Chapter 26
The base gym was far more impressive than any of the facilities at Stella Lacus. There was all the standard weights and gym equipment off to one side, albeit in shapes that fit pony bodies better. There was a pool, a huge rock wall, and plenty of obstacles.
They weren’t as difficult as Stella Lacus’s rope course. But campers were primates with opposable thumbs, not horses with flat stumps. How could they be expected to climb over such steep slopes, or swing over perilous drops to foam below?
Somehow, they managed it. There were several smaller groups going through the course, usually in single file. They wore guard armor over their chests, though it was a dull metallic silver instead of polished gold. Training gear, maybe? For all Amie knew about adventuring, she was almost equally ignorant about the military. Now where was the pony she was looking for? A young pony, with a green coat and silvery-white mane. She wasn’t part of the guards, so she should be on her own—there!
She was on the climbing wall. She struggled up an overhang, her hooves slipping on carved wooden grips. As Amie approached, the mare stumbled backward, then tumbled right off the side, spiraling to the ground. There was no one holding the other end of the rope.
Amie caught it in her magic as she approached, arresting her fall from injuring speed to a painful bump.
Up close, Ivy Path looked about how she expected. Short mane with a tight ponytail, and a short tail tied behind her. She wore the same style as all the guard ponies, but made by tying her hair instead of cutting it. That way she could let it all loose, and look like a civilian again if she had to.
“I’m sorry about that, sergeant. I know you said not to touch the wall alone. This time I was—” She stopped abruptly, staring at Amie. “You’re not Sergeant Green.”
“Nope,” she agreed, approaching the mat. “Looked like you needed a climbing buddy. Where do you get those helmets?” She bent down, holding a hoof towards her. “Rain Fly, by the way.”
“Ivy,” said the mare. She took the offered hoof, struggling to stand. “Helmets are over there.” She stretched, groaning. “Sure you’re up for this, Rain Fly? I don’t see a uniform on you. What kind of unicorn can climb?”
Amie levitated a helmet over, then slipped it on. There was an opening at the front for a horn, so it went on with relative ease. “Dunno, Ivy. Can’t help but notice you’ve got a horn too.”
She grinned. “Accident. Whole family got wings, but somepony in my family tree decided that unicorns were cute, and now I’m stuck on the ground forever.” She unclipped herself from the rope. “Harnesses are over there, if you’re really mare enough to try. It’s not as easy as I made it look.”
Amie didn’t levitate this one, but walked over to grab it. Not just because there were so many different sizes—if Ivy didn’t think much of magic, then using it around her was probably a bad idea.
Yes, that worked. She felt Ivy’s feelings towards her improve slightly as she made her way back. Was it from doing the walking herself, or being brave enough to climb? “You want me to ballay for you? You just tumbled.”
Ivy answered by thrusting the line and its heavy metal clip towards her. “Nah, Rain. I wanna see what you’re made of. You make it to the top, and maybe I’ll trust you to hold the line for me.”
She clipped in, attaching the same way she’d seen Ivy do it. “Can I do this part of the wall? I’m not good enough for overhangs yet.” Human Amie could’ve made it up a wall this simple in less than a minute, even that really challenging terrain there at the end.
Instead of thinking less of her, she felt more respect from the young mare. Ivy thought it was a big deal to admit she couldn’t do something. “I guess so. I couldn’t make it up that part, so it’s only fair. What are you doing on Agate Base, anyway? No uniform, no squad… you’ve got a pin.”
Amie nodded. She stood by the wall, but didn’t try to climb it yet, waiting for Ivy to take the rope. She hadn’t yet. “Family. My mom stationed—” she waved a hoof dismissively. “Somewhere or other. Too secret for me to know. National security, you know how it is. All the time in the world for Equestria, none for me.”
Ivy took the rope. She didn’t use her magic, instead wrapping a leather guard around her hoof, then curling the rope several times. “Is she a unicorn too?”
Amie nodded. “No flying from me either. Think I can probably handle this wall though. Looks like… maybe a 5.3. Yours was a 5.6 at least with that overhang. We’ve got one like that back at—” She stopped abruptly, going silent. The camp had plenty of interesting rock walls, as well as real terrain for those with more skills. She could hardly share all her experiences with Ivy without finding a way to modify them. “You ready?”
Ivy nodded, gesturing with the rope. “Go on, filly. You’re just scared.”
Amie took one more look at the wall, then picked a place and started climbing. It helped that she was dealing with a surface obviously built for ponies, with much larger handholds placed appropriately for someone without a primate’s grasp or flexibility with arms they didn’t have. Unfortunately Amie had spent her entire life depending on those things, and now they were taken away.
It wasn’t a race—there was nopony else climbing with her, no timer counting down. All she had to do was execute a perfect climb, the way the instructors in that part of camp would’ve taught. Eyes on the top of the wall, and be conscious of each of her four limbs. If anything, doing this as a pony meant the legs were even more important. Amie might not be able to do a climb like this—but Rain Fly could.
Finally she made it to the top, scrambling up over the edge and rolling onto the top level, breathing heavily. For a few seconds she just lay there on the wood, catching her breath. There was a platform here, with climbing equipment and a set of stairs running along the back. Ponies probably skipped the climb for descent practice. “I… did it!” she exclaimed, grinning down at Ivy. “How’s my time?”
Fifty feet was far enough to confuse the young mare’s emotions with so many others. She wasn’t the only one watching Amie anymore—a handful of military ponies had stopped what they were doing to stare at the unicorn with the strange determination to climb. “I’ve never seen a pony move like that before!”
“Help me down!” Amie backed up, wrapping the line around her foreleg. This part would be much, much easier. “Ready?”
“Ready!”
It took only minutes for Amie to descend back to ground level. She turned to Ivy, out of breath but grinning anyway. “Thanks! Haven’t had that much fun in… a long time. Haven’t got out to the wall since—” but that was more she shouldn’t be talking about. Now that she was up close, Ivy’s emotions were no longer mixed into a dozen others.
She felt—inadequate. Embarrassed, and a little afraid. She’s gonna run.
Amie did the one thing she could think of, and clipped the line to her harness. “Your turn.”
The mare whimpered, touching one hoof to the clip. But Amie had used magic to clip it on, and removing it took time. “I’m not sure I… I can’t climb like you, Rain. I think you need a better partner. You should talk to the enlisted mares.”
“Nah.” She touched one hoof on Ivy’s, pushing it away from the clip. “But I could give you some pointers, if you want. It’s not fair comparing to me—I’ve had classes. Have you?”
Ivy lowered her hoof, considering. “Never. My dad wouldn’t let me. Not even a filly scout.” She pawed at the ground with her free hoof, frustrated. “Your mom lets you do military stuff?”
“No. But she lets me do adventure stuff. Climbing, canoeing, skydiving, kayaking.” Shooting, hunting, survival. “Go on, hop up to the wall. Let’s see your technique. I promise not to laugh, okay? We’ll get you up there.”
The mare stumbled up the wall, then faced it. “You sure about this?”
Amie secured the rope, pulling it in as she walked closer to the wall. She used her magic this time, not just the angle. God only knew how screwed she’d be if she dropped the commander’s daughter on her first day. “Positive. You’re already strong and brave, that’s the part nopony can teach you. Picking the right handholds is the easy part.”
“Handholds,” Ivy repeated, giggling. “Never heard them called that before.”
Amie’s ears folded, and she tucked her tail slightly between her legs. “Yeah, uh—guess probably not around here. Anyway, first thing’s first! Eye contact with your ballay before you start climbing, audible confirmation they’re ready. Then you pick a route…”
Ivy might feel a little performance anxiety, but she was far better than she gave herself credit. Once she got climbing, Amie found a student who was as capable as she was eager. She probably could’ve made it up the wall without any help at all—with it, the task became almost effortless.
As effortless as any climbing could be for a creature without opposable thumbs, anyway. There was no getting around the sweat and exhaustion from either of them.
When she finally made it, Amie cheered, applauding one hoof against the wall. Ivy beamed down at her, then leaned a little too far and went tumbling over the edge.
A few feet, anyway. Amie was watching, so caught her with her own weight. She slid a short distance, then caught herself against the wall, arresting Ivy’s fall a second time. “Tell me when you’re gonna repel!” she yelled back, without anger. “Maybe take the climb down a little slower?”
“Y-yeah, right.” Ivy swung out from the wall, caught herself, then started climbing. She was every bit as fearless as any camper Amie had ever taught, not showing the slightest fear of heights. Only embarrassment in front of a peer frightened her.
“I did it!” Ivy exclaimed, when she made it to the mat. “I’d like to see Royal Guards with a time that good. I’ve never seen them climb like that.”
Amie shrugged. “Different school of climbing, I guess.” They took the next few minutes changing out of the harnesses, and hanging up their equipment. By then there was a decent-enough group of actual soldiers who wanted to use the equipment, waiting with rapidly waning politeness for them to finish. Amie got out of their way as quickly as she could, before following Ivy over to a water fountain.
She drank as much as she could hold, then followed Ivy from the gym. “I only just got to Agate,” Amie said conversationally, as they walked together from the building. “Do you know of anything else fun around here? I hate sitting still.”
Ivy turned, pointing off towards a different mountain. “There’s a trail up to the lake. Supposed to be some cliffs you can jump from. The pegasi say the trail is too tough for land ponies, so no one ever goes.”
“Want to?” Amie asked. “I wouldn’t feel good about a trip like that alone. But if you can get me a trail map, we could plot a route. If you think your parents will let you.”
Those might as well be magic words. “I don’t need permission. I’ve got a cutie mark of my own.” She grinned back. “When do you usually go to the gym? About now?”
She shrugged. “Might as well, yeah.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow then, Rain” She waved with one hoof, then turned into a nearby building. The nicest barracks of them all, with actual guards at the front instead of cadets.
Amie waited for her to vanish through the doors before turning to go.
That could’ve gone worse, she thought, trotting back to the exit. She was drenched in sweat, and had aches all over her body. But it was the good kind of pain, the one that waited at the end of an excellent workout. Too bad camp was too busy trying not to starve to get much working out anymore. She missed this feeling.
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Ooh, successful first day, I'd say
I guess you can't truly take the monkey out of the tree, unless you're swapping for a mountain goat.
Got a hoof in the door. Now time to build on that.
She adapted pretty quickly to four legs, surprisingly.
I'm surprised her dad's even paying for a friend.
Can't get any worse than the situation you've been in a few days earlier.
Even if the resulting friendship is genuine, it was partially built off lies and profit. It's going to get stressed whenever the truth comes out. And that's without everyone finding out Amie's a changeling.
11333852
You can take the monkey out of the tree, but you can't take the tree out of the monkey.
...Aaaand that's a thing I just said.
Hmm. I wouldn't think that ponies would be that into rock climbing.
... Ah, you address that.
A promising start. Let's see if Amie can keep it up. Though she really has to be careful with her phrasing. Ponies may not think she's a changeling, but she's certainly giving off a sense of not being Equestrian.
Got a feeling overly protective dad
Her skills are truly coming in handy here. Shame she has to hide her true identity.
Yet another racial stereotype. "Unicorns can't climb."
Seems these ponies have very narrow niches they're expected to fill. I guess nobody ever told them they can be multiple things at once.
That... Did go rather well, I suppose.
Amie's emotion sensing is definitely turning out to be extremely useful in this line of work. Who would have guessed!
A successful first day. Maybe Amie can eventually play off the accidental human-isms by saying she visited the minotaur lands at some point, if she ever realizes they exist...
11334963
She's also a unicorn, from a family of pegasi; I imagine there's a lot she can't do with them.
The comment about the trail being 'too tough for ground ponies' is quite intriguing, though.
11333862
"I'm surprised her dad's even paying for a friend"
Maybe he wants her away from the military? Depending on what's happened overseas... or at Canterlot, then her Dad might've seen some stuff.
11333862
Needs must when it comes to survival, especially when the locals have a very skewed perception of your species. As for the friendship being built off lies, think of it less like a foundation and more like scaffolding: the foundation itself is still genuine, and the friendship will eventually be stable enough that the scaffolding can be (carefully!) dismantled.
Ivy seems like a pony that Amie would want to befriend even without the whole business side being involved. Ivy is after all very similar to the kids Amie looked after at the camp.
Rappel.
Lock and key...
She should definitely be more careful of standing out. Those observing guards might start questioning...