Chapter 18: New places and new faces…but it still hurts like a bitch…ow.
Chapter 18: New places and new faces…but it still hurts like a bitch…ow.
The rest of the night had been pretty swell as far as I was concerned. Like Ponyville the ponies that I was now in a squad with were pretty friendly. Swift Gale was friendly enough when she wasn’t barking orders; I'm guessing she was very tough since everypony obeyed those orders to a T. After getting some fist hand…hoof greeting from some of my new squad mates we all sat down for some dinner where I got to learning about the ponies that I would be spending some time with.
Scribble Page he was the energetic one of the group; always speaking in an energetic voice. It took awhile for him to get acclimated to me; but once he did it was worth it. He had a deeper voice than I thought he would; he told me that he liked to write and look over other people’s writing. His creative side was astounding coming close to Pinkie’s and my level. I questioned him about the little knick on his here and that was when Swift Gale suddenly did a spit take and however much of her drink she had was spewed across the barracks. It turns out that Scribble every once and awhile writes some stories and sends them out to competitions and publisher seeing if anything happens.
On one particular day he ran a bit late on the timing for the daily mail shipment. And as he was sprinting across the ground he happened to cross paths with Swift Gale. She was coming back from combat practice and was carrying so practice sword which were still quite sharp. Scribble didn’t even think to acknowledge her as he ran straight under her. In his pursuit of speed he didn’t notice that his hair and tail were flying upwards in the wind; and also how low his CO was flying. His hair then touched her underside and Scribble found out something about his sergeant that day; that she has a very ticklish stomach. It wasn’t the laughing that did it for him though it was when she lost control of her flying for just a second and one of the swords came of her wing and the rest was history after that.
That was probably the best background story I heard from all the ponies at the table; the other like how Flash Bang told how he admitted to sort of cheating on his entrance test.
Like his name suggests he found a way to use his magic to create a deafening and blinding explosions. When he was questioned after the test he said that he hadn’t broken any of the rules; in the case that he used his magic to be able to look at the proctor’s answer not any of the students; which was not written down anywhere. To me it seemed like he had a bit of an eccentric side but yet he seemed the most plain looking with his gray coat and short brown mane.
Shadow Dancer was as friendly as he had to be. If I were to think a bit stereotypically of military types Shadow Dancer would have to be the more special ops stealth kind of pony. I was even more correct in my thinking when he told me that he specialized in stealth magicks. He was calm collected and thought his next steps out carefully.
Although doing a complete one eighty from him would be where Flintlock Spark. He was loud, boisterous, and jokey once he got comfortable around me. He seemed like one of those kids that you knew in school that you think would love to play with fire or blow stuff up. And true to intuition it turns out that was exactly right; and why he held the rank of specialist above some other ponies in the squad.
Now besides the three that Gale introduced me to; I did meet the rest of the squad at the table. The tallest of them being a stallion named Lore Keeper. Like I thought up in my head before he started talking to me; he was basically a military librarian. And that sounded cool in so many different ways. He was bookish and smart; preferring to know more about old tales and myths. But when push came to shove he could be a strong fighter.
Going down the height ladder was another unicorn named Shadow Fire. Now I had only briefly seen the night guard in person and on the show but this guy ha d almost a spot on look besides some characteristics. He had the eyes and the fangs but his colors were off. And as it turns out that when he joined his only goal was to specifically be a part of Luna’s night guard.
And he wasn’t the only one either; the last pony if the squad that I met was a smaller unicorn named Red Star. His bright white coat and red mane was really a stand out. I wondered why he had joined the guard when he told me that his cutie mark meant that he was passionate about astronomy. It turned out that after Luna had come back he had read up on how she fell to darkness; and he felt that she didn’t know that many ponies like him enjoyed her night; and somewhat felt an obligation to show her. And so he set off on a path to be a night guard.
I mentioned something about how the two of seemed to want to be night guards on account of the fact that they might have a thing for Luna. And for that I was rewarded with a double spit from both of them and then they both stammered like embarrassed foals. Everyone else laughed at the dinner table antics and we all seemed to get along fairly well.
We all talked while we ate dinner and since I just got here I volunteered to help clean which no one turned down; and I figured out why when I saw a large pile of dishes. Though I did have some help so it didn’t take me forever. By the time I had finished Luna had already raised the moon; there weren’t many lights across the whole barracks area so you could see everything in the night sky. I stargazed for awhile while Red Star who had joined me outside spewed forth a library’s worth of information about every little star in the sky.
I listened to him for awhile thinking about my day. It started out with a horrible event; I decided that for right now I would do my to not think about what had happened; I needed some time to get away from it and hopefully everypony in Ponyville would understand my decisions…respecting them though was a whole other story.
After awhile the lieutenant came out and told Red Star and I that it almost lights out and because that tomorrow was my first day that I really should get a good rest. The tone in his voice made it sound like I was going to be in some kind of danger. I shrugged it off and headed back into our barracks; because I was larger than anypony they had to take two of the beds and put them together so I could fit. I slowly got my little bed area set up; despite not having to wear clothes all the time each pony had a dresser to keep whatever clothes they had. I unpacked and changed for the night as the lights went out. I heard everyone say goodnight except for Swift Gale and Jonagold. I decided not to think about it too much though as I remembered Jonagold’s words about getting a good rest; so I close my eyes, let the past stay in the past for now, and fell asleep looking forward to tomorrow.
Outside the barracks Jonagold sat up looking at the stars. It was a ritual he did every night. He sat there thinking about his family. His granny that seemed like she could outlive the princesses. His three Children; his son who was strong enough to break a mountain if he wanted to, His older daughter who was a national hero and trusting, and his youngest daughter that had more energy than lightning and could cause as much trouble as the spirit of chaos himself. Lastly he thought about his beautiful wife; he always missed her the most and whenever they had time together they were inseparable. As he sat out in the dark and voice broke his train of thought.
“Sir?” Jona turned his head to see his sergeant walking out of the barracks to check on him.
“Hey Swift what’s the matter can’t sleep?” He said; when no one was really looking or he was solely around family Jonagold Apple was a real joker.
“No sir but something is bugging me…I have a question so…permission to speak freely sir?”
“Granted Swift you know I gladly accept your point of view.”
“Ok then sir; well my question in more or less the correct way of putting it is…what the BUCK just happened today?” she yelled loud enough that she did not wake anypony but still loud enough to surprise he CO.
“I’m guessing this is more about why Private Dan has joined our squad or joined the military entirely?”
“Well yes sir. You, I, as well as the rest of the squad know that a certain “military tradition” is coming up soon; and maybe giving us someone like him isn’t exactly the smartest move. I can only guess as to why he is in the guard but to be in our squad…I’m hoping there’s a plan of action sir.”
“Well sergeant as to why he is here in the guard for now…you know how he is dating the Captain’s little sister right?”
“It has circled in the small talk around the camp.”
“Well when I meet Shining Armor and Dan on the way to camp; Shining said that Dan was here for “certain reasons”.”
“…I’m afraid I don’t follow sir.” Swift said in confusion.
“I thought you wouldn’t your still kinda young so I didn’t think you would remember when it happened.” Jona said chuckling a bit to himself. “Back awhile ago now; our great Captain spent two months doing nothing but working and training here; he never left to go into the city or report to the palace. He used the same reason and during some of the time when I was stationed on palace patrol I also noticed a slight change in one Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.” As he finished he could see the gears turning inside Swift Gale’s head as she came up with the answer.
“Sir are you implying…?”
“I’m not implying anything Swift. Let me tell you a little secret; when a stallion uses the terms “certain reasons” it is guy code for relationship troubles.
“Ok…but why then in both cases sir would either of them stay here?”
“Well one of the main reasons is fear. Fear of messing something up and getting hurt. Imagine if you were a stallion Swift who was dating an Alicorn Princess of the bearer of The Element of Magic; who both have amazing and incredible magical powers. What would be one thing you would try not to do?”
Swift stared at the lieutenant for awhile before she put it all together. “Ohh ok then I get that part sir. But now what about the part where he is joining our squad?”
At her last question Jonagold gave a bit of a smile. “Well Gale let me tell you a story of some things I learned over Hearthswarming…”
The Next Morning…
My ears were the first thing to work that morning as I was awoken to a bugle blasting Reveille. My eyes snapped open and were greeted to a tolerable amount of brightness. As my eyes got used to the light the sound of Reveille was replaced by shouting.
“ALRIGHT EVERYPONY UP AND AT’EM!!!” Jonagold who had been a farm pony for a part of his life was up quicker than anyone and true to his station barked order as good as R. Lee Ermey. Not wanting to see if he could do insults with the same style I was out of bed within second and making my bed.
While I was going Swift Gale came up behind me. “Welcome to your first day Private; how do you feel?”
“Surprisingly well I did not expect the bed…beds to be that comfortable.” I said as I finished making the bed; I looked to see a surprised look on Swift Gale’s face.
“Wow I didn’t think you would make you bed so nicely; usually it take awhile for anyone in the guard to get it.”
“My dad was in one of the branches of the military back where I come from and every day he would always stress about if we made our bed and if it was done properly. After a couple of years you just learn to do it right.”
“Huh I guess that makes sense… Say Dan I heard…” Swift started to talk to me about something but was interrupted.
“Hey Dan; special early morning delivery for you!” Flintlock said rushing by me and Swift while dropping something on my bed.
“Huh weird…was there something you wanted to ask Swift?” I said as I started to open the package before me.
She stared at me for awhile thinking. “…Oh nothing that can’t wait for a bit. Oh and in here you can call me Swift; but when we are out there unless I tell you to its Sergeant or ma’am got it?” she said putting her trademark demeanor back on.
“Yes ma’am.” I replied.
“Alright then hurry up; you got a long day ahead of you.” She said trotting off.
I finished getting the package open and though I immediately knew who it was form I was still surprised. Inside the wrapping was a couple pairs of dark camo green cargo pants and a note. I picked up the note and began reading the delicate handwriting.
Dear Dan,
I know that right now you might not want to hear from me or anyone from Ponyville but I feel like I have to write this. As of now I am the pony in charge of getting news between us here in Ponyville and the palace. I’ve heard from Shining Armor as well as the princesses and I know that you are going to be staying with the guard for awhile. I know your clothes aren’t exactly super durable so I made you these nice pants like I saw out of one of the books you wrote. But now to the hard part about this; you and Twilight. The girls and I are taking care of her; we don’t know what really happened between you two. Whenever we try to ask Twilight she skips around everything and we never get a full answer. So for now what I have to ask of you besides not trying to get yourself hurt to badly is that in your spare time when you feel up to it; that you try to find a way to figure out what’s going on between you and Twilight. You two are both very dear friends of mine and I’m not alone in saying that all of us here would like to see both of you happy. If you wish to write back do so; until then I hope you stay safe Dan.
Sincerely your friend;
Rarity
I felt happy that Rarity wasn’t going to push any issues. I needed some time to put everything together and getting away for awhile would help that. Unfortunately I didn’t have long to think as I realized that everypony else was about ready. I quickly put on one of the pairs of pants Rarity had sent me; they were fantastic they kind of reminded me of the pants a certain video game character wore. I asked Jona what I kind of shirt I should wear and he told me “Something that doesn’t cover much; I don’t know if you’ll need it.” I was perplexed by his word but still managed to throw on a simple t-shirt. After that we fell into a formation and marched to where a large crowd was gathered.
We didn’t go straight into the crowd; rather we went around it to where I could see there was an open space. In that space I saw that the princesses were there with Shining Armor; and with them was a somewhat large monolith looking thing. The soldiers were all facing away form me and hadn’t seen me yet but I guess they were no stranger to whatever the monolith was.
Upon seeing me Princess Celestia’s eye lit up and she gave a nod to Shining Armor. He stepped out in front, drew in a breath, and then began shouting.
“Royal Guard Attention!!!” within seconds every single pony there snapped to attention; there was easily over one thousand ponies there; at that was about when I lost count. After everything went quiet Celestia addressed the troops.
“Good morning my little ponies. Now I would like to quickly get to the point of why we are here. Now you may have heard rumors that a couple of months ago a new creature came to Equestria. And that the creature known as a human soon showed that it was capable of some incredible feats. And for those feats he earned the royal blessing to stay in Equestria. Well I can tell you everything you have probably heard is true and that he is a friend of the crown. Now if you are wondering why I bring this up; it is because that starting today he is going to be joining you. Dan Will you please come up here.” On the last sentence she looked at me causing everyone to turn their heads my way.
I made my way quickly to the princesses and gave a slight bow; I wasn’t sure if going up and giving them a hoof bump would be the right way of doing things. I heard murmurs go out through the crowd; some sound good and some sounded bad. Whatever the word was about me I would take it as best I could.
After being stared at for awhile Celestia finally began talking again and broke the tension. “Now I’m sure you're wondering why I’m standing you here up in front of the rest of the guard? Well as you know all the guards have their armor like they normally do; its enchanted so when they are stationed within the castle that each guard looks the same; whether they be a Day Guard or Night Guard. But outside of those duties their armor is actually specific to the soldier and blends with its wearer to their capabilities and talents.
Now the machine behind us acts as a template for most of the ponies that is able to make the armor quickly with magic; but since your not exactly a pony; my sister and I have had to modify the machine so that it will work with you; and that is why you are here in front of the crowd right now.”
“Oh ok then.” I said looking at the machine. “So how exactly does this…” I managed to start saying before the machine let out a noise like a pressure lock was releasing. The front of the monolith slowly started swinging forward. After it opened the whole way I saw an indent that took the shape of a human, torso, head, arms, and legs.
“So is there anything I need to know before I jump in?” I asked Shining.
“Oh yes; well since ponies don’t wear pants you will not be getting any armor for that. Your armor will consist of a helmet, chest piece, and some kind of gloves whether they are gauntlets or something else. Also since you’re not going to be getting the standard guard armor; the machine may take some designs of something that could be used as armor from you memories so it may or may not all match exactly…oh and don’t wear you shirt in there; the machine doesn’t work well with fabrics but your pants should be fine if Rarity made them like I said.”
“Well…” I said looking around to the Princesses who were smiling, to my squad who was encouraging me as best they could, and to the rest of the guard ponies who were watching me with curiosity. “What’s the worst that could happen?” I said walking toward the back part of the machine which I believed I should get in first.
I walked up to it, turned around and fit myself within the indentations. After I had a couple seconds to get comfortable I guess the machine turned on cause my body snapped in place; every part of my body went rigid and I could see the part that had opened start its return to shut me in.
“Just so you know Dan we will be able to here you from in there but you won’t be able to hear us. Are there any last questions?” Shining said as the door got closer to closing.
“Umm…Oh yeah! Is it going to hurt?” I said with only a little light left. As it closed fully I was able to make out Shining saying the word “Slightly” to me as the world went dark.
From outside the box ponies watched as their newest and weirdest brother was closed in the machine; they heard him ask their captain if the process was going to hurt any. They all knew that it did hurt a little. After the door closed they heard a loud yell come out. “WHAT!!!” Everypony around laughed a bit at the comment and waited.
A magical whirring noise signaled that the machine was starting. “Ooh kinda cold.” The voice came from inside. The machine kept working for a couple of minutes before anything was heard again. “Hey this kinda tickles ha I don’t see why…” every pony heard the pause and knew what was coming next. A new noise came from the machine and with that so did something else. “HOLY SHIT WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!!!” the volume surprised most ponies. After that some noises of discomfort we heard again but nothing major. After that the machine came to a stop and opened with a cloud of steam; everypony was curious as to what their new comrade would look like.
Everything felt a bit blurry; not just my vision but I felt like my body was made of wavy lines as the machine released its grip. I walked as best as I could and stretched my arms. After I minute I finally opened my eyes and was greeted to a weird sight; I could see everything in front of me but it looked like it was on some kind of electric screen right in front of my eyes.
“Ah well now that sure is something to look at.” I turned to see Celestia smiling. “I didn’t think you would come out looking like this…how exactly are you seeing out of the thing?” She said looking into what assume what was covering my eyes and feeding me images of outside.
“Um I don’t exactly know, can I get a mirror please?” I said wanting to get a whole look at myself so I could process what happened. With a flick of her magic Celestia summoned up a mirror and as I got a look at myself I saw what my imagination hap prepared for me. Starting of with my helmet; I noticed that it looked like it had many moving parts. It had two flat parts in the front where my mouth and forehead would be; but the most striking was my vision visor. It completely covered my eyes and on the helmet were three horizontal strips that were glowing bright neon blue. The rest of the helmet was colored more darker shades of blue with the darkest being the biggest parts.
My chest piece was similarly cooler and covered everything from the bottom of my stomach to my neck. At the neck it made a circle the went diagonally upward around to my back; and also on it didn’t go over shoulders; instead it simply stopped right where the socket would be and had a large opening for me to move my arms in very large motions if I needed to. One small feature I also noticed was by my right shoulder there was a small knob; I decided I would figure out later what it meant.
My new gauntlets were the last thing I checked out and to me they were the most impressive. In contrast to my armor which was blue my gauntlets were a bright flaming red. They reached almost all the way to the elbow; on the end I noticed a sort of indentation that I didn’t know what was for either like the knob on my chest piece. I kept looking down the gauntlets form my elbow. It wasn’t all one piece like medieval gauntlets; it sort of seemed like they were sectioned into pieces that well together; halfway down there were flames on them and when I got to my hand I saw the best part. Each of my fingers were free but were adorned with smaller pieces of armor protecting the joints. And on the part where the back of my hand was looked like a brilliant round gem which was set in and fastened with two metal straps which formed and “X”
“Dan do you think you could remove your helmet?” Luna said as she came closer to look at me.
“Uhh….” I said moving my hands around my helmet not finding a clasp or anything that suggested “pull here”. I thought out loud to myself “now how am I going to get this helmet off?” and as if those were the magic words I heard a slight whirring and my helmet started moving and soon my helmet had sort of collapsed into the back side of my chest piece.
“Wow that is simply astounding…I must say that I love your new armor Dan.”
“Thank you Luna I have to admit; so do I.”
As I took a moment to give myself a look over Shining addressed the crowd. “Alright Everypony you know the drill; to the arena!” at his words the ponies fell out of formation and headed toward a structure that I hadn’t seen when I first got here.
The word “arena” also broke me from my gazing. “Huh what arena what’s going on?” I asked wondering why everyone including my squad was leaving.”
“Oh that’s right we haven’t told you yet have we.” Celestia said with a coy smile. “Getting your armor is only part one of your initiation into the guard, there is also a step two.”
“And that would be?” I said getting nervous.
“Oh just a simple combat trial against another pony.”
“Oh good…so who do I have to fight?” I said looking to the princesses and Shining.
“Oh just me.” Celestia said walking ahead of me with a little more pep in her step.
“Oh ok.” Were the words I said not even thinking about Celestia’s reply. I kept up a walking speed to keep me up with Luna, Cadence, and Shining and was fine for about a minute before it finally hit me.
“…WAIT WHAT!!!!!!!
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Engineer helmet. Mark 7 chest piece. And I'm not sure what the last one his. But you have to give him some armor for his legs man.
2626056 well he doesn't exactly get leg armor....its an idea i'm toying with for a future chapter but for now he doesn't get/ doesn't need it plus i may not have said it well in the story but since the machine is still based on a pony and ponies don't wear pant/ hind leg armor they couldn't configure tha machine to do it...i think you will find though that having no leg armor will pay off though...
The theme that goes with everything
Hah hah! My OC eas added! Thanks man.
yay my OC got in Thanks
2626484 ya he was the last to be added i either wanted ponies who wanted to be in the night guard or mares so it fit nicely
Putting the Armour together in my head... HOLLY FUCK THAT IS THE MOST FUCKING AWESOME THING EVER
You better make this an epic fight :D
Don't let Celestia win to easily (If she wins, it could be a draw ofcourse:)).
My New Life in Equestria: Helping has it's ups and downs.
That would be a better way to do the title.
2629799 huh....thats a good idea... 20 chapter and nobody said that or i didn't think of it...facehoof
2629809
Here to help!
2629815 thank you
Cool! You took my OC! Question, why is he fighting Celestia? This seems very odd for several reasons, as I don't think royalty would really even do this ever, especially against a guy who has no combat experience ever. Either way, Shinning Armor's revenge is coming full circle.
2629894well to answer all your questions existant and non existant...
A: tune in next week for the next chapter as to why he is fighting and the story behind why Celestia seems so pleased about it.
B: did i ever saw this was revenge???
2629916 Well, I think Shining Is really trying to help Dan, and prevent his sister from making a mistake that he almost made with Cadence. Since this situation is very similar to his and that his problem was solved and that he's happy with Cadence, he wants the same thing for his sister. Anything painful that happens as a result of his help ( Celestia kicking his butt for example ) is a bonus to him. I believe he's going to get popcorn for this show.
2629934 hmmmm your warm...
2630029 Only warm? I think I'm closer than I think. I guess I'll just wait.
2630182oh your only as close as i think that you think i think your at...
2630331 Say that 10 times fast.
2634291
challenge accepted
oh your only as close as i think that you think i think your at...
oh your only as close as i think that you think i think your at...
oh your only as close as i think that you think i think your at...
oh your only as close as i think that you think i think your at...
oh your only as close as i think that you think i think your at...oh your only as close as i think that you think i think your at...
oh your only as close as i think that you think i think your at...
oh your only as close as i think that you think i think your at...
oh your only as close as i think that you think i think your at...
oh your only as close as i think that you think i think your at...
2636444 Okay then.....carry on! Oh and will the OC have any more involvement or were they just short mentions?
2636756 oh ho ho ho yes i believe i had swift gale give a hint somewhere in the chapter
2638034 I shall go back and look then.
2639567 its like one sentence
does that man have energy shields? cause if not Celestia is gonna fuck him over, with a stick. on a personal note i think dan would look cool with a drill hand,
2644192 well there is going to be some roughng up...and the big daddy drill ahnd would be cool except he would have no way to power it...
2644360 oh yea... twilight( she could come up with type of oil for it) and him had a fight. keep doing what you're doing, i look forward to the next.
Woo! I Read the whole thing, in the next chapter is dan going to show his dying will?
2644454 IS HE!!!....is he???
2644695 first single: THE DARKNESS IN BETWEEN THE CUSHIONS!!!!!
2644485
i don't know, you're then one writing it.
but if i get a say in it... he's going to get his ass kicked by celestia
2646798 hmmmmmmm....maybe....probably......
so.... is his armor part of a game or movie or is it something you came up with yourself?
3687475 it looks like he just took pieces from games he likes
I would have done something along the lines of this
images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120506173057/lotr/images/9/91/437px-Sauron_hi_res-1-.jpg
Lucky bastard. Dead Space AND Halo? I want it.
Dan, prepared to be schooled by amazon princess of the sun
Okay, after a while i am thinking, that this is maybe again, just a way to keep him away for any dangerous event, that maybe takes place sooner or later.
I liked that chapter, but i don´t know if i remember everyone of them.
“Oh that’s right we haven’t told you yet have we.” Celestia said with a coy smile. “Getting your armor is only part one of your initiation into the guard, there is also a step two.”
“And that would be?” I said getting nervous.
“Oh just a simple combat trial against another pony.”
“Oh good…so who do I have to fight?” I said looking to the princesses and Shining.
“Oh just me.” Celestia said walking ahead of me with a little more pep in her step.
“Oh ok.” Were the words I said not even thinking about Celestia’s reply. I kept up a walking speed to keep me up with Luna, Cadence, and Shining and was fine for about a minute before it finally hit me.
“…WAIT WHAT!!!!!!!
once more trollestia strikes again
He is so FUCKED!!!
I’ve never seen that “dead space” helmet before, but I hope there’s some way to turn the blue lights off.
This story took a hard left turn. Still, the teasing of the argument has my curiosity peaked. I continue to believe it was over something silly.
Reminds me of that Quantum Leap episode where Al told Sam he was there to play with matches.