Guards: The untold story

by Joseph_Tanner

Chapter 9: Blossom's day off

“At ease!” Sigmis yelled, the others stood down.

“Yes, your highness,” They replied.

“That means you have a few things to tell me yet.”

“Guilty as you see. Now, come, my friend,” Blaze followed him blindly, until he stopped at a smaller hill, a great sightline at the city below. “Welcome to the last stand of my kind… The last settlement standing free in the entire Tuvale Basin…”

“Hmm…”

“As you have heard, I am the Prince. My older sister and I are the remaining royalty… The Centaurs killed our parents at the capital during the initial attack…”

“Sorry to hear,”

“They will be…” Sigmis replied. “Come, you need meet my sister…” They soon got to the main building, guards everywhere. “He’s with me,” Sigmis told them. They allowed pass without a word. Inside, a few more guards and door later they came to see her. A blue and white feathered female bird. Typical armor, no decoration.

"?Ik gem ze… Mmh… Tlov ejedi… Létré azssiv lavózs,” She said to Sigmis. It sounded familiar to BLaze, but chose not to speak. (So you returned... Just in time... Hmm... Who's this?)

“…Arknumázs sekétré, yggih. Matzoh totárab” Sigmis replied. (I brought a friend. Believe me, he's a vluable one,)

“And who would you be, Friend ?” She asked.

“Mithril Blaze. Friend of Sigmis. Pleasure to meet you, Princess...”

“Avala. Princess Avala. By the looks, you appear to be more than an average pony…” She replied.

“Sergeant of the Equestrian Royal Guard at your service,” He explained. “As said before, I’m here on my own, and not in the name of my home. I wish to offer myself to help your problems,”

Sigmis took a stand beside his sister. “Avala, go, rally the citizens. We need to announce our new guest, so they know who it is,”

“And do I shall, révtset.” She replied, and left. (Brother)

“Where do I begin?” Blaze wondered, full of energy.

“We have many things against us… For first, we need the fields to be fertile once more…”

“Is it their quality, or quantity bothering?”

“Both, but let us rest before acting. Come, we need to announce you...” Sigmis exclaimed, closing a wing around him.

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[Thursday]

Blossom woke up at the usual time, even though she still didn’t have school to attend. She sat up, set her bed, and stretched her limbs in the company of a drawn out yawn. Hmm… What’s this? She wondered at the sight of a scroll on her bedside table. Oh! It’s from big brother! She realized, and opened it.

“Hey sis!

If everything went well, this thing was on your table by the morning. If not, you either won’t read this, or you’re not who this is addressed to… Ahem…

I would like to let you know that we arrived safely to their last standing free town. Only on our arrival was I faced with something Sigmis hadn’t told me before: He is the Prince, while his sister is the Princess… Sadly, their parents were slain at the initial invasion.

They announced me to the locals, who seemed welcoming at first. Tomorrow we will start working on the fields. I’m looking forward to getting to know them on a better perspective… Their mind set… Beliefs, culture… Well, time’s precious, I best go to sleep… Tomorrow is going to be a long one.

B.B.M.B”

She put the scroll into one of the drawers, locked it, and left to see what’s for breakfast. Much to her surprise, the kitchen was being decorated. She even saw a large plaque saying “Happy Birthday Prin-” The rest was not yet readable. “Whose birthday is it?” She wondered. The employees gasped in relief, at last the surprise wasn’t spoiled.

“It’s Princess Celestia’s. It’s the first time she has Princess Luna to celebrate with her in a long while… Sadly, usually nopony else comes. A few off duty guards, a few high ranked ones, her advisors, and us…”

“That’s… That’s so sad!” Well… Now she knows what Princess Luna went through every day…

“Want to help?” A cook asked, a cardboard box in his forehooves. The decorations inside looked like a small, blue Pegasus from afar. It turned out to be a bunch of deflated balloons and ribbons.

“The heck I do! Gimmie that!” She replied with a grin, and joined the others. Just in an hour they were ready to greet the guests.

“Whew… Now, Cherry, go, get the sisters, will you?” The chef wondered.

“In a jiffy, two Princesses coming right up!” She replied, and bolted off. A few minutes later a blindfolded Celestia and well informed Luna walked in, the later giving directions to her sister not to fall.

“Aaaand… Tadaa!” Luna exclaimed.

As Celestia looked, the greetings went off, and a few other party equipments… Even a pink Earth Pony mare got in, regardless of not being invited. In the end, she was allowed to stay for a while, before rolling her cannon away at the end, that is. The cake was brought in, candles were blown and wishes were made. “Happy birthday!” They yelled.

With a flash of magic, Celestia looked at her sibling in confusion. “Ha haa! Your age has been doubled!” She exclaimed jokingly. Everypony knew it was just that. A flash of light. They laughed, ate, drank, and around noon the party had to come to an end. The decorations were put away, dishes washed and everypony full of pastries and other desirable stuff.

“My oh my… I don’t know what to say. Thank you all so much everypony. This day truly became the best for me this year…” Everypony grinned, and replied with a nod. Everypony left to tend to their remaining duties for the day. Blossom on the other h… hoof… Went to see his brother’s former classmates.

“Hey there filly. We know you’re Blaze’s sister and all, but… You shouldn’t be here at the moment…” The General informed her.

“Oh, I see… Sorry sir,” She replied.

“On the other side… Nopony said you can’t watch. I mean… What’s the worst that can happen?” He asked with a grin, letting her through to the others. “We can afford a little break, but then we have to go on…” He warned her, letting her know about the limited time.

“Hey guys,” She greeted her friends.

“Hey. Blossom, was it?” Jackpot wondered.

“Rest. You get 30 minutes. Then we go on,” Onyx exclaimed.

“Yes sir!” They replied.

“So, how are things?” Blossom pondered.

“Same thing. Everyday routine…” Gust replied.

“It’s just a bit different without Blaze…” Comet noted.

“Yeah, I miss him too…” Blossom threw on.

“How about you? Is school going well?” Comet asked.

“Princess Celestia still hadn’t found a replacement principal… At least that’s how I know it…” Their chatter was interrupted by Shadow.

“General. I have some interesting developments to tell you. Come,” He said, luring Onyx away.

The students noticed it, and began to wonder. “The Night Guard… What could they have to do with the General?” Wind asked.

“You think it’s wherever Blaze went?” Cobalt inquired.

“I doubt… Things were pretty calm when he arrived last night…” Blossom informed them.

“How can you tell?” Cobalt asked.

“That’s what he said in his letter…”

“Well… He said it, must be true, right?”

“We all can agree on one thing. He can handle himself just fine, can’t he?” Comet threw in, brightening the mood. “Now… Who wants to play? Cards? Dice?” They chose to play in small bets. In the end, Blossom had won over 50 bits.

“Heh, I know who to bring next time to the tavern…” Jackpot said jokingly.

“If you’re paying… I’m in,” Blossom replied with a grin, when the General returned.

“Okay everypony. Back to work!” He said. Blossom left before she could be asked to do so, and headed back to her room. Let’s think of a way to help… Hmm… Aaaha! She had an idea, and rushed to the library. Scanning through the endless rows of books, scrolls, and other parchments she finally found what she sought. “Ah, here it is…” She muttered, blowing the dust off the book’s cover.

“Potions and brews: Volume Seven: Memory and knowledge alteration effects”

“Perfect…” She muttered, then rented the book. Throwing the book into a pile of blankets and pillows on her sibling’s bed, she jumped after it and began flipping through the pages. “Nah… Nah… No… No… Nope… Nope… Nah… Yep!” She mumbled, having found her spell for the potion. Now for the equipment… She borrowed what she could from the kitchen, and after an hour or two of scavenging for needed plants in the forest at the base of the hill Canterlot was on, she had everything she needed. Everything, except one thing. “Damn… I need a small pile of crystal dust... “ Where do I… Oh yeah… The mines!

Once arriving to said facility, which had been abandoned for a while. She smashed through the planks barricading it, lighting her way with a spell, she ventured deep into the caves, filled with many equipment left behind, including even excavated ores and other valuables. Why would anypony leave these here? She pondered for a while, until she saw what she was there for in the first place. Nice and shiny… A pity I must break it… She reeled up, and kicked with her hind legs. *Clank* Went her horseshoes against the crystal. *Clank**Clank* “Come…” *Clank* “On!”*Clonk, Crash, Rumble* Best get out of here…

She ran toward where she came from, but halfway there her saddlebags were stuck in a bunch of roots sprouting out of the cold stone wall. Not now… She pulled, no result. She pulled stronger. It worked, she was free, but a large chunk of the ceiling fell down, causing a chain reaction: The collapse of the mines. She sighed and ran as fast as she never did before. Her horn was busy using the light spell, so she couldn’t teleport away. She ran and ran, so much it had began to hurt, and tears formed in her eyes from the air stinging as it raced against her face. She was getting too exhausted to run, but the light at the end was finally in sight. Just a few meters away she quit the light spell and levitated herself out of harm’s way, barely tossing herself out of the cave, landing on her stomach. It does BETTER freaking work now… Oww… I’ll get so much for this… She thought to herself, catching a breath.

“Hmph… What’s this? You okay, filly?” Asked a strange voice. Blossom looked up to it’s owner. She didn’t believe her eyes.

“Uuuuuuuuu.” She managed to say.

“I guess it’s a yes…” The figure sat down beside her.

“Did I die or something?” She wondered.

“It’s the usual reaction. You are alive and well…” Her company replied.

“What happened to you?” She wondered.

“The same thing that resulted in the caves closing down… I chose to live the life of a hermit out here, so nopony else could end up like I had…” The colt replied, wiping off a small amount of blood from his neck.

“Are YOU okay though?” Blossom pondered, slowly approaching him.

“The best I could be…” It was that moment when she took a closer look at him. He appeared to be an average Unicorn colt, but what made him stand out was the pieces of dark green-ish crystals scattered on his body, refusing to let go like a parasite. He wasn’t ugly, yet a horrifying sight before bed.

“Why didn’t you come to town? The sisters must be able to help…”

“I had… Many times… It is best for me to remain. I have to admit, you did a great deal of help. Collapsing the mine made it impossible for anypony to be hurt there again…” He replied.

“There must be a way… If anypony, then the sisters MUST be able to…”

“I said it. They couldn’t…”

“What’s your name? Mine’s Gentle Blossom…” She introduced herself, showing a certain level of trust.

“I don’t remember mine… I had no use of calling my own name, and there was nopony else around to call it out either…” He explained.

“Where do you live?”

“A small hut nearby… Come. I guess I might as well have a visitor after all these years…” They trotted through a small forest, coming to said hut, fashioned out of mainly things from the mines, and a few makeshift things one’s magic can do. “I’d rather you don’t feel yourself at home… Even I don’t want to…” He exclaimed, allowing her in. “Fancy anything to eat?”

“N- No, thanks…” She replied, but her stomach replied as well.

The colt grinned. “I’ll take that as a yes,” He said, levitating a bowl of brown soup. “I still got some mushroom stew left from breakfast. Don’t worry, it’s safe,” He said with a faded grin.

Blossom ate what he gave her, feeling quite well fed at the end. “Ugh… That I could imagine in the kitchen…” She commented. “Could you tell me what happened in the mines?” She wondered. The colt sat down in front of her, a small group of crystals retracting toward his skin.

“I worked there as one of the demolition experts. We drilled small holes into the cave walls, put smaller bags of explosive black powder into them, and from a distance blow them up. We need the stone for construction, while anything else we found was just a bonus…”

“Reasonable,”

“We worked in shifts. 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. I chose the job because it paid just well enough to make a living. One day, however… The next shift didn’t show up, so we had to keep working. Eventually, what had to happen did happen. The mare handling the detonator was too tired, and blew the charges too early…”

“Was anypony hurt?” She asked with concern. She really seemed interested in the story.

“Not from the explosion. Sure, a little winded and with ringing ears… The problem was, that before we detonate we had to make sure how big the explosion would be. Not that one time. We were busy placing the supports to hold the cave above us at the time everything went to hell…”

“Did it collapse?”

“A lot of it. It took up two entire shifts just to fix the supports. On the bright side, we had an extra ton of stone excavated… The explosion revealed a smaller pocket of air, it was just there…” He said, glancing at the crystals around him.

“How did it get on you?”

“We informed the administrator. She passed it onto the sisters. They told the advisors, who demanded we get samples for them to study. We mined out a large area around the crystals with pickaxes, even above. We tried everything, but the crystal wouldn’t have given. We chose to blow a whole bag of powder on it…”

“How did it go?”

“Well… The crystal blew off all right… But then we had dozens of crystal shards flying toward us… The next thing I remember was being hit by just a single one of them… I felt blood going down my chest. Looking to the side, everypony was dead… Crystals… They glowed bright green, but then turned dark, almost black, including the one in me…”

“How bad were their wounds?”

“Head missing, limb torn off and dead by bleeding… Hit in the eye, through the brain… I tried to remove it, but it wouldn’t move… I reported to the sisters, but they couldn’t do anything either, but to shut down the mines... “

“Oh… Wow… That’s… That’s bad… Sorry to hear… But… I’ve been there, why didn’t I see anything like that? Not a large room, no skeletons…”

“I buried them myself… It was the least I could do for my friends. As for that area, I planted all the powder I found left in there, and blew it up. Even the castle’s windows cracked from the explosion, but it worked… And now, you finished the deal,” He explained.

Blossom only sighed. “Why do bad things happen to good ponies…” She asked out loud, but not from her host.

“Good thing I’m not one of them…” He replied.

“What do you mean?” She wondered.

“Have you ever…” He stopped, unsure about continuing.

“Have I?”

“Have you ever… Killed anypony?”

“Not myself, but my brother has… Not ponies, but he has…” She replied.

“You have a brother?”

“Yes… He’s a Sergeant at the Royal Guard…”

“Oh, I heard of him… Mithril uh.... Blaze, was it?”

“H-How do you know?”

“Everypony has been talking about it, even the foresters… I heard them talk as they walked the forest,” He explained.

“Let’s find you a name… Hmmm…”

“You’ve been here for a while now… I wouldn’t want anypony to get worried over you… You know where to come, if you WOULD want to come again…” Her new friend reminded her.

“Right… I do have something to do at home…” Thed bid farewell, and Blossom returned home.

The colt went to his bedroom, and drew his diary from the desk. He found a feather, and some ink as well.

“Day... Eh, who cares anymore...

Today, during the usual stroll around the mine I had witnessed its final collapse. It was a young, Unicorn mare who did it. Her name is Gentle Blossom. She seems reliable as well. She had listened to the story, too… I hope she comes tomorrow too. The lack of company is starting to drive me insane…”

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Blossom put her saddlebags down, next to her brewing setup, and laid down for a rest before getting to it. She sat down to the desk, the book on the right side, everything else to the left. After countless hours of brewing, mixing, distilling and other procedures, she had only one step left to do. “Chant the knowledge you desire for the brew to contain. Speak clear, and keep noises at minimal” She read out of the book. She chanted what she wanted her sibling to know twice, holding the brew in a wooden bowl in her forehooves. The brew emitted a small body of smoke, and nothing else happened. “Should you see a body of smoke, you have succeeded in the first steps of brewery…” Success… Now to get you to my brother… She lifted the bottle she intended to keep the brew, and sealed it with a cork. Summoning a scroll and pen, she began to write her letter to him, before laying her head to rest for the night.

[End of Chapter 9]

Comments

[Luwden]

How the hell, am i the only one who liked this?