Guard Academy: Ultimum Spes

by BabyKitten6

Chapter 2

Mica was the last one to wake and step out of the dorms, already groggy and annoyed. He didn’t want to be a guard at all, he wanted to just find love, maybe have a family of his own; Not put his life in danger for something he didn’t view as important. Yes, he liked Equestria, but for him, dying wasn’t needed to show you care. But what was done was done, he accepted while making his way down the hallways to the cafeteria. The moment he entered it, he could almost feel the lively buzz of it.

As he stepped into the food queue, he glanced around, already wondering where he could sit to enjoy the breakfast. Once he got his food, he carefully started to make his way between the tables, careful not to drop the tray, only to be stopped by a familiar voice calling out to him.

“Hey, roomie! You can sit with me!” Came from a table near him, making him groan in annoyance in his mind; It was that silly behaving mare again. He tried to deny it politely, smiling slightly at her “No thank you, maybe next time.” He walked quickly past the table to get as far away as possible, sitting down at one of the empty tables and setting the tray down.

He was just about to dig in when somebody else sat down beside him. Curious, he looked up, only to almost fall off the wooden bench from shock; He was face to face with a sharp-toothed, clawed, eagle eyed pony. He watched as she calmly started to eat her food, and he tried to scoot away to the farther end of the table, suddenly very nervous of the clearly predatory mare before him.

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Rose sat down at the table after seeing the stallion all alone, only for him to stagger away in shock. “Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you! I just saw that you were alone and I thought that maybe you didn’t have friends and that was sad because it’s sad to have no friends and-“

“Slow down, please, it’s hard to understand when you talk at the speed of light.” The stallion tried to calm her. “Let's start from the beginning. What’s your name?” He calmly asked, although Rose could tell he was shocked at her friendliness.

“I’m Rose! I thought that you might be sad, so... I came to join you!” The stallion nodded, seeming to understand her reasoning and replied: “I’m Mica. I thank you for thinking about that, but right now, sitting here alone was kinda my own choice. Plus it’s not very polite to jump into ponies' personal spaces out of nowhere like that.”

“Oh. Alrighty. Sorry for scaring you, I didn’t mean to.” He looked at the mare in front of him, gawking in every detail of her looks before scooting back closer and asking, “So, how does your hybrid thing work exactly? You know, with those fangs and all?” He was clearly trying to word his questions as nicely as he could, seemingly not wanting to offend Rose.

“Well… I don’t have exact sleep schedules like other creatures or ponies do. And yes, I can eat gems. My favourite ones are sapphires. They’re pretty and taste very sweet. I would give you one to try, but as far as I know, pony teeth can’t break gems and pony stomachs don’t even digest them. You’ll have to just take my word.” She began to explain.

Despite Rose talking a lot, Mica couldn’t help but just listen and listen. He couldn't help but be a bit shocked. At home, these kinds of interactions didn’t happen much. Even if something similar did happen, he usually was desperate to run from it or go deaf.

He continued eating as the mare rambled on and on about what gems were crunchiest or which locations were best for sleeping or even which type of earth was the most fun to dig tunnels into. The mare seemed to forget that other ponies were around but Mica still noticed the looks of disgust she received, furrowing his brow. Ponies frequently acted like this towards hybrids- even he hadn't found himself immune to that irrational fear. At the same time he was fascinated, wondering how Rose endured that; But he knew not to ask. It may have been a sore subject.

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After finishing her breakfast, Arlene walked out of the cafeteria to get ready for training, about to begin in an hour. She returned to her room and put on her uniform, a combo of simple reinforced navy blue pants and a reinforced white blouse, before fixing up her mane one last time and heading back to the lobby to relax with her free time.

Once the clock showed 8 am, she got off the couch and exited the lobby, trotting through academy’s halls to the classroom she was assigned to, slipping carefully through crowds of other trainees, all rushing to make it to their classes in time.

“Ugh, if the crowds here are so huge until the start of class, I’m gonna be late!” the mare grumbled under her breath, shoving through the thick crowds of ponies and doing her best to not trip. Eventually she reached the correct classroom and quickly slipped in before looking around for a free seat. The room filled up quite fast and the “Introduction to First Aid” class began. After a two hour lecture regarding different types of herbs and illnesses, the class was over and since Arlene had at least an hour before next class, she decided to take a quick trip to her dorm.