6. Onwards
There was a slight, but welcome, burn through the muscles and fibers of Fizzlepop’s body as she leaned in under the shower’s falling water. She closed her eyes, letting the water soak into her and wash away the lather of sweat that had built up on her flanks from the morning jog. It wasn’t long before the hot water seemed to wash away the burn, and Fizzlepop could get to work on cleaning herself properly.
It also wasn’t long before she felt a flank bump her own, but this time she’d heard Nocturne come in – and as well, this time her whole body wasn’t on the verge of falling apart. She didn’t stumble, and actually bumped Nocturne back, prompting a laugh.
“So there’s two lines of thought going through the barracks this morning,” Nocturne said, though then she looked up. “Or…afternoon, whatever you say in this city. The first is that all the pushing you’ve been doing finally caught up with you, and that’s why you only went for twelve miles today.”
She turned on her shower, using her a wing to block some of the initially-cold water that would have bounced off of her and onto Fizzlepop.
“Mm-hmm,” Fizzlepop said. “And the other line of thought?”
Nocturne’s grin didn’t drop, but it did become a touch sadder. “That you wanted to run with the herd one last time, so you didn’t try and leave any of us behind like normal.”
Fizzlepop felt a small needle prick her heart at that, but she didn’t let it show. She instead shook her head as she ran a brush over her pelt. “Well…hope you didn’t have any money riding on which it was, because it wasn’t either of those.”
“Oh? So what was it?”
Fizzlepop closed her eyes against the shampoo she was running through her mane. “I ran as far as I felt I needed to, as fast as I needed to. That’s it.” She dunked her head under the water to start rinsing her mane. “Need to make sure that I’m not so exhausted that if I’m called on to serve tonight, I don’t pass out from the effort.”
Nocturne was silent for several moments, then Fizzlepop felt a hoof poking her shoulder a few times. Fizzlepop opened an eye to glanced at the hoof, then back to Nocturne, eyebrow raised.
“Just making sure you’re not Trixie,” Nocturne said, withdrawing her hoof. “Was she that bad yesterday?”
Fizzlepop let out a short laugh. “Actually she was fine,” she said as she finished rinsing her mane. “Don’t get me wrong, she was still Trixie…but, the best version of Trixie. I think.”
Fizzlepop glanced away, rubbing one leg with the opposite hoof. “I’m not sure how to describe it…let’s just say that she gave me a lot to think about. And Commander Armor, and Captain Armet, and Princess Luna, and the play that Trixie wanted to see…and you too. I’m still sorting through all of it.”
“Hmm, Fizzlepop Berrytwist being introspective,” Nocturne drawled, a bit of her country Ponyvillian accent shining through. “That’s a new one. Good, though.”
Fizzlepop shrugged. Fully clean now, she switched off her shower and stepped back a bit, giving herself room to shake off from nose to hoof. She turned and grabbed a towel off of the rack and started drying herself.
“I’m…direct, normally,” she said. “I like straight lines. The smallest number of moving parts. And that helped get me where I am…but I think it also meant that I had blinders on, couldn’t see anything that wasn’t in front of my face…” She had her towel over her head, and felt her hoof bumping the jagged stump of her horn, “…or just above it.”
Nocturne grunted. “And here I was, not calling you ‘rookie’ and everything to try and not psych you out, but in a day you’ve gone and found inner peace or something.”
She turned around in the shower, looking Fizzlepop in the eye. “You could be just a little worried. I don’t think Captain Armet will like nonchalance any more than pigheadedness.”
Fizzlepop hung her towel over her withers. She held up a hoof and looked at it…and saw the slight tremble. Of course it was still there, a mere day wasn’t going to make it go away. “I am worried,” she said as she touched her horn and winced slightly, “but I’m a Night Guard. Can’t let a little worry get in the way of what needs to be done.”
“Confidence. Got it.” Nocturne touched a wing’s alula to her forehead, an old pegasus salute. “Good luck then, Fizzy.”
“Thanks,” Fizzlepop said, heading for the door to the stall – and out towards the inevitable.
Shining Armor was looking at her funny, as the two trotted towards Captain Armet’s office. When Fizzlepop noticed and looked back to him, he gave a slight shrug. “You look different, officer.”
Fizzlepop glanced down at herself, and found herself looking at the illusory gray pelt that was supposed to be there, and looking up showed the illusion of an intact horn as well. Everything appeared to be the way it should be.
“How so, sir?” She asked.
“Well, for one thing…” Shining reached out and put a hoof to her shoulder shoving her a bit. She braced against it without losing too much stride. “You’re definitely better off today then you were yesterday. Not dragging your hooves.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“It definitely looks like you made the most of your Trixie-granted reprieve,” he continued, though he frowned. “Though I hope this isn’t just a temporary change. Captain Armet will be able to tell if you’re just trying to get on her good side.”
“Yes, sir.”
The two stopped outside the doors to the Captain of the Castle Guard. Fizzlepop reached up to open it, but held herself back for just a moment as she turned to look Shining Armor in the eyes, trying to ignore that the Night Guard illusion was wrapped over him.
“If I may, sir…I don’t think I ever thanked you. For all the help you gave me years ago, for sponsoring my joining the Army, for recommending me for the Night Guard…”
Shining chuckled. “Fizzy, you’ve thanked me a million times. Especially when you liquor up your root beer floats…” he paused at his own words, then leaned forward and took a few experimental sniffs.
Fizzlepop couldn’t stop herself from leaning back, though she grinned. “Due respect, sir, but learning how to pass inspection when hungover might as well have been a part of basic training.”
“Maybe, but with the more laid-back attitude you’re presenting right now it was worth checking.”
Shining Armor stepped back and looked Fizzlepop in the eye. “For the millionth time – you’re welcome, but you don’t have to thank me. You fixed your own life, I just supported you.” He stood up straighter. “Now sharpen up, Guard. This is an uphill fight you’re going into.”
“Yes, sir,” Fizzlepop agreed. As the lower-ranked officer, Fizzlepop opened the door for the two of them, allowing Shining Armor to precede her before going in herself, then both waiting for the captain’s adjutant to open the door for them.
Internally, Fizzlepop started girding herself. She was still trying to figure out this new paradigm that a mere twenty-four hours had shown her, and while she knew she wanted to embrace it, she also knew that it wasn’t going to erase everything that had happened – the mistakes she had made – up to this point. This was an uphill battle that she was heading into, one she wasn’t fully prepared for, and she needed to treat it as such…
Opal Armet was behind her desk, as she had been yesterday. Instead of writing this time, she was reading, flipping through a familiar-looking folder with her hooves pressed together before her muzzle, eyes gliding quickly over the details of Fizzlepop’s service. She glanced up once both were in the room, looking between the two unicorns.
“Commander Shining Armor and Officer Fizzlepop Berrytwist, reporting as ordered, ma’am,” Shining Armor announced, the two of them saluting.
Armet rose from her desk this time, returning the salute. “At ease,” the earth pony said. “And helmets off, let’s do this face-to-face. Take a seat, Officer Berrytwist.”
Fizzlepop complied, using her hooves this time, no longer feeling a need to prove herself when she had already done so by being here. Armet sat back down herself, looking over the last few pages in the file before closing it over and meeting Fizzlepop’s eyes.
“We were all of us here yesterday,” Opal Armet said finally, tapping a hoof on the desk, “we all know why we’re here now. Officer Berrytwist, you are meeting the special standards that were set for you when you joined the Night Guard, but the effort to do so appears to be causing you damage. I would hardly be exaggerating to say that you are killing yourself trying to remain in the Night Guard.”
Fizzlepop shifted. “Yes, ma’am.”
“In light of that, then, why should you remain in the Guard?”
“I’m sorry, ma’am, I wasn’t clear,” Fizzlepop took in a deep breath. She found her thoughts momentarily going to Trixie…this definitely seemed like a tack that the filly would take. “I meant, with due respect, that you would be exaggerating. Ma’am.”
Opal Armet’s eyes widened. “I see,” she said, leaning back. “I’m going to want an explanation then, officer.”
Fizzlepop took a moment to consider. “I was pushing myself as hard and as far as I could go, but not to meet the Guard’s standards. To meet standards that I had set for myself – impossible standards. My life is better now then it was before, and it’s all because of the Night Guard. And I felt like I had to earn that by being…more.”
She shifted, and glanced up, at her broken horn. “I’m…I benefited from special circumstances. I know that, ma’am. But I felt a need to make up for that…to hide it. Not just from others, but from myself.”
She put a hoof on her helmet, sitting on the ground beneath her, her reflection looking back at her. “Yesterday, ma’am, you said that you could get anypony to meet the Guard’s requirements if you ran behind them with a whip. And that was what I was doing to myself, beating and forcing myself forward no matter the cost.”
She shook her head. “I don’t…I realize, ma’am, that this might be coming across as arrogant or conceited, that it sounds like I’m saying that I just need to stop trying so hard and hold myself back, but that’s not it.”
Fizzlepop took in a deep breath, let it out, and looked Opal Armet in the eye. “At the end of it, ma’am, what I mean is this. I can meet the standards that have been set for me, without injuring myself, without making it so that I’m unable to serve. I was just going about it all wrong. But if you’ll just give me the chance, I can prove it.”
In her helmet’s reflection, Fizzlepop saw Shining Armor staring at her, brow raised in what appeared to be surprise. After a moment, however, he settled down – and had a small smile on his face. Fizzlepop was pretty sure she heard a small sigh, but it was one of relief rather than exasperation like yesterday.
Captain Armet, meanwhile, was silent as she stared at Fizzlepop, one hoof to her mouth. She eventually broke the silence with a small grunt. “Yesterday you said your personal goal was to meet the standards the Night Guard has set for the earth pony tribe,” she said. “So you have…given up on that, then?”
Fizzlepop considered, before shaking her head. “No, ma’am. But before, I was pushing myself as hard as I could, as though if I didn’t meet those standards, I would be booted from the Night Guard. Now, I’ll…”
“Pace yourself?” Opal Armet suggested.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Opal Armet nodded. She leaned forward a little more, once more pressing her hooves before her muzzle with her elbows on the desk. She licked her lips. “Tell me, Officer Berrytwist,” she said, “what do you love?”
Fizzlepop was taken aback by the question. “Love?” She asked. “I…the Night Guard. Being a part of something bigger than me, belonging to something.” Armet still stared at her. She tried to press on. “My country, of course…” Armet leaned in slightly, but still said nothing.
Fizzlepop blinked at the motion, before letting out a small sigh. “And…all of my squad mates, ma’am. Including…especially…Commander Armor. I…I very badly needed friends five years ago, and he was the first pony to step up.”
Armet finally let out a slight sigh, placing her hooves on the table. She looked past Fizzlepop, to Shining. “Do you agree with Officer Berrytwist’s self-assement, commander?” she asked. “Keep in mind that if you’re serious about protecting the officers under your command, that would include speaking up against an officer whose presence could be a liability to the squad.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Shining said, “and no, ma’am. I believe that, given the opportunity to correct the mistakes she’s made in setting impossible standards for herself, she could continue to be a fine officer in the Night Guard. She’s already taken the most important step in recognizing those mistakes, ma’am.”
The captain nodded, looking back to Fizzlepop. “Very well. You are a good and loyal Guard, Officer Berrytwist. It would be a shame for the Night Guard to lose you. However, the damage you have already done to yourself can’t simply be discounted.
“Therefore, a complete physical will be scheduled for one month from today. Provided that the physical shows marked improvement – that you get that heart rate down, chiefly – then you will remain in afterwards as well.”
Fizzlepop needed a moment to fully process that. Several moments, actually – it took Armet clearing her throat for her to realize that she was probably staring dumbfounded. “Yes, ma’am,” she finally said. “Thank you, ma’am.”
“Your welcome, Officer Berrytwist.” She knocked on the table once. “This is in some ways a third chance for you, officer. Don’t squander it.”
“I won’t, ma’am.”
“Good. Dismissed.”
Fizzlepop and Shining saluted, donned their helmets once again, and stepped from the offices of the Captain of the Royal Guard. Fizzlepop needed a moment to collect herself once she was outside, and couldn’t stop herself from putting a hoof to her chest and just focus on breathing. Shining was quick to put a steadying hoof on her withers.
“Just breathe, Fizzy,” he said. “Focus on that first.”
She nodded, though after a moment spoke up anyway. “I…I really thought I’d be reassigned to the Army – that I’d have to reapply to the Guard, get back in after I’d…” she shook her head, realizing she was just going to be babbling uselessly. She looked at Shining. “Thank you, sir.”
“Thank you, Fizzy, for finally getting what the whole squad has been trying to tell you for months.” He smirked – which revealed the fangs of the Night Guard illusion, of course, but they didn’t ruin the expression. “So…you love me, huh?”
Fizzlepop stiffened. “As a friend, sir.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Permission to speak frankly?”
“Denied,” Shining turned and started trotting with Fizzlepop in tow. “Last thing you want after this is to be put in the brig for insubordination.” Fizzlepop resisted the urge to grumble, barely, though something must have slipped out as Shining started chuckling. “Come on, Officer Berrytwist. Time to get to work.”
Fizzlepop followed. There was a lightness to her steps that had nothing to do with the fact that she hadn’t pushed herself to her limits and beyond. As the two passed through the halls of Canterlot Castle, her eyes were drawn down one hallway towards a flowing starscape at its other end – the mane and tail of Princess Luna approaching, with Trixie following along with the pair of Night Guards attending her tonight.
Both Shining and Fizzlepop stopped in their trot, dropping to their knees as Luna walked on by, her muzzle buried in several sheets of paper. Trixie’s horn glowed blue-pink and her eyes lit up the same color for a moment as she passed, and she brightened when she looked at Fizzlepop – having cast a spell to see through the Night Guard illusion.
“Fizzlepop!” Trixie exclaimed, stopping.. “So did ya make it?”
Luna’s trot froze, and she spun around. “Trixie!” She hissed, bearing down on the filly.
Trixie flinched away from Luna, Given how tactless she had just been, Fizzlepop could hardly blame Luna for her anger. All the same, she glanced up from her genuflection. “Your majesty, if I may,” she said, “I think Trixie was simply eager to hear that I would be remaining in your Night Guard.”
Luna glanced at Fizzlepop, ruffling her wings. “I see,” she intoned, glancing back to Trixie. “That still does not excuse her phrasing.”
“No, your majesty.”
Trixie looked like she had been betrayed by Fizzlepop. “Ah was just excited, is all!” She insisted. Luna’s response was to lean in more, and Trixie relented. “Fine. Ah’m sorry, Ah shouldn’t have said it like that…but Ah’m still happy!” She turned back to Fizzlepop. “Ah bet it was mah advice that did it, oui?”
“Oh please, do not answer that,” Luna insisted, using a wing to herd Trixie forward. “Her ego doesn’t need the boost. Come along, Trixie.”
The two left, though just before they turned another corridor and passed out of sight Trixie glanced back to Fizzlepop. She felt herself sighing even as she nodded once – causing Trixie to smile and take her next step with a hop before she passed out of sight. Her ego would be doing just fine tonight.
Fizzlepop and Shining rose once Luna and her entourage were out of sight. Shining looked after Trixie, then back to Fizzlepop. “I don’t know what exactly happened with you and Trixie yesterday,” he said, “but you realize foalsitting her is your job from now on, right?”
“Yes, sir,” Fizzlepop said. The two began trotting again. Fizzlepop couldn’t help glancing back the way Trixie had gone, something the young mare had said yesterday sticking in her mind. “Sir, if you don’t mind me asking…how does the name ‘Tempest Shadow’ sound to you?”
“Edgy,” Shining responded immediately. “And given that both my mother and my sister are named ‘Twilight’, that should probably tell you something.”
“Yes, sir,” Fizzlepop agreed, though she felt that having second names of “Velvet” and “Sparkle” respectively probably undercut the edge.
Still, he had a point. Trixie was right that ponies would sometimes change their names to better fit the lives they were living…but “Tempest Shadow” wasn’t one that fit her. Maybe in another life, though she didn’t want to think about what that life might have been like. But not this one in any event.
So instead, she trotted onwards and into the rest of the night. And it was only after her shift was done and she had settled into her bunk at the barracks the following dawn that, for the first time since she could remember, Fizzlepop had felt no phantom pain from her horn for the entire day.
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A very fine ending. And no, dear. Do not rename yourself that.
And so, it ends.
...
Hehehe, I like it!
Here's to Fizzlepop's continued service in the Night Guard. Sounds like she's really on the path to improvement.
D'aww. Happy endings.
(... though Luna's coming off as a little harsh in that bit. 'specially making Trixie flinch.)
A fine way to end a story, with a beginning. Fizzlepop's in a good place now, she'll be a credit to the guard.
That was pretty good, all things considered.
Very nice ending. I do wish considering the close relationship here with Shining that you'd have done maybe a brief glimpse of Twilight too. Obviously Trixie and her don't meet. But that would've been an interesting little addition to this. Other then that though I really liked this story. Was an interesting insight all around and a very nice character journey. Great work.
You know now that we see younger Trixie it would be rather interesting to see other L6 in their filly hood. Maybe a slice of life story in which each their actions/adventure affects unknowingly the other.
But enough about wishing, anyway good story fleshed out the characters rather nicely and even gave more insight into certain characters that we wouldn't have guessed about them. ^^
10179410
Ha!
Excellent work throughout. A fantastic portrayal of both Fizzlepop in this timeline and Trixie at this point in her life. Fizzy's arc was very well plotted indeed. I wonder what's she's doing by the time Trixie's in Ponyville...
Thank you for this.
This chapter was a breeze to read through. I can't speak for others, but the paragraphs were perfect for me.
This was a nice conclusion. I'm surprised I didn't feel anything for Fizzlepop until the lovely (but cliché) sentence at the end, considering my earlier comments, or that I didn't smile in turn when Trixie 'smiled and took her next step with a hop,' but I chalk it up to my bad mood lately.
I was also surprised by the reasons given for Trixie's scolding. Tactlessness as far as Fizzlepop is concerned and "her phrasing" according to Luna. I assume these have to do with Trixie being trained to become a noble, but then I'd have expected the reasons to be letting (what little she has of) her self-control slip, speaking before thinking or telling everyone who cared to listen which Night Guard was Fizzlepop.
These seem like more important mistakes to rein in for a noble to me, Night Court or otherwise. The scolding also felt like it came out of nowhere, given how lenient towards Trixie I remember Luna to be in this story.
It was strange to see "pelt" used for 'coat' as well. I thought that word referred only to hides from a skinned animal.
I believe "We were all of us here yesterday" shouldn't have "of us," but I'm not a native speaker. That's also why I'm not certain if "'Twilight,'" in "“And given that both my mother and my sister are named ‘Twilight’, that should probably tell you something”" should be "'Twilight'," instead.
But I do think the quotation marks around "Velvet" and "Sparkle" in the following paragraph should be single rather than double for consistency's sake.
I found one typo; “Your welcome, Officer Berrytwist.”
Sorry to describe the negative more than the positive, but I have nothing to say about that other than "I enjoyed this chapter" along with listing the lines I liked;
One last thing. "Un rapporteuse" in chapter two should be 'une rapporteuse.' Articles are agreed to the noun's gender in French. But that's only a detail.
I could really go for a nice hot shower, but mine has been kinda broken for the past few weeks. It still technically works, but there's virtually zero water pressure and so the water instead just kinda dribbles out of the shower head. So while I can keep clean, the experience is less than enjoyable and far from relaxing.
Anyway, a good end to a good fic. The only thing I could maybe be a little critical of is that while we really got to see how Trixie affected and helped Fizzlepop, we didn't really get to see much of that relationship being reciprocal. Although at least with Shining affirming that foalsitting will be a permanent duty for her from now on, I suppose it could at least be taken as implication.
10179410
Ahk… I'd almost completely forgotten the significance and missed that.
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Yeah, it’s a finicky service. Also hope you can get your shower fixed.
That’s the idea. I imagine the goal-sitting thing tapered off in later years when Trixie was older, though, justifying her not bringing up Fizzlepop before.
It’s worth remembering that I recall us saying that we should occasionally use it as a red herring, so nothing here should be taken as proof positive of Armet being a changeling. Of course...sometimes it’s not a red herring...
I really enjoyed this. Younger Trixie and her accent were fun, and this take on Fizzy was interesting. I'm glad she was able to figure how to thread the needle on staying in the guard.
Despite being a recent initiate to the Lunaverse, a gravitated here early on because different interpretations of Fizzlepop's personality and growth are my jam. Overall, nicely done throughout. I have to agree with the praise given to Trixie at this point in her life with the Verse. Fizzy seems to walk that line between having that edged personality that we all know while still having a softer side that developed without the influence of her canon history. I especially appreciated the nod to comics and the hint of anger issues I've always imagined that she struggles with. I'd be very interested to continue following her career….
Not sure how this one slipped beneath my radar for so long, but I thoroughly enjoyed this! Nice to see Tempest, er, Fizzy, make the leap to the Lunaverse.
Quite the interesting reversal, having her be a disgruntled anarchist-fringe supporter rather than the right-hand and enforcer to a despot. I do like the Shining Armor connection. I've never read Don Quixote, but I I have heard some of the songs from the musical, including having the titular "I am Don Quixote" on my iPod.
I definitely like Trixie and Tempest's interactions. I hope we see her more in the Lunaverse proper, in the current time period, that is.