Anchorage?" he asked, my assumption being just to make sure he didn't grab the wrong pony. I nodded in response.

Folding up the sign and tucking it away into a pocket, he shifted around and began walking toward the revolving door, gesturing for me to follow him.

We moved through the revolving door and out onto the brisk, breezy street. Masses of ponies walked the sidewalks, while others hitched to carriages trotted or galloped past with passengers sitting comfortably in back. One stood out above all, a black covered carriage parked along the curb with a warmly-dressed pony standing by, waiting for the both of us.

The stallion walked up to the carriage, opening a small gate-like door and taking some steps back. "After you."

Nodding with a smile, I walked up. "Thank you, sir," then climbed into the carriage, sitting down on the fine leather chair inside, as did him, closing the door.

Almost as soon as we were in and took our seats, the pony hauling the carriage started trotting down the street, and turning at an intersection that took us further into downtown.

Out the windowless side of the carriage, I glanced all around in awe. Alderneigh certainly had changed since my last visit years prior. It seemed as though the high rise buildings went on as far as the eye could see! Block after block stood tall buildings that shadowed the streets below, with only narrow rays of sunlight filling in the gaps between them.

I then turned to the uniformed pony sitting beside me. "How far is the camp?"

He tediously smiled. "No more than ten minutes from here. Enjoy the sights while you're at it, get used to them. You'll be waking up to them every single day from now on."

From now on? Not forever, I imagine. Even if I were to stay put the remainder of my colthood, legally, I would have to leave in two years, anyway. They can't keep me here forever, nor would I want to.

Needless to say, though, the closer we came to the camp, the more anxious I became—and not in the good manner.

Author's Note:

I think I'm finally back in the groove of working on this story. So, here, have another chapter! Next one should be just as long, if not longer, and shouldn't take me a month to complete. Also, we are now at the halfway mark in the story!

Stay tuned for chapter 9!