A Warrior's Calling

by Valiant_Daybreak

Chapter 11 - All Play and No Work?

Chapter 11 – All Play and No Work?

The sun rose over morning Ponyville, finding Valiant already hard into his morning training. It had been a week since Celestia had dubbed him a knight, and life had reached a sort of normality. This was fine for Valiant, in fact, he enjoyed the calm feeling of the town and the repetitive, daily routine that accompanied it. Finished with his training, he returned to Fluttershy’s cottage, where he had chosen to remain for the time being despite offers from some of the carpenter ponies to build him a house of his own. Because of its position on the outskirts of town, Fluttershy’s home was the perfect location to keep watch over the Everfree forest; it seemed nearly everything dangerous came from that place.

This decision had, of course, caused whispers and small rumors to float throughout the town, nearly convincing him to change his mind and accept the offer for a new house. As a Knight, after all, he was honor-bound to consider the integrity of others as well as his own. The rumors had died down as quickly as they started up, however, and, with Fluttershy’s urging, he had agreed to stay. For no reason whatsoever, he found it nearly impossible to disagree with her for long. Even when his judgment told him the better option lay elsewhere, one look into her deep green eyes and all reason fled from him like a scared rabbit.

After a brief breakfast, Valiant left for work. While as a knight and protector of the city he was supposed to be paid a small salary, his pride forced him to search for work elsewhere. “Warriors,” he reminded everypony who pressed him about the issue, “do not protect for a fee.” After much persuasion, Applejack had graciously agreed to give him a job at Sweet Apple Acres. Winter was rapidly approaching, and the Apple family needed all the help they could get storing the final harvest of food.

“Hey, Valiant!” Applejack called as Valiant entered the farm.

“Hello!” he replied. “What do you wish me to do today?”

“Well, we're almost done dryin' out all the apples to make 'em easier ta store. That'll probably only take us 'till about lunchtime. After that we've gotta start loadin' 'em in the storage bins and distributin' em around town. That'll probably take about another week or so. After we're done, winter can finally begin!”

Nodding, Valiant replied, “Shall we get started then?”

Applejack chuckled, “Boy somepony's rearin' to get goin' today! Hold-on just one minute while I get everythin' ready.”

So began the day. The morning passed quickly, and after a brief lunch they began distributing the apples. As Valiant was still fairly new to the town, Applejack decided they would both go together. Valiant getting lost wouldn't accomplish anything, and she could unload the wagon twice as fast with a helper.

With each delivery, Valiant became more and more impressed with Applejack's courteousness. One pony had the audacity to accuse her of cheating him on a shipment. Without missing a beat, she told Valiant to swap the offending crate of apples for another one that satisfied the customer. Tipping her hat at the end of the exchange, she wished him a good day and continued on.

Their last delivery of the day was for Rainbow Dash. Since her home was located in the clouds, Applejack had Valiant fly the crate up to her house and make the delivery himself. His heart pounded as he knocked on the door, and he screwed a smile on his face, attempting to emulate Applejack's salespony attitude.

The door swung open. “Oh, hey Valiant! Uh... something wrong?”

“No!” he said, through his teeth. “I am here to bring you your crate of apples! Do they meet your satisfaction?”

“Uh... sure... I'm sure they're... fine...” Unable to control herself any longer, she burst out laughing. Fighting hard, she regained control of herself and said, “Oh man... you're reeeealy bad at this aren't you! That face was just hilarious!”

Valiant frowned, but quickly realized how ridiculous he must have looked. Chuckling, he said, “I suppose my list of strengths does not include 'traveling salespony.'”

“Yeah, you've got that right. Hey! I meant to ask you, have you seen that mural yet?”

Cocking his head, Valiant asked, “No... What mural?”

“After the thing with the Ursa Major last week, the mayor commissioned a mural of all the disasters Ponyville has narrowly avoided in the last couple years. Guess what the highlight of the mural is? You! Ponyville's never seen that kind of heroics! I couldn't say this if anypony else was around, but that was preeety impressive.”

Slightly embarrassed, Valiant said, “It was nothing... truly...”

“Are you kidding? Even TWILIGHT couldn't take on that thing! But you were all like, wham! What now!?” Sighing, she said, “Yeah... that was pretty awesome. So anyway, the mural is going to be put up in the park. Supposedly there's this hot-shot up-and-coming artist from Manehatten who's been hired to do it, so it's gonna be pretty good. She's already got the first half done! You should go check it out when you've got time!”

“Valiant! What's goin' on up there!” Applejack called.

Rainbow Dash looked down. “Wow, she's got some lungs doesn't she?”

Valiant chuckled. “I suppose I must be leaving. Thank you for the suggestion! I will go see it sometime after work! Farewell!”

“See ya!”

When Valiant had flown back to the ground, Applejack said, “Whew whee! Thought you'd gotten lost for a minute there! What'd y'all talk about?”

“She mentioned a mural of some kind in the park...”

“Oh yeah! The one about all the disasters and stuff. Well, we're done fer the day, so you can go ahead and head over there if ya like!”

“Thank you!” Valiant said. “I shall go see if Fluttershy wants to go. Would you like us to wait for you?”

“Nah, you guys go ahead and have fun. I've got a couple more things to do 'fore I get some free time tonight.”

“You are sure you do not want help with anything?”

Applejack smiled. “Go on, get outta here! Ya deserve to see that mural after all you've done fer the town in the short while you've been here!”

Taking to the air, Valiant replied, “Thank you again! I shall be here first thing in the morning to help!”

“Tomorrow's Saturday! We don't work tomorrow mornin'!”

“Right... See you the next day!”

“We don't work then either!”

By this time Valiant had flown too far for continued conversation, so he continued flying towards Fluttershy's cottage. As he reached it, he found Fluttershy deep in conversation with a pair of hummingbirds.

“Now Hummingway, it isn't nice to call others those sorts of names..." Listening for a second, she replied, "I don't care if she said it first! You two need to tell each other you're sorry! Go on!”

The two hummingbirds looked at each other, and grudgingly nodded.

“Good! Now, play nice now!”

They flew off, passing Valiant as he landed on the ground next to Fluttershy, who jumped and yelped softly as he landed.

“Oh... I didn't see you...”

Despite himself, Valiant couldn't help but smile. Her skittishness was one of the most endearing things about her. “I am truly sorry for startling you. How was your day?”

She smiled. “It was pretty good... How about yours?”

Valiant shrugged. “My day went fairly well, thank you! I was talking to Rainbow Dash today, and she told me there was some sort of mural being painted in the park.”

“Really? I haven't heard anything about it...”

“Neither had I! Do you want to go see it?”

Fluttershy smiled again. “Sure! I don't think there are any animals that need my help right now, so it should be fine!”

“Shall we go then?”

“Yes, let's.”

The pair began walking down the path back into town. The park was only a short distance away, so there was really no need for them to fly. As they entered the park, both of them stopped and stared at the sight that awaited them.

“Wow!” Valiant said.

“That's amazing!” Fluttershy said in kind.

The mural was unlike anything either of them had seen. Instead of being made with traditional paints, it had been painted with spray paint, something Valiant had never even heard of. It was massive, depicting every disaster from Nightmare Moon all the way to the Ursa Major's attack. Putting the finishing touches at the end of the mural was a fuchsia earth pony, wearing a blue painter’s cap over one of her ears. As they watched, she put down her spray can, looked at the mural and said, “Done!”

“Pardon me,” Valiant asked, “but are you the artist responsible for this?”

The earth pony turned to face him, tilting her head slightly as she took in his appearance. “Sure am!” She said. “Hey… you must be that hero everyone’s talking about! Hmm…” Abruptly turning back to face her mural, she started slightly fiddling with the design. “Let me see… his color is more like… no… ah! Got it now! There!” Turning back to Valiant with a smile, she said, “Much better!”

She stared at him quizzically again. After a few awkward moments, she said, “You look kinda familiar… Have we met somewhere before?”

Valiant chuckled. “I highly doubt that… You see, I do not exactly…”

As he was speaking, a freak gust of wind blew off the mare’s hat, causing her to shriek involuntarily.

“Oh!” Valiant said, before chasing after the hat. Quickly catching the offending article of clothing, he returned to where Fluttershy and the artist were standing. “I have retrieved it for…” Valiant cut off midstream as he noticed the ear her hat had previously been covering. It hung limply down on her face, almost as if there were no muscles inside it to hold it up.

“What?” the mare snapped. “Is there something wrong with my ear?!”

Valiant shook his head quickly, embarrassed that he had been caught staring at her ear. “No! It… It merely reminds me of somepony I used to know… But that was in a different country, so it couldn’t be…”

“Wait a second…” the artist interrupted, “My parents were nomads... I lived in another country until I was about eight… What was it called…Cordaland? No… that’s not it…”

Valiant gasped, “Corralland?”

“Yeah, that was it! Why, you from there are somethin’?”

“Yes… I was… If you used to live there, you might have known my friend! Her name was Splatter Shell…”

The artist pony balked, staring at him with a look of confusion on her face. After a few moments, she grabbed his face, tugging it as if to make sure it was real. Convinced he was not a figment of her imagination, she backed away. “Va… Valiant?” She asked.

It was Valiant’s turn to be surprised. “Yes...”

“No way!” Splatter Shell said. “I thought you weren’t real! How in Equestria did you remember me?”

“You were my only friend,” Valiant said, “How could I forget you?” Thinking for a second, he beamed, before excitedly asking, “What are you doing here!? My father said your family moved! I take it you moved to Ponyville?”

Splatter Shell, still a recovering from her surprise, replied, “Not exactly… After my parents moved us to Equestria, I discovered my talent for painting murals. Since Manehattan had a great art scene, I moved myself there when I was 14. My parents were a little worried, but I can handle myself. The real question is: what are you doing here? Aren’t you, like, the crown prince of Corralland or something?”

Valiant’s face fell. Thinking for a moment, he said, “I suppose you deserve to know. Corralland was attacked and destroyed about three months time ago.”

Splatter Shell’s mouth opened in shock, “What!? How… who… huh!?”

Valiant shook his head sadly. I suppose... she deserves to know... I have avoided this subject for long enough. Turning to Fluttershy, he said, “I believe it is time for you all to know the whole story. If you would guide my friend back to the house, I will gather the others. They deserve to know too.”

Nodding to Splatter Shell, he took off in the direction of Twilight’s library. It is time for them to know the truth.

› › › › › › › › › › › › ›

“My Prince, we are nearly ready.” The lieutenant bowed before the Black Prince, shuddering internally at his presence.

The Prince smiled, showing his pointy teeth. “Good. You know where he is then?”

“Yes, my Prince… Our scouts report he is in a town called Ponyville.”

“Hmm….” The Prince said thoughtfully. “Very well. It is time to begin our assault! I shall inform our Queen that we are ready. We will take this country for her majesty! Notify the battalion: we fly in one hour.”

Author's Comments

Things are heating up! We are rapidly approaching the finale! A few questions are still unanswered, however. Next episode: Valiant's full story is finally revealed! Join us here next week! Same pony time, same pony channel... err... Well, webpage, I guess...

Comments

[the_phycopath]

A storm is a brewin

[Bronyhooves]

omigawd... i vant moar...

[Rainbowdashrocks]

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh its awsome so 20% cooler as rainbow aways says