> A Squire's Tail
>  by BBkat
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> Chapter One
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	The first step in an Equestrian’s training to become a guard was first to be a squire. A squire was a low rank and many did not go past that, instead using their skills and training as a segway into another job, such as security guards, police officers, even body guards for nobles or bouncers for exclusive clubs. For those that did stay they continued their training, becoming part of the military. 
Many sought the coveted role of being a royal guard, part of the elite guard tasked with protecting the Princesses. However, being so elite, most never got that far, drafted into army and remaining either as a palace guard or sent to the Equestrian borders, or where ever there might have been a threat. After the changeling invasion the Princesses had decided to bolster Equestria’s defences around the borders, sending more and more guards out there. The north had also gained an active military presence as of late what with the reappearance of the Crystal Empire and the royals now living there. These two things made it clear that Equestria’s military was lacking and in need of more soldiers.

For Sun Chaser, this was his goal, to complete his training as a squire and become an Equestrian guard, palace or otherwise. For now though, he was a squire, which meant not only did have to train his hooves off, but he also had to shadow an actual, fully-fledged guard to learn about the job. He wasn’t shadowing a guard yet though, no that wasn’t something that would happen until later. He just hoped he would survive until then.



The unicorn flopped onto his bed, legs splayed out to his sides with a huff, his blonde mane falling into his face. He felt less like he’d spent the day working out, and more like he’d been run over by a carriage pulled by the largest earth ponies the guard had to offer. Every inch of his body was aching and cramping, even his horn ached! For now though he could relax in the peace and quite that filled the room, his roommates not having returned from their training just yet. 
His ears perked up at the sound of approaching voices, his roommates were back. Chase sighed, he held no ill will against them, but for some reason they didn’t like him, or two of them didn’t. Thundermane at least seemed to show him kindness when his friend’s backs were turned and apologized for their behaviour before trotting off. They were cold to him and it was a mystery to Chase as to why this was. He tried to ask but they simply acted as if he didn’t exist. They weren’t hostile though and were never outright malicious like some ponies he’d met growing up, so he counted his blessings there. 
The door swung open as three very tired looking pegasi made their way in, wings drooping at their sides. They barely paid him any attention, simply flopping onto the floor with a sigh, too tired to bother trying to fly up to the top bunks. 
It had rained the previous day courtesy of a stray cloud, so training ended up cut short which meant everyone had been worked extra hard the following day to make up for last time. 
“So many laps,” groaned one, Sky Fire if Chase remembered rightly. He had a white coat and dual toned red-gold mane and tail; his cutie mark was a ball of fire. “My wings are going to be so cramped in the morning.”
Chase wanted to speak up; he’d spent the day alternating between spell casting and practicing hoof-to-hoof combat so he was just as sore and magically drained to boot. He shook his head; the last time he’d tried to speak up he’d been ignored. Closing his eyes he rested his chin on the pillow in the hopes he could catch a couple Z’s before dinner, their voices droning on as he fell asleep.



If there was one thing Chase despised about training it was that he had to get up at the crack of dawn every morning. That was the time of day when he was pretty sure that Celestia was the only pony truly awake, and that was because she had to be to raise the sun. It was needed though, the earlier they got up the more training could be crammed into one day, which if one asked the commanders, was a good thing.
The unicorn yawned as he crawled out of bed, the booming voice of the captain echoing down the hall as he made his rounds to wake everypony up. His ears swivelled about, picking up the sounds of his roommates moving, hooves clattering to the floor and the sleepy flapping of wings. 
Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes he followed his bunkmates to the dining hall for breakfast. If there was one good thing to be said about early mornings, it was that the three pegasi were too sleepy to bother trying to alienate him. They didn’t seem to be very awake until they’d had a cup of coffee.
Breakfast itself was fairly plain and pretty much the same every day, warm oatmeal dressed up with their choice of toppings, such as brown sugar, and an assortment of fruit including apples and bananas. Chase added slices of apple and brown sugar to his oatmeal, sometimes adding some fruit to the side. 
Unlike his peers who fixed themselves up some good strong coffee, Chase only took a glass of juice. It wasn’t that he disliked coffee, he did enjoy it from time to time, he just couldn’t drink it if he was gong to be practicing magic shortly after. Caffeine had a strange effect on unicorn magic, causing it to become a bit unstable. Not dangerously so, it was no more dangerous than a pony energized from a cup, but when one needs to concentrate on forming shield to block balls of energy being thrust their way, jittery magic was the last thing that was needed. Chase had learned this the hard way after an all-nighter of studying and large cup of coffee in the morning. He found it quite hard to grasp things with his magic without it shaking for quite some time. Why did it happen? To Tartarus if he knew, it just did, and it was more annoying Discord.
With a sigh he sat down at the table so he could eat, the tray settling with a light clink.
Breakfast was only 30 minutes long, so they had to eat quickly unless they wanted to start the morning on an empty stomach and not eat till lunch time, and that wouldn’t be for another five or six hours. Missing breakfast was even worse than caffeine fuelled magic in Chase’s opinion. Once breakfast was done they all had to be out in the fields by 6 o’clock to start training, tardiness was not an option. That resulted in extra laps, one for every minute you were late.
That was a typical morning for Chase, and every other member of the Solar Guard, up at 5:30 in the morning, out on the fields by 6 and training for the rest of the day. The only real breaks were the hour-long break for lunch and a couple short breaks to rest and rehydrate interspersed throughout the day.
The first few hours of the day were spent doing what Chase referred to as generic training, they trained as a group in the fields, sometimes with partners and sometimes alone as they did their warm ups and laps and practised basic forms and routines. 
And boy did they do laps. 
Chase sucked in another breath as he rounded the curve of his third lap, hooves pounding the soil flat and kicking up small stones and clods of dirt behind them. 
The laps weren’t, like many assumed, for speed training, but rather endurance training. The trick was finding the right speed so one didn’t tire out to quickly and so they could complete the laps without fainting. That didn’t mean anyone liked them in fact they loathed them. 
The unicorn clenched his jaw as he ran, heart pounding in his chest. He wasn’t even half way done with his laps and the last thing he needed was to start slowing down. Too slow and the captain forced them to run more laps, they’d all learned that the hard way after several tried to simply walk their laps, and got more added on to how many they had to do. The pegasi weren’t allowed to fly either, several had tried that and on top of being given more laps to complete were threatened with having their wings tied down. Flying laps could wait till later.

Once everypony was sufficiently warmed up and no longer asleep then they split off into three groups to focus on their specialties. The pegasi took to the skies for aerial combat and flight maneuvers, the earth ponies went off to continue their hoof-to-hoof combat as well as basic weapons training, while the unicorns practised spell casting, both offensive and defensive. 

Chase looked around the area as the groups split off; sometime during morning warm ups someone had set out a bunch of balls in the grass, small plastic balls that seemed to be hollow. He tapped one with a hoof to confirm his suspicions before picking it up in his magic. 
“As you can see, we have some extra items with us today!” boomed the voice of their captain, Captain Bronze Shield. He was a large unicorn with a striking gold coat and pale mane and tail. “To help you better practice your barrier spells, we thought it was best you had something to shield against.” He picked up one of the balls as he spoke. “As you can see they are hollow and thus won’t hurt you if they hit you.” To prove a point he tossed the ball, bouncing it harmlessly off the head of a colt who’d been whispering to his neighbour. He squeaked in surprise, the rest of the group giggling in response, nothing got by the captain. “However,” he continued, as if nothing had happened, “You can infuse them with a bit of magic for added effect, which is what we’re going to be doing today to help propel them. When I say so, you’ll all break off into partners to practice your blocking techniques. Got it?”
There were nods and murmurs of understanding from the group.
“Good!” barked Bronze Shield. “Now, when you partner off you’ll be taking turns attacking and defending. And you don’t need to put too much magic in these, just enough to propel them forwards.” He stamped a hoof loudly, “Now, partner off recruits.”
So, that’s what they were for, training practice. He felt that like should have been obvious, why else would they be on the field if not for that? 
“Hey Chase!” a brown and white unicorn called out to him, waving a hoof at him before trotting over to his side. “Wanna partner up, I noticed you don’t have a partner yet.” The unicorn was Lance, who was slightly taller but somehow bulkier than Chase despite being the same age. His coat was white and brown spotted, the markings continuing into his bi-coloured mane and brown tail. He levitated a ball in the air in front of the white unicorn’s face, “What do ya say? Play ball?”
Chase snickered, “You’ll never hit me and you know it.” He knew Lance from school, and though they’d only shared one class together Lance recognized him on their first training day and they’d become fast friends. Chase wished that he could switch rooms and bunk with Lance instead. At least he’d have someone to talk to.
They took their places opposite each other, Lance holding several of the hollow plastic balls in his telekinetic grip as Chase readied himself and the blocking spell he was going to use. 
“Ready when you are,” said Chase with a nod. 
Lance just grinned and flicked the first one towards him it, blue sparks trailing off it as the magic carried it forwards. Chase lowered his head, focusing on the shape of a round barrier between him and the ball. His horn flared to life and a rapidly expanding circle of red magic burst forth, stopping the magic-infused ball dead in its tracks. 
“You’re going to need to do better than that,” he quipped, holding the barrier up like a small shield.
“Watch me!” retorted Lance as he directed another one at Chase, this time aiming at his exposed feet.
Chase crouched, lowering his barrier and flicking away the ball, which landed in the grass and rolled harmlessly away. 
Practice was the rare time during training when they were allowed to be a bit more, relaxed about behaviour. Bonding with ones comrades was essential after all if they wanted to be able to function as a cohesive group and work together. Light banter during early training almost seemed to be encouraged as a way to get to know one another.
“Why don’t we switch now,” said Chase, wiping his forehead with his hoof as they gathered up their projectiles. “I throw and you block. See if I can score any hits.” 
Lance had managed one hit, bouncing a ball off Chase’s shoulder. Chase didn’t think it counted because he’d flung it so quickly after the previous one. Lance replied that there weren’t any rules to this sort of thing, aside from not hurting one another, and in a fight anything goes. 
“You probably won’t,” said Lance confidently, horn sparking slightly as he waited for Chase to make his move. 
He grinned, “I guess we’ll see.” Chase picked up one of the balls as he paced slightly, trying to decide how to throw it. “Think fast!”
Lance’s eyes widened in surprise as the ball came flying towards him, having been too caught up in his own mind to pay attention. “Sweet Celestia!” He jumped back as he flung a barrier into existence, deflecting the ball at the last moment. 
“Watch that mouth recruit!” snapped Bronze Shield as he walked past, causing Lance to shrink back in embarrassment. 
Chase snickered, “What was that about not landing a hit? If I hadn’t said anything I’d have blasted you square in the muzzle.”
“Che, I could have blocked it,” said Lance.
“Yeah right.” He picked up the second ball. “Now bring your head back to Equestria and focus, it’s no fun if I just get to mercilessly hit you in the head.” He trotted back, readying himself to attack again, watching Lance charge up his horn to defend.
They continued this back and forth sparring, switching up who was attacking and who was defending every three throws. As they progressed they began throwing them faster and faster, giving the defender less time to stop and think and to merely react. 
The pair faced each other, panting as a ball rolled across the ground harmlessly.
“I think we should just call it a draw,” said Chase as he went to gather the balls up for his turn at throwing them. “We seem pretty evenly matched.”
“That’s just your perspective. To me it looks like you’re barely managing,” smirked Lance.
Chase snorted and shook his head as he picked up the third ball, “Yeah right, looked more like you were struggling.” As he turned to walk back to his spot a flicker of movement caught his eye. As he looked up he heard Lance call his name and a shout of ‘watch out’ from someone else. Before he could react to it, a flash of white filled his vision as something hot and round struck him in the head with a crack. Chase stumbled backwards, dropping the balls he’d been holding as he clutched his head, a splitting pain shooting down his horn and into his head. 
“Chase, Chase!” Lance bounded to his side, placing a hoof on his friend’s shoulder. “Are you alright?”
As Chase moved his hooves to look up at Lance, he brushed against his horn and let out a blood-curdling scream as a bolt of white-hot pain raced through his horn and down into his head. It felt as if someone had rammed a burning hot rod into his skull.
He dropped to his knees, clutching his head as spots of pain flared in his vision, barely aware of the commotion around him. All he was aware of was the burning hot pain in his head and his own screams and howls as he tried to find some way, any way to stop the pain.
> Chapter Two
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	Chase groaned as he lay on his side in the infirmary bed, his head throbbing in pain. The sharp stabbing pain had since dulled into a pounding ache, but it hurt nonetheless. After lying on the ground in pain for a few minutes he was led off the training field to the palace infirmary, not that he remembered much of the walk, for a check up. 
The doctor sat him down and ran several tests; the only one Chase remembered with any clarity was when the stallion touched his horn. The light, ginger touch sent a spear of pain racing through his head and he was once again doubled over and howling in pain. He was given something for the pain and shown to a bed so he could lie down and rest.
The infirmary was a part of the palace, an on-site hospital as it were. Having one on the castle grounds meant that, should someone sustain an injury of any kind there were staff right there trained and ready to treat them, as opposed to having to send them to the general hospital in the city, something that could make the difference between life and death. This was where Chase now found himself, lying on a bed in one of the rooms of the infirmary.
The room was small, consisting of only a single bed, where Chase now lay. The walls and ceiling were plain white, adorned by only a window on one side and a door on the other.
He rubbed his temples, trying to relieve the pain in his head, how in Equestria could something hurt so badly?
There was a soft knock on the door before the doctor entered, carrying a clipboard in a telekinetic grip. “Ah, Mr. Sun Chaser, feeling any better?” The doctor was a richly coloured brown unicorn with a much lighter mane and tail. The name tag pinned to his white jacket read ‘Dr. Warmheart’. 
“My head still hurts,” he said. “But at least it doesn’t feel like someone’s trying to drive a rod through my skull.”
“That’s not to surprising,” he said with a nod as he set the clipboard down. “How much do you remember of what happened?”
“Most of it I think. I was gathering up the remaining balls so I could go offensive, I turned my head and bam, something hit me, and hard too. And then I was brought here, I don’t really remember much of that though.”
The unicorn nodded, “It seems one of your comrades overfilled the training device and it went wild and, unfortunately, struck you in the head. You were in so much pain it took a team to bring you here without causing you any more pain or injury.”
Chase was quiet as he listened, a stray spell, that would certainly explain why his head hurt. “So, am I fit to go then?” he asked. 
The stallion sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I’m afraid it’s not quite that simple. You’re not suffering from a simple headache Mr. Sun Chaser. When you were struck, the force and angle of the blow cracked your horn. You have a hairline crack running from the base on an angle right into the core.”
Chase felt his blood run cold at the news; his horn was cracked! That actually explained so much after a moment of thinking.
While a unicorn’s horn was made of bone, which meant it had no nerves endings, it did have one central nerve that ran from the base to the tip. This nerve, generally called the core, helped, along with the grooves along the slope of the horn, in channelling magic from the reserve located at the base of the horn to the tip. Much like a tooth, exposing this nerve could cause great pain to the unicorn in question. A crack in the horn could expose this nerve, but generally it took great force to do that sort of damage to a horn for like bones, they were very strong and durable. Unicorn foals were known to be rambunctious, what with running around and tripping over their hooves and crashing into things, horn durability was the only thing that kept there from being more cases of cracked or broken horns.
“A crack?” asked Chase in a small voice. 
“Yes, but please, do not be alarmed. I know it sounds bad but like any bone it can be repaired and you’ll be back to casting spells in no time. However, until you’re healed I cannot allow you to cast any spells. That would only serve to aggravate the injury even more, and quite possibly cause irreparable damage.” He levitated something out of a pocket in the coat as he walked towards Chase. “For the time being, I need you to wear this.”
Chase looked at the small object the doctor was holding. It was small and conical and seemed to be adjustable in size. “What, what is that?” he asked. 
“It’s a magic limiter, I’m afraid we can’t risk you using any magic until you’re healed up,” he explained. “A cracked horn we can heal good as new, but a broken horn is nearly impossible to repair. That and using magic while you’re recovering will only make it hurt worse.” Carefully he levitated it up and onto Chase’s horn, fastening it snugly around the base so he couldn’t just tug it off.
“How long am I going to have to wear it?” he asked, gingerly raising a hoof to touch the strange object. The moment it wrapped around his horn he lost all connection to his magic. It was a strange sensation, no longer being able to feel the warm pulse of magic that was always there. 
“It depends on how well you heal. I would like you to come back in a week though so I can check your progress.”
Chase gulped, a week, he would have to go an entire week without using magic at all? “But wait, how am I going to train if I can’t use my magic?” he asked. 
The doctor sighed, “I’ve spoken with your superior about that. For the time being you’ll have to work on the more physical aspects of your training and study up on the magic until such time you can use it again.”
His ears drooped and his shoulders slumped, a whole week without any magic or magic practice, and he’d only just started. “I can’t practice any magic, not even a simple spell?”
The doctor shook his head; “I’m afraid not, not if you wish to continue training as a guard at least.” He picked up the clipboard, flipping through some papers quickly, “Now, I can give you medication to help with the pain. It’s nothing you can’t pick up at the pharmacy though; one or two a day should do the trick. No fiddling with the limiter,” he looked up and Chase quickly withdrew his hoof, having been prodding it slightly in an attempt to try and figure out how it fit. “However if it starts to feel to snug or the pain worsens then come back and see me.”
Chase sighed; this was going to suck so bad, a whole week without magic. Sure he could do things without magic, it was just going to be very difficult. He raised a hoof up again to gingerly touch the ring on his horn; it felt so strange to have something clamped around his horn like that especially something that cut off his magic.
“So, aside from that, I am allowed to leave right?” he asked as he climbed off the bed. 
The doctor nodded, “Yes, as you are in perfect health in every other regard you are free to leave. I suggest you go get some rest and take it easy, horn injuries are no laughing matter. Come with me first and I can write you a prescription for some pain killers.” He tucked the clipboard under one arm and gestured for Chase to follow him out of the room. “Let’s finish up so you can be on your way, I’m sure you don’t want to spend all day here.” 
As Chase exited the room he was surprised to see ponies waiting outside for him. He recognized Lance and the Captain, but he didn’t recognize the other colt sitting there, staring dumbly at his hooves. He was a dark blue unicorn with a sort silver-blue mane, the end of which seemed to curl around his horn. As he stepped out the colt’s head snapped up and he turned his attention to Chase. 
“Are you going to be alright? I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to hit you.” The words all tumbled out at once in an almost pleading manner, the colt shaking nervously. 
“At ease soldier,” said the Captain, laying a hoof across his back. The colt sighed heavily and dropped to his haunches.
“S-sorry I just, I’m really sorry!”
Chase winced slightly at the volume of his voice, rubbing the side of his head. “It’s alright really. I’ll live. I’m not mad at you or anything.”
“Ah, are you going to be ok?” he asked timidly.
“Just a small crack in my horn, but like I said I’ll live. It’ll heal up as long as I don’t use any magic for a bit.”
The colt’s eyes widened, “I cracked your horn? Ohmygosh I’m so sorry. I didn’t think it was that bad, a concussion maybe but a crack? Oh sweet Celestia what did I do?”
“Please take it easy, I told you I’ll heal,” said Chase quickly, trying to calm the panicked colt before he did something reckless. “It was an accident.”
“I still feel bad, is there anything I can do to help?”
“Please accompany Sun Chaser back to his barracks,” ordered Bronze Shield. “He needs to rest.” The large stallion turned to Chase. “And you, since you will be unable to train properly for the next week I would like you to study up on basic shielding spells during practice instead. You should be able to find some books in the library. Understood?”
Chase nodded, “Yessir, understood.”
After getting his medication and a run down of what not to do while his horn was healing, Chase started back to the barracks, the new colt trotting along beside him as they walked through the palace halls.
“So what is your name?” he asked finally. “I don’t think I caught it before.”
“It’s Smart Set.”
“Well, thank you Smart Set, for helping me out. I have a feeling my week just got a whole lot more difficult now that I can’t use any magic.”
“Yeah, I can’t even imagine what that must be like.” He shook his head, “Again, I’m really sorry about blasting you. I got a bit carried away and I lost focus and poured too much magic into my spell and I guess it went haywire.”
Chase snorted, “Will you stop apologizing already? I already told you it’s ok. No lasting harm, as long as I don’t use any magic. It’s just a minor setback for the time being.” He paused and looked around before looking at Smart Set. “Speaking of magic, shouldn’t you still be at practices?”
Smart Set shook his head, “No, Captain gave us all a short break while they took you to the infirmary, he didn’t want anyone else to get injured while he was gone. I’m glad you’re going to be ok, I’d hate to have been responsible for ending someone’s career like that.”
“This’ll certainly be interesting to write about, when I can write,” mumbled Chase under his breath. Smart Set gave him a curious look, wondering what he was talking about but Chase just shook his head, it didn’t matter.
They continued on in relative silence, Chase taking in the vastness of the palace halls. He’d never been in the actual palace before, just the areas sectioned for guards and guards in training. While those halls were a decent size, wide enough for several ponies to walk abreast comfortably, these halls were massive, both in width and height. The arching ceilings stretched quite far up and Chase found himself wondering what it would be like to fly among the rafters and spy on ponies, if he weren’t so scared of heights. 
Smart Set however seemed to be the opposite, there was no awe or wonder in his eyes, as if he’d walked these halls before and wasn’t intimidated or wowed by their size. He also seemed to know which way to go, something Chase didn’t, so he was quite content to follow so he didn’t get lost. That would just be bad.
They came to a rather large foyer, much too large in Chase’s mind, and after a moment of glancing around Smart Set led him down a much smaller hallway. It didn’t take long for Chase recognize where they were going as the hall became familiar.
“Well, thank you for walking me back,” said Chase, extending his hoof to shake Smart Set’s as they came to a stop in the dorm hallway, “But I should probably let you get back to the training grounds, I’m sure your break will be over soon. I’m just going to lie down for a bit so I should be fine on my own.”
Smart Set returned the hoof shake before nodding, “Yeah, I should probably let you go. Maybe I’ll see you around sometime?” With a final nod he trotted off down the hall, leaving Chase to find his room on his own. 
It wasn’t till Chase got back to his room that he realized he’d forgotten to ask how to find the library. He needed to stop there later to pick up books but he had no idea where in the palace it was. Smart Set seemed to know his way around, so chances were good he’d have known how to find it. He sighed as he flopped onto the bed, he’d just have to ask someone else, or find a map to help him. 
Chase lay on the bed for some time, tossing, turning and constantly adjusting his position to try and get comfortable and relax, but he just couldn’t. No matter what he did he just couldn’t make himself comfortable nor banish the thoughts that were plaguing his mind. 
They were supposed to be practicing blocking spells to keep form getting hurt, something that would need fast reflexes, and he’d blown it completely. He’d seen the bright light flying his way but did nothing to stop it. He hadn’t erected any kind of barrier to protect himself; he just froze up and didn’t react. 
“They must think I’m a failure,” he thought.
Finally, with a heavy sigh he climbed off the bed, no sense trying to nap if he couldn’t even get comfortable. His head may still have been sore but he couldn’t make himself comfortable enough to relax.
“Maybe I should try and find that library,” he thought. Surely it couldn’t be that hard. 
He pulled his bag out from under the bed; digging out a small saddlebag so he would have a way to carry the books he found, as well as his library card and a few bits, just incase. Staring at the bag he frowned, how on earth was he supposed to get this on? Ordinarily he’d just using his magic to put it on and tighten it, but since he couldn’t use magic he had to find another way to do that. Picking it up with his teeth he tossed it on the bed. Sure he could toss it on his back, but how was he going to do up the strap so it didn’t fall off, he doubted he could balance on his front legs long enough to tighten it.
He tapped his chin thoughtfully before an idea struck him, he could do it up, then slip into it. As best as he could he set about doing up the belly strap. Then, with the strap done up he poked his forelegs through, slowly wiggling it up his legs. He tucked his head down, trying to fit the entire ensemble up and over his head. It didn’t quite work, the straps were too snug and it kept getting stuck and trying to push would only ruin the bag, or get him stuck, neither were good options in his mind. 
Wiggling his way out he sighed; if he couldn’t climb in he’d have to find another way to get it on. Perhaps stepping into it and pulling it up might work.
Chase tossed the saddlebags to the floor and after positioning them right, placed both hind legs into the middle so the belt faced the front of his hooves and the bags were on either side, pointed towards the front. He stopped as a thought hit him, how in Equestria was he supposed to pull it up? He couldn’t reach quite that far around with his front hooves or his mouth to grab it. He looked around the room, he was going to need to something to help him do this, the question was, what? 
After several unsuccessful minutes of trying and failing to get his saddlebag on, Chase found himself facing an empty spot on the wall, bag around his hooves. He had one last thing to try. With the bags hanging off his front hooves he carefully lifted them up and placed them on the wall, sliding them up till they rest above his head. His back legs shook; balancing like this wasn’t exactly the easiest thing in the world. He then lowered his head between his forelegs; slowly letting the bags slip down. He twisted and wiggled and moved about, slowly but surely easing the bags up past his head and down his neck till it reached his middle. 
Exhaling heavily he dropped onto all fours again, shaking himself as he adjusted the bag around his barrel so it sat more comfortably. 
“I am so glad no one saw me doing all that,” he thought. “That would be embarrassing.” With one last look around the room to make sure he wasn’t forgetting anything, Chase stepped out, off to find the library.
> Chapter Three
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The library itself was surprisingly easy to find, once Chase had tracked down someone who could give him directions to it. It was also big, very big, and on the opposite side of the castle grounds from the barracks. 
Ever so slowly Chase pushed one of the large wooden doors open and stepped inside. He’d never been in a library this big. While the Royal Canterlot Library was the largest library in the city, it was not the only one, there were several much small branches found through out the city. 
As he stepped inside he realized just how much larger this library actually was. Much like the main halls of Canterlot castle, the ceilings were immensely tall with smooth, sloping arches. There were rows upon rows of shelves, each one packed with books on probably every conceivable subject. To his left was the check-out desk, behind which sat a lone unicorn mare, who was checking in books and setting them aside on a cart after stamping each one inside the cover. 
It was also quiet, so quiet that Chase winced a little at the sound his hooves made over the floors, the noise echoing in the large room. 
“Um, excuse me ma’am?” he asked, placing a hoof on the table. 
She looked up at him over the top her glasses, regarding him for a moment before speaking. “Can I help you?”
“I-can you direct me to books on defensive magic?” he asked.
“Defensive magic?”
Chase nodded, “Yes’em, basic defensive magic, like shielding spells.”
“Those should be over there,” she pointed towards one of the rows. “In the magic theory section.”
“Oh, thank you.” 
She went back to work and Chase headed in the direction she’d pointed, reading off the section names as he walked, making sure to be quiet so as not to disturb anyone.
The shelves were all quite tall, so they all came equipped with a sliding ladder to make it possible to reach the books on the higher shelves for the patrons without wings or magic. 
“Magical theory, magical theory…” He mumbled under his breath as he walked, finally coming to a stop at the section in question. It was huge, easily several rows deep and filled with books, so many books. 
“Oh boy.”
He tilted his head to one side to read the spines of the books as he walked, though most of them had long, convoluted titles that he couldn’t even begin to understand. A basic spell book, that was all he wanted, basic ones, not foot thick theoretical texts on the properties and effects of polymorphic spells on living beings being turned into non-sentient life forms. He groaned in annoyance before quickly covering his mouth and looking around, hoping that he hadn’t been heard.
“How can anypony even read this stuff?” he wondered, flicking through one of the books he’d pulled off the shelf. He could barely understand any of what was written, and there were very few diagrams to help make it clearer. Snapping it shut he put the book back on the shelf and turned his attention to the sliding ladder. 
Perhaps, for some strange reason, the books were placed higher up and that was why he hadn’t found them yet. He tapped the ladder, testing its stability first before slowly placing his hooves on it and climbing up. Chase gulped, balanced on his hind legs like this felt awkward at best, like he’d fall if he moved wrong, and he worried just how high he’d have to go. For all his daydreams of what it would be like to fly, he hated heights, especially if he felt like he could fall from the tall height. Climb the stairs to the top of a tower, fine; balance on a ladder several feet of the ground, not fine. With a deep breath he continued up the ladder, head tilted slightly as he read the book’s spines, looking for something, anything that might help.
Chase wasn’t up the ladder long before had had to climb down. His legs were shaking like he’d been standing in an earthquake and the idea of being up the ladder had begun to freak him out. With all four feet on solid ground he felt much, much safer, but no closer to finding the books he needed.
“This is hopeless,” he groaned silently, doing his best not to start hitting his head on the shelf. 
He started back down the aisle again, perhaps he’d just overlooked them in his search, or they were farther down the shelf somewhere. He didn’t know what the titles were, and with everything organized alphabetically maybe they weren’t under ‘B’ for ‘Beginner’.  ‘S’ for ‘Shielding’ perhaps? 
Up and down the rows he walked, reading over the titles and occasionally taking a book off the shelf to flip through. 
‘Simple Shielding Spells for the Studious Unicorn’ Chase balanced on his hind legs, front legs resting on the shelf as he looked at the book, which was just out of his reach. It was one shelf up, just barely out of his reach, and the ladder was of no use as evidenced by the ‘Out of Order’ sign hanging off it and the fact that there was a missing rung. Reaching out he stretched as best as he could to grab at the book, each swipe missing the book by a hair’s breadth. 
“So close, if only I were a few inches taller,” he thought, trying once again to reach it. With a sigh he dropped back onto all four hooves and decided to go look for something to stand on, a stool or chair maybe. The library had to have something like that around.
With a new goal in mind he trotted off, making a note of where the book was located so he wouldn’t spend forever searching for it once he got back. First he headed back to the main desk to find the librarian and ask if she knew where he might find a stool or chair. 
“Um, ma’am?” he asked, tapping the table lightly. She looked up at him and Chase flattened his ears, her stiff expression made him worry he’d interrupted something. “I um, I was wondering if you might know where I can find a stool or a chair?”
She sighed and pointed towards the other end of the library. “The study area is down there, you should be able to find what you’re looking for there.”
“Oh, thank you.” Tucking his tail close he trotted off, lest he linger there a moment longer and upset the librarian even more. 
The study area was exactly what one would think a study area would look like in a library, an open space among the shelves with several large wooden tables surrounded by any number of chairs. A couple of them had ponies seated at them, books piled up around them and scrolls of paper stretched out in front, the soft scratching of a quill or pencil the only sound that could be heard. 
Chase avoided those tables, he didn’t need to bother anyone else, and set about looking for an empty table with an unused chair. Finding such a chair wasn’t difficult as only a handful of the tables were actually in use.
Chase stared at the chair for a moment, debating on how he was going to get it back to the shelves; he couldn’t exactly carry it after all. Pushing it was then, as he wasn’t about to try and drag it around with his mouth. The chair feet squeaked as he pushed it over the wood floor, Chase wincing and looking around quickly. A few heads lifted, but they went quickly back to their work, paying the young unicorn no more attention.
Slowly but surely he began to push the chair across the floor, stopping every now and then when it squeaked or jutted across the floor. The noise seemed incredibly loud in the quiet of the library. Chase held his head low in embarrassment, ears pinned to his skull as he pushed the chair through the library. It took longer than he would have liked, or felt like it at any rate, and once he was out of sight of everyone he grabbed the chair in his teeth and dragged it the rest of the way. No one would ever know.
Wiping his brow Chase finally came to a stop at the shelves, while the chair was not exceptionally heavy it started to feel heavy after dragging and pushing it such a distance. Carefully he nudged the chair into place so he could climb up onto it to reach the book. He glanced around; making sure no one was around to see what he was about to do. Satisfied he was alone, Chase climbed onto the chair, momentarily balancing on his hind legs as he pawed the book free. Once it was pulled out far enough he grabbed the book in his mouth and pulled it off the shelf and quickly hopped down from the chair. 



No magic, it was like being a foal again when he had to do everything by hoof and imagine what he spells he was reading about would look like when cast. Chase sighed as he flipped the page, the book resting between his front hooves as he sat on the floor. He’d found a small; out of the way spot to sit and read where he wouldn’t be disturbed and had made himself quite comfortable. The library’s silence made it easier to concentrate on what he was reading; it didn’t however make it any less boring.
Closing the book up he trotted back to the shelf to locate any more, if he was going to be studying like this all week then he was going to need more than one book. And there had to be more than one on the subject anyways.
A few minutes later Chase settled back in his study spot with several books piled up around him.
Shielding spells came in a variety of strengths, sizes and kinds. The most basic of which were just small barriers made of magic that the caster could use like they would a physical shield. They could then be further altered to absorb or reflect magical attacks. On top of being used to protect against magic, a barrier or shielding spell could be used to shield against other things if the caster wish and was strong enough. Everything from physical projectiles to diseases could be blocked out with a barrier of magic. After that the only thing that differed between the kinds of barriers were sizes, from a shield, to a full body bubble, to a spell to protect an entire building to something akin to the Canterlot wide barrier Captain Shining Armor had erected before the changeling invasion. That of course would take far more magic than Chase could ever dream of producing. 
Usually the larger spells would require several unicorns to cast it at once. These larger building to citywide barriers could also be used to keep intruders out, or lock something in. Chase remembered a passing reference to them being used to keep someone under house arrest but didn’t pursue that one any farther, he just wanted to know about small, personal barriers for the time being.
He pushed one book aside and started on another, searching out the sections about small shielding spells and protective barriers. Anything larger he doubted they’d even touch until much later in training, maybe not they were actual guards and doing more advanced training.
Chase sighed, looking up at his horn, or as best as he could, not being able to use magic sucked, a lot. Standing up he moved all the books he needed into a stack and carefully picked them up, balancing them so they didn’t fall as he walked.
He returned to the front desk, dropping the books on it with a thud, much to the dismay of the librarian who winced at the sound. 
“Found everything you need?” she asked in a bored voice.
“Yes ma’am,” he said with a nod.
She looked at the books, then at Chase, giving him a curious look but said nothing as she checked them out. “Do you have a library card?” she asked. 
“Yes actually I do, let me get it out.” Twisting around he fiddled with the clips on the bag, trying to click it open. The librarian tapped her hoof impatiently and he gave a weak laugh. “Ah s-sorry about taking so long,” he said. “It’s these darn straps.” Finally it clicked out and he fished out the small card, placing it on the counter.
She sighed and finished with the checkout process, pushing everything back across the counter to him, card sitting on top of the books. 
“They’re due in two weeks, the date’s stamped inside,” she said.
“Thank you,” said Chase with a nod. He turned, carefully flipping the bag open as he maneuvered the books in, making sure not to drop them. It was awkward and difficult and took more effort than simply levitating them in, as he usually would have. With a nod to the librarian he trotted towards the door and back to his room.





A murmur of voices seemed to swirl around his head, hissing and whispering. They weren’t very loud, whispering softly among themselves.
With a yawn Chase raised his head, blinking slowly as he rubbed his eyes. “Hmm, what’s going on?”
He was stretched out on his bed, face pressed into one of the open books on his pillow, the rest lay piled on the ground along with his saddlebag. At some point while reading he’d dozed off, head resting in the open book. The side effect of the painkillers he’d taken earlier had kicked in and put him to sleep.
The whispering voices belonged of course to his roommates, who had returned at some point while he slept.
“You ask him,” hissed one of them, pushing his buddy towards Chase. He was pretty sure that voice belonged to Sky Fire. 
The following groan belonged to Thundermane, who shook his head in annoyance. 
“Ask me what?” asked Chase, now sitting up and closing the book he’d been reading.
“What’s, what’s with the horn decoration?”
Chase was silent; his magic inhibitor was that easy to see? He’d thought it was hidden by his mane; no wonder the librarian had given him such an odd look. His ears flicked back nervously and he rubbed his hooves together awkwardly. “You can see that huh?” he asked. 
“Yeah, it’s kinda obvious,” said Sky Fire. “And it’s, kinda weird. What’s it for anyways? I don’t think I’ve seen anything like that.”
“It’s, a magic inhibitor,” said Chase quietly, looking down at his hooves. “I got struck by a stray spell during training this morning.”
“Wait, were you the cause of the commotion earlier? Cause there was a huge commotion on the ground during training and lots of noise. What that you?”
“Did everyone hear that?” asked Chase meekly, lifting his head slightly. 
There were a few snickers, “You mean the screaming? I think half of Canterlot heard that,” said Cloud Runner, the blue pegasus with a wispy two-toned blue mane.
“Hey don’t laugh, it hurts!” snapped Chase. “It’d be like if you slammed your wing in the door. Painful and unusable for a while.”
“How would you even know what it’s like to slam your wing in a door?” asked Cloud Runner, pointing an accusatory hoof at him. “You don’t have wings, unicorn. Besides, a horn’s made of bone, how can that possibly hurt?”
Chase snorted as he stepped off the bed, “You’re right, I don’t have any wings, but I suspect it would hurt a lot. I’ve seen pegasi with hurt wings before. And for the record, my horn might be bone, but there’s a giant nerve running through it. Think like your teeth, a chipped tooth hurts and that’s made of bone. Same thing. My horn has a crack in it so I’m not allowed to use any magic for at least a week, hence this thing,” he pointed to the inhibitor. “And painkillers so my headaches don’t last all day. So I really don’t want to deal your crap right now.” He wasn’t usually this crass or short with ponies but his head was sore and he was already losing his patience with them, and being made fun of like this was only making it worse.
“Nice going featherbrain,” hissed Thundermane, hitting Cloud Runner in the shoulder with his wing. “That was way uncalled for. You wouldn’t like it we laughed at you for getting hurt.”
“Why do you keep sticking up for that horn-head anyways?” asked the blue colt.
Chase turned to face them abruptly, stamping his hoof loudly to get their attention, silencing them almost immediately. “What is your problem with me?” he asked. “Ever since I moved in here you have shown nothing but utter disdain for me and I can’t figure out why. Especially since we barely talk enough for me to have done anything to offend you.”
There was an awkward silence as the two parties stared at each other, Chase determined to get an answer from them once and for all, and the pegasi dumbfounded by the outburst.
“Hey don’t look at me,” said Thundermane, finally breaking the silence, “I’ve been trying to talk some sense into these guys for a while. I have no problem with you.”
Silence, no pony seemed willing to break to the silence, the other two colts shifting nervously on their feet. 
“Oh for the love of Celestia fine,” groaned Thundermane. “Sometimes I can’t believe I’m friends with you morons.” He turned to Chase, “I am sorry about them. See, we’ve had some, bad run-ins with unicorns before, especially ones from the noble families. So they were kinda upset when we found out we were going to be rooming with, well you. I tried to convince them to give you a chance but I think their outlook was already rather, soured.” He pawed the ground nervously as he spoke, awaiting the inevitable backlash from Chase. But it never came; instead, after several moments of quiet, Chase began to laugh.
> Chapter Four
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The three pegasi shared a confused look; laughter like this was most assuredly not what they had been expecting. Chase was nearly doubled over by now, chest heaving with laughter. Not cold mocking laughter, but genuine laughter of someone who’d just heard a joke.
Tears of laughter stung as his eyes and Chase had to wipe his eyes to clear his vision before he could bring himself to stop laughing.
“What’s so funny?” asked Sky Fire.
“Me, a noble? You thought I, was a noble?” asked Chase, grinning stupidly as he looked up at them, fighting back laughter. He didn’t even feel insulted anymore, just highly amused. “Oh that’s rich.” He shook his head, wiping his eyes clean as his laughter subsided. “Please, I might have a horn, but I am not a noble of any kind, far from it. I’m the son of a smith and a florist. Sure my dad sometimes makes armour or weapons for guards if he’s commissioned to, but he’s not a noble. Not that I’m aware of at any rate.”
The pegasi shifted uncomfortably, unsure what to say or do now, suddenly everything seemed really, really stupid.
“And more to the point, nobles all seem to have a thing with pure blood lines and I certainly would fail there,” continued Chase. “And I don’t think pure unicorn on one side and pure pegasus on the other really counts.”
This seemed to snap them out of their shock and bringing forth a sputtered ‘wait what?’ from at least one of them. 
“What did you say?” asked Sky Fire, eyes wide.
“I’m half pegasus?” Chase never made a big secret or big deal of his parentage, more than willing to tell anyone should they ask. He had no reason to keep it a secret; he just didn’t go around announcing it everyone either so unless he was asked no one would know. “On my mother’s side, she’s a pegasus. Hell they thought I was going to be one as well. Obviously enough, they were wrong.”
There was a sigh as Thundermane face hoofed, shaking his head in exasperation. “This is ridiculous. You two are officially the biggest boneheads in the world and I can’t even remember how we’re friends.”
“Because it was the only way we’d have made it through flight camp?” suggested one.
“That’s probably true.” He looked between Chase and his friends momentarily. “I think you two owe him a few apologies.”
They lowered their heads, looking uncomfortably between each other, as if silently asking ‘do we have to?’ Thundermane cleared his throat to get their attention and gestured to Chase, he was waiting.
“W-we’re sorry,” mumbled Sky Fire. 
“I guess we just jumped to conclusions, instead of giving you a chance. We’ve had so many bad experiences that we didn’t want to risk it,” said Cloud Runner. He looked up at Chase, taking a step forward and extending his hoof to Chase. “Maybe we could, have a do over? I think we all got on with the wrong hoof.”
Chase regarded him for a moment before shaking his hoof. “Alright, I think we can manage that.” He suddenly winced, bowing his head as the pounding started again. He groaned and rubbed his head; the headache wasn’t quite as gone as he’d thought it was. “Damn, I thought it was gone. Dumb headache.”
“You going to be ok?” asked Thundermane.
“Give me a moment, my horn’s giving me a headache again. It should fade.”
“Is it really that bad?” asked Cloud Runner.
Chase nodded, “Oh yeah. Imagine if you twisted or sprained your wing right at the elbow. I don’t have any wings but I imagine that sort of thing would hurt a lot. Plus you wouldn’t be able to use it till it heals or you’d make it worse,” explained Chase. “That would be what it’s like. It sucks.”
Cloud Runner winced at the description, drawing his wings closer to his sides, “Yeah that would hurt. I take it the book you were sleeping on is for studying then?”
Chase nodded, “I can’t join regular practice so once the group breaks up I get to go study these so I won’t fall behind, hopefully.”
“Well since you’re up, why don’t we get something to eat?” asked Thundermane. “Food sometimes helps when I have a headache.”
“I guess I am a little hungry, I did miss lunch,” said Chase. “I do have one question though, is my dampener really that noticeable?”
They all nodded, almost in unison. “Yeah it’s easy enough to see. Is that a bad thing?”
“I’d rather not draw attention to it. It’s weird looking and it singles me out for being injured. It’d be like if you had a brace on your wing or something. Everypony’s going to figure out sooner or later why I’m not going to practice, I’d just rather it be later.” Chase sighed, “Any of you got a mirror or something shiny I can use?”
“A mirror?”
“I want to try and fix my mane and see if I can hide this ugly thing,” he huffed. “It’s not a vanity thing, not like that anyways.” He could hear them snickering slightly at the mention of needing a mirror to fix his appearance. 
Eventually Chase had to use the bathroom mirror, none of his roommates had what he needed. He sighed as he fluffed around his forelock, trying to obscure the magic inhibitor as much as he could without looking like a doofus. It was an unattractive looking thing, a couple inches tall that wrapped around the base of his horn. The only saving grace was that it was white, the same colour as his horn, so for the most part it was camouflaged. 
“Ah guess this’ll have to do,” he huffed, taking one last look at himself in the mirror. It wasn’t perfect, but he’d rearranged part of his forelock to hide the majority of his anti-magic device. With that he turned and trotted out of the bathroom. “I wonder what there is to eat, I’m hungry.” 



Eating presented Chase with a whole new set of challenges. First he needed to carry his tray of food to a table, without dropping it and spilling everything on the floor, a tray that included a glass full of liquid as well as his food. He looked around a few times, watching how everyone else carried their items without magic. The pegasi simply flew so they could easily carry it in both hooves. That didn’t help him at all; he didn’t have any wings to speak of. 
“I guess I’m doing this the three legged way,” he thought, carefully balancing it on one bent leg as he walked, pausing every now and then to adjust it and keep it from wobbling. 
The other three pegasi were already seated at a table and with their trays of food. Chase wasn’t sure he’d really call them friends at this point, though he was more than willing to give them a second chance now that they’d cleared the air of the giant misunderstanding.
Rather unceremoniously he dropped his tray onto the table before taking a seat as well, resting his chin on an empty space with a sigh. Having claws like a griffon or dragon would make this so much easier for sure.
“I’m never going to survive,” he groaned.
“I dunno, we survive just fine without a magical forehead doo-hickey,” teased Thundermane. Chase was pretty sure he was doing it on purpose now.
“Yeah but you do have wings. I need to keep all four hooves on the ground or I fall over or drop everything,” said Chase, lifting his head. “And that’s when things start to get difficult, trying to walk on three legs.”
“Well you’re going to have to figure out some way,” said Cloud Runner. “I mean, what else are you going to do? Hire somepony to carry things for you?”
This elicited a few snickers, even from Chase. “Tempting but no. That would get expensive anyways. I’d rather spend my bits on other things.”
Eating wasn’t as difficult; he just pushed aside the cutlery and dug right into his salad, muzzle first, much to the amusement of his tablemates. It was like grazing, only in a bowl. And returning the dishes was just a matter of carrying it in his teeth back to the tables where the dirty dishes and trays were gathered.
In the dorm room there wasn’t much that he needed to do that couldn’t easily be done without magic, except for perhaps putting on his saddlebags. For that he was going to need to suck up his pride and ask for some help, unless he wanted to struggle putting it on the way he had earlier.



He stuffed the books under the bed as he flopped down that evening; despite his earlier nap he was beat. Chase sighed as he rolled onto his side; it had been a while since he’d had a chance to hang out with Wish. He’d just been so busy and so tired after training recently there hadn’t been the time. 
“I hope she’s not too upset with me,” he thought. “Maybe since I’m not going to be training as much I can catch her in the evening at some point.” 
He doubted they’d be able to hang out for very long, he’d get in trouble if he were up and out of bed past lights out. Maybe he could convince her to be up sometime in the day, he doubted she’d be in too much trouble if she stopped by to visit during the day, when most ponies were awake.
“Not tonight though, tonight I sleep.” He burrowed under the covers, head sinking into the pillow with a peaceful sigh as he made himself comfortable. His roommates were already asleep, snoring soundly from their bunks. 
They’d been worked just as hard, flying laps and laps and through obstacle courses all day. He’d heard them groaning afterwards about sore wings and being to tired to fly. They’d gone right to bed after dinner, falling asleep within minutes of one another. Chase was still awake though, using light from a small lamp to read till he got tired and went to bed as well, stuffing the books under the bed.
Burrowing into the covers and pillow he drifted off to sleep to the soft sound of chirping crickets outside. 



Breakfast was just as tricky to manage, trying to balance a bowl of warm oatmeal and a glass of juice without dropping it all over the floor. A salad could be swept off the floor easily; oatmeal and orange juice would be a slushy, sticky mess. Eating was just as awkward, trying to balance a spoon between his hooves proving to be more difficult that he assumed. And sticking his muzzle right in, the way he’d eaten his salad, would just prove to be an utter mess. Then trying to pickup the glass without dropping it or crushing it between his hooves so he could take the medicine he’d been given. How anypony did this without magic or wings he had no idea. Even as he ate he heard his bunkmates snickering in amusement from beside him, they at least could use their wings to hold the spoons. 
“Oh hush it you hyenas, you try eating this with your hooves. I’ll be lucky if I manage to finish this before we have to be outside in fields,” he grumbled, ears flicked back in annoyance. 
“At least you can still fight and warm up with us,” said Thundermane. “You’d be a rather useless trainee if you couldn’t even do that.”
Chase snorted, “Hush up, or I might ‘accidentally’ buck you in the face during practice,” he said, making the air quote with his hooves.
“Only if you can catch me, which I doubt. I can easily get away from you.”
“That sounds like a challenge if ever I heard one,” said Chase, setting his spoon down in his bowl. He was definitely going to have to consider having something other than oatmeal for breakfast till he could use magic again. 
Thundermane smirked, “Oh really? And here I thought unicorns weren’t competitive, sounds like you’re raring for a race.”
“In case you haven’t noticed there isn’t much else I can do at the moment,” said Chase. “And for the record I can definitely race you.”



“I should definitely not be racing.” After five of his ten laps, Chase was seriously regretting his earlier challenge with Thundermane. He was so amped up that he completely forgot to pace himself, and now he was paying for it. And to make things worse, Thundermane was already ahead of him by a lap and showing no signs of slowing. The pegasus was a lot faster than he’d originally thought he was. Chase panted, slowing himself a bit so he didn’t drop to the ground in an exhausted heap. His legs were sore and beginning to ache, and if he stopped now he was only going to end up with more laps. 
“What’s the matter, getting tired?” grinned Cloud Runner, trotting alongside him.
“Shut-shut up,” panted Chase. “I just, need to catch my breath, that’s all. If this were an actual race and not laps I could totally win.”
The blue pegasus just laughed, tossing his head back with a snort.
“No talking recruits, you’re supposed to be running laps not socializing. What does this look like, a family picnic?” barked the captain.
Chase gulped, that stallion seemed to see and hear everything; especially the things nopony wanted him to see or hear. It was as bad as having a parent around. There was a chorus of ‘yessir!’ and everyone continued on running in silence.
Chase clenched his teeth as he ran, trying to pace himself and make up for his earlier blunder of exerting himself too much too soon. He could feel sweat rolling down his neck and back, soaking his coat and sticking his mane to his neck and forehead.
“Ugh, I’m going to need a nice long shower after this,” he thought as he rounded the corner, clearing another lap.
By the time he joined the rest of the group for a breather before the rest of their warm ups started in the field, his legs were shaking and he could barely stay on all four hooves. 
“This was such a bad idea,” he hissed to Thundermane as he collapsed next to him. “How did you talk me into this?”
“If I recall, you talked yourself into this buster, couldn’t back down from a challenge.”
“I will so get even with you, you bum.”
The grey pegasus snickered, “Damn you are winded, was that really the best you could come up with?” 
“Ahh shaddup.”



He managed to get through the rest of the warm-ups with no problem once he caught his breath and wasn’t about to fall on his face. There were a few odd looks shot his way, he guessed they could see the horn ring even more now that his mane was flattened by his sweat. As the groups broke off, Bronze Shield dismissed him, saying he should return to his bunk to study. Even though Chase was sure he could easily sneak off and out of the palace, something in the back of his mind told him that the captain would find out. That stallion knew everything and Chase was pretty sure he had ways of finding out anything he needed. 
Wiping his brow he trotted back towards the barracks to grab a shower before going to study. He’d never be able to concentrate being all sweaty and sore. Plus he stank something awful and he was sure his roommates wouldn't like it if he stank the place up.
Chase grabbed a towel from his room and made his way to the showers. They were predictably empty and, while Chase had no problem showering with the other colts, he was glad to be alone for once. 
The knob squeaked slightly as he twisted it on, cool water rushing free from the showerhead. Chase tilted his head back, letting the water splash on his face and run down his neck. It was like a cool, gentle rain, only without the uncomfortable dampness and chill it brought. Shaking his head he reached out again and turned the warm water tap, sending heated water to mix with the chilly shower water. 
Chase sighed, the warm water felt so relaxing on his sore, aching muscles. It was a nice feeling and for a few moments he just stood there, head tilted back as he let the refreshing water drum against his skin and trickle over his body. 
Lowering his head he shook it before reaching for the bar of soap to wash himself down with, at least he could get rid of the stink. Or he tried, more than once he found himself grasping around as the soap slipped from his grasp and slid across the wet tile floor, something he was having a difficult time keeping his footing on. And trying to reach everywhere to wash himself was equally as tricky, both because of his lack of magic and the wet, slippery soap. 
Eventually he just washed what he could reach and scrubbed his mane before rinsing himself off. 
He twisted the knobs to turn the water off, the sound of the shower fading away as he walked out and retrieved his towel from the bench he’s left it on. He buried his face into it, rubbing vigorously to dry himself off before tossing it over his shoulders and heading back to the dorm room.
The air felt pleasantly cool on his dampened coat, a welcoming relief from how he’d been feeling earlier. “I could get used to this.”
> Chapter Five
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Chase groaned as he stretched out on the dorm room floor, several books lay scattered around him, some in a pile and a couple wide open. He’d been reading through them for the last few hours, though it felt like so much longer. 
“Ohh, to hell with this studying, it’s so boring!” He held his head in his hooves, ruffling his mane. “If I do this any more my brain’s going to turn to mush and start leaking from my ears. I’d rather be running laps.” With a sigh he stood up, pushing the books into a heap, he needed a break from all this studying. 
He looked up at the clock on the wall, it read 2:30 pm. Training didn’t stop until after 5, so he still had a few hours till everyone returned.
“Hmm, I wonder if I could find Wish? Unfortunately I don’t know where her room is.” Chase sighed and bowed his head, “That’s no good is it. And I’ll get in trouble if I go for a walk I’m sure.” He looked back at the pile of books, then towards the door, “But then again, it’s either that or studying. Oh this sucks.” He rubbed his head; the dull throbbing was pounding from the base of his horn again. “Maybe I should take another painkiller, this is getting bad.” 
It was a painful feeling, like someone was beating his head from under his horn, and he wished it would stop. It shouldn’t have been getting worse, not like this. Rubbing his forehead he made his way over to his bag, pulling out the bottle of painkillers. 
He scowled at the foal-proof lid, why on earth did he even need a foal proof lid? There weren’t any foals around there, unless he counted the foalish behaviour of his roommates. He clenched his teeth in annoyance as he fought to yank open the bottle; all he wanted was something to ease his headache and this would only make it worse. There was a satisfying pop as he got the lid off, dropping it to the floor. He didn’t have anything to drink, so he was just going to have to take it dry. Chase wrinkled his nose at the idea but fished out a pill, setting aside as he recapped the bottle and stuffed it away. 
He took the small pill and crawled onto the bed, maybe resting for a bit would help. He looked down at his hooves as he climbed into bed and frowned, he was trembling something awful. 
“I’m not that cold,” he thought, tucking his legs close. He didn’t feel cold either; perhaps it was just his nerves or something. Yeah, nerves, that had to be it. He rubbed his forehead, he’d probably just been studying to hard and gotten a headache. He closed his eyes, lying his head on the pillow, letting sleep carrying him away.
The creak of a door drew him from the dream world and back to the waking world. Raising his head he rubbed his eyes, looking towards the door. “Oh, it’s just you,” he said groggily, as the pegasi walked in.
“Yeah, we just got out of class. Oh man, you don’t look so hot.” Thundermane gave him a pointedly worried look.
“Yeah, I’ve been feeling a bit off since I left earlier. I think I might have over worked myself and studied to hard,” said Chase as he sat up. He smacked his lips, his mouth felt dry. “I could use something to drink though.” He climbed off the bed slowly, legs shaking ever so slightly. As he touched the ground he wobbled, momentarily losing his balance. “Oh man, did I ever over work myself,” he said, leaning on the bed for added support.
Thundermane trotted over to him, placing a hoof on his forehead, “You feel a bit warm.”
“Well, then I’ll rest after I get a drink,” said Chase.
Thundermane looked over at his friends, “I’ll take him to go get a drink, I’ll catch up with you guys in a bit,” he said.
“Aww I can handle myself,” said Chase, trying to wave him off.
He shook his head, “Nope, I’m going with you. If you’re sick you shouldn’t be on your own.”
Chase sighed in defeat, he didn’t want to argue anyways, “Fine whatever, come with me if you want, it’s not going to be that interesting though.”
“Don’t care, I’m still going.” He gave Chase a playful swat with his wing, “Now come on, let’s get you something to drink, it might help you feel better.”
“I hope so,” said Chase, rubbing his head as he walked out the door. His head was feeling a bit better, but the chills hadn’t left him and he felt wobbly. “I should not have raced you this morning, that was a mistake.”
“I’ll say, you lost, and badly too,” laughed Thundermane as they walked down the hall.
Chase gave a hollow laugh; Thundermane had finished his laps well before Chase had finished. He rubbed his head again, everything suddenly felt so, strange. Like the world was slipping away from him, like he was sliding or falling, even though all four feet were firmly on the ground. Thundermane’s voice seemed so distance and faint and his vision, well everything seemed to be sliding around. The only thing he could really feel was the pain in his head, it hurt even worse now. 



Thundermane wasn’t sure what was going on. One moment he was escorting a weary looking Chase to get a drink, talking with the unicorn as they walked. The next moment Chase had stopped talking, growing very quiet before he heard a thumping from behind him. Spinning around to find out what had happened he saw Chase stumbling around, with a far off look in his eyes. The unicorn mis-stepped and collapsed on the ground, his whole body trembling and shaking. His legs were twitching, kicking and flailing around, narrowly missing Thundermane’s face. Tiny red sparks sputtered out from the tip of his horn like a dying sparkler.
“Chase!” He bounded to his side, wings flared in panic. Chase’s face looked so, blank, it was horrifying. Thundermane gulped, this wasn’t part of training. Basic first aid sure, but nothing like this. “Somepony! Anypony! We need a doctor!” He screamed again, staying close to Chase, wings still flared as he waited for someone to come to his aid. What on earth was he supposed to do? He’d never had to deal with this before. It was frightening and he felt so useless. “Come on Chase, it’ll be alright, I hope.” 



Chase’s vision shifted in and out, his mind in a haze of disorientation and confusion. He strained his ears to try and listen, the voices swimming around him were so faint and sounded far away, so very far away. He groaned, closing his eyes and lifting a hoof to rub his head. What had happened?
“Chase? Can you hear me?” Thundermane’s voice grew louder from his side as everything began to clear up, his head finally pulling out of the haze it seemed to be in.
“Thundermane?” He turned his head to looked at him; he still didn’t have his bearings or even an idea of what had happened. “What-what happened? I remember walking and then things went, strange.”
The grey pegasus’ ears drooped and he fidgeted with his hooves. “You collapsed and had, some sort of fit. You were twitching and shaking all over. It was frightening; I didn’t know what to do. You’re in the infirmary right now, someone heard me shouting and got a doctor.”
“I…collapsed?” Chase frowned, why would he have collapsed like that? He wasn’t that sick, was he?
He nodded, “Yeah, the doctors haven’t said much, I think they were waiting for you to become lucid, I think they said. Your fit didn’t last long but you weren’t very, responsive to anything.”
“I wonder if that’s why my head was hurting,” he mused, looking down at his hooves. “And why does my leg hurt?”
“The doctor gave you a shot of something. He said it was supposed to help keep you from having another, well, seizure. I should probably go tell someone you’re up and talking, they’ll probably want to see you.” He hopped off the chair he was sitting in and trotted towards the door to find a doctor or nurse.
Chase sighed, leaning back against the pillows. A seizure? He’d never had a seizure before, never, and as far as he knew no one in his family ever had.
“Ah Sun Chaser, you’re lucid again, that’s good. You were, in and out for a few minutes. You were stable enough for us to get you here but not enough to answer any questions or even understand what we were saying. You gave your friend out there quite a start.”
Chase looked up, it was the doctor from his previous visit, the rich brown unicorn with a light flaxen mane. Dr. Warmheart. “I don’t really remember what happened, or even it ending,” said Chase, ears flicking back.
“It’s not uncommon for mild memory loss to accompany such an event,” he said with a nod.
“What caused it?” asked Chase with a frown. “I mean that’s never happened before.”
The stallion sighed, rubbing he bridge of his nose. “A complication from your horn injury I’m afraid. Or more accurately, the head injury you sustained. You were doing so well despite it all that I figured it would safe to discharge you from my care. Yours wouldn’t be the first cracked horn I’ve dealt with in my career, which is why I felt safe in sending you on your way when you showed no ill effects. It seems however I should have kept you overnight to monitor you and make sure. While it doesn’t happen all the time, those who have suffered from head trauma, especially involving horns do on occasion suffer from seizures after words. You had what we call a Post-traumatic seizure.”
Chase gave him a confused look, “What’s that? Aren’t seizures like a life long thing?”
Dr. Warmheart shook his head, “Not in this case I shouldn’t think. Post-traumatic seizures happen after head trauma like yours. Yours happening so soon after is what we call an early seizure and no, I do not think you are likely to have more.  It’s more common in unicorns because of buildups of unused magical energy in the core and base, which starts to leak out and play havoc with everything. Which I’m afraid it what happened.” 
“A buildup of magic? How did that happen?”
“Likely because of your injury and your temporary inability to use magic. Usually magic works its way out through natural everyday activities, but it seems the depth of the crack allowed it to seep out and build up in the core. The buildup became to much for your body and mind to handle which resulted in, this.” He sighed and shook his head apologetically. “I would like to keep you overnight to monitor you condition and make sure there are no more underlying conditions that may surface and deal with the ones that have already cropped up. I hope you can understand.”
Chase nodded, “I suppose that would be a good idea.”
“I am sorry about all this, I should have been more diligent the first time around.” The doctor sighed, “I’ll send your friend back in to keep you company, I think it would be best if you took it easy for now.” He exited the room leaving Chase alone with his thoughts.
What had started out as a cracked horn was getting even more complicated and Chase didn’t like it one bit. He leaned back into the pillow, staring off into space as he let his mind wander. The room was pretty similar to the one he’d been in on his last visit, plain, undecorated with a single window on one wall. This time he wore a plastic medical bracelet on the wrist of his left foreleg with his name and a few other things written on it. He wasn’t even going to be able to spend the night in his own room.
“Hey, how are you doing?” asked Thundermane as he trotted back in. 
“Better,” said Chase, looking over at him.
“So what’s happening, the doctor’s won’t tell me anything.”
Chase sighed, “It’s because I hit my head, apparently this sort of thing can happen. The doctor wants to keep me here overnight so he can keep and eye on me. And probably run a few tests.”
“Ah, that’s to bad, guess I’ll be seeing you tomorrow then, or whenever they let you out.”
He nodded, “Yeah, I was hoping to go back to. I’ve never been in a hospital before, let alone overnight like this. I mean, aside from when I was born but that doesn’t really count huh?”
They shared a laugh, Thundermane keeping the seat beside Chase warm until he was kicked out by the infirmary staff.



Chase’s earlier guess about the doctor wanting to run more tests was correct, after Thundermane left he was escorted by a couple nurses to another room where the doctor gave him a physical as well as scanned him. He wasn’t sure what he was looking for, just that he was told to remain as still as possible. He supposed if the doctor found anything he would tell him and took the silence to mean he didn’t find anything. 
“You may feel a little tired after all this,” said Dr. Warmheart. 
“What are you doing?” asked Chase as another warm wave of magic washed over him. 
“Siphoning off your excess magic,” he explained. “It may help prevent this sort of thing from happening again.”
After the doctor finished scanning him, and siphoning his magic, he made his way back to his room where a small tray of food was waiting for him. 
It was typical hospital fare, mashed potatoes, spinach leaves and corn. The desert was a jello cup, bright green in colour and a glass of water with a few pills. He grimaced, it didn’t look very appetizing; the potatoes looked almost soupy, the spinach was cooked into near mush and the corn smelled weird. At least the jello looked tasty enough.
“I guess I should take these,” he thought, looking at the pills. He wasn’t sure what they were for; he’d have to ask the doctor later. If he had to guess probably pain killers and something to help him sleep. He scooped them up, chugging them down with a mouthful of water and a shudder. 
He ate a bit from each section; a mouthful of potato and spinach was all he could stomach. The corn, while it smelled weird at least tasted alright, enough that he was able to eat it all. He grasped the jello cup between his hooves, tilting it back as he slurped up the lime-flavoured treat inside. Having eaten his fill he pushed aside the tray, setting it onto the chair beside him before he burrowed into the covers of the bed. 
It was going to be hard, sleeping in a bed that was unfamiliar to him, and being alone in the room. He was used to hearing the snoring of his roommates or the shifting of covers as one rolled over or adjusted their position for comfort. This time it was just silent, all he could make out was the distant humming of machines in other rooms or the faint clattering of hooves on the floor from the night staff. It wasn’t the same and he didn’t like it. 
Not only that but he couldn’t stop thinking about how things just kept getting worse and worse for him. “Maybe I’m really not cut out for this,” he thought, shifting his position to lie on his side. “Everyone probably thinks I’m just a big joke at this rate.” His ears drooped sadly as he buried his face into the pillow. “I might even get kicked out with an injury like this.”
Sleep eventually found him but it took a while, and he still wasn’t comfortable with the silence or his intrusive thoughts.



He was jostled awake the next morning by a hoof on his shoulder and the doctor’s voice sounding in his ear. 
“How are you feeling Sun Chaser?”
“Like someone just woke me up,” he mumbled, rubbing his eyes as he sat up.
The doctor chuckled warmly, “How’s your head feel? If you’re up to it I’d like to run a few cognitive tests to make sure you’re up to snuff.”
“My head? Better than yesterday, it actually doesn’t hurt anymore.”
“That’s good to hear, drawing out the excess magic helped. It removed the pressure that was causing your headache. I’ll have breakfast brought in to you, then follow me.”
Breakfast was a bit more appetizing as dinner, a bowl of cereal and milk and what he assumed was applesauce. He downed it fairly quickly and set the tray aside. The doctor was waiting outside and gestured for Chase to follow.  
The tests were simple enough; testing his eyesight, his reflexes and running some of the scans he had the night before. After what the doctor had told him he assumed he was scanning to make sure there was no more energy building up. As the tests wrapped up he placed the magic limiter on Chase’s horn again, but not as tight this time. 
“So, does this mean I’m allowed to leave?” asked Chase, tapping the limiter lightly.
“Actually, I‘d prefer you stay here a little longer, just so I can monitor you. You can use the yard to practice if you like. I’m afraid there’s not much else to do around here, unless you wish to find reading material in the waiting room.” He laughed a little bit at the last part. “Depending on how things go I should be able to discharge you as early as this afternoon. For now though just take it easy.”



Staying cooped up all day was not Chase’s cup of tea, so he found himself in the grassy yard stretching and working on the drills they’d been practicing. The wind blew through his mane, whipping it about his face and neck wildly. Thin wispy clouds glided by, carried through the sky on the strong breeze. With a stretch he flopped onto his side in the grass, letting the blades tickle his nose. It felt so relaxing to just lay around like that and he might have lain there longer had a shadow not fallen over his face.
“Hmm?” He lifted his head up and looked around, soon noticing someone in the sky above him. “Who’s there?” he asked, shielding his eyes with one leg.
“Having a nice nap?” asked Thundermane, dropping into the grass beside Chase as the unicorn sat up.
“I wasn’t napping, I was resting,” he said with a curt nod. “I’ve been going over drills on my own most of the morning since I got up. It’s boring in there.”
“I take it that means you’re feeling better?” The second voice came from behind him and Chase turned around to find Cloud Runner and Sky Fire standing behind him. “Yeah, Thundermane told us what happened and why you didn’t come back last night.”
“I’m feeling better, but Dr. Warmheart won’t let me leave yet.” He lifted up his front leg, showing the medical bracelet, “He wants to make sure it’s safe for me to go. He’s probably watching me from a window. But what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at practice?”
Thundermane gave him a playful swat with his wing, “It’s lunch time you dope, so we thought we’d go pay you a visit. It’s real quiet in the dorm when you’re not there snoring away all night.”
Chase felt his ears begin to burn, “I-I don’t snore,” he sputtered, the heat rising up through his face.
“Oh you do, like a bear,” grinned Sky Fire. “I sleep in the bunk above you, trust me, you snore.”
Chase pawed at the ground awkwardly, face rapidly turning red, something that stood out against his white coat. This only served to make them laugh more. 
“Well, at least I stay still, you guys flop around like fish when you sleep,” he shot back. “Now, I’m going to get something to eat, and hope it’s actually edible, hospital food is disgusting.” He turned tail, quickly trotting back towards the infirmary. He couldn’t believe it he snored while sleeping? And no one had told him? How utterly embarrassing. 
The other three trotted after him, giving him a bit of space till he cooled off. Chase wasn’t mad at them, but he was embarrassed at the fact that up until now no one had told him he snored. Had he even snored during summer camp? He shuddered at the thought and shook his head. Celestia above he hoped not. He wondered if he could get anything to help with that. He’d have to ask the doctor later.
Lunch was simple, a daisy sandwich and a glass of orange juice and a cup of red jello. 
“Well, at least it looks like food and not mush,” he said as he swallowed a bite from his sandwich. “I’ll give it that much.”
“Hey, you gonna eat this or can I have it?’ asked Thundermane, tapping the jello cup.
Chase stuck his tongue out, pulling it closer, “Get your own, this is the best part, I ain’t letting you eat this. So hooves off.”
There was a light tapping on the door and Chase looked up to see the doctor standing there. “Ah, I see you have some guests over, how nice. How are you doing?”
Chase smiled, “Better, my head isn’t hurting anymore and I don’t feel tired. I’m still bored as heck though, there’s really not much to do here is there?”
“I’m afraid not,” said Dr. Warm Heart. “And you seem much more alert as well, that is definitely a good sign. I’m glad to see you doing better so quickly.”
“Does this mean I’ll be able to leave soon?” asked Chase, perking up at the very idea.
“Yes I believe so.”
> Chapter Six
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Chase was more than thrilled to be able to leave the infirmary, trotting back to his room with a skip in his step. As strange as it sounded, he was actually excited to pull out his books to study! He parted ways with the pegasus trio, they had to return to training since lunch break was over, but doctor’s orders had Chase on the sidelines for the time being, so he was relegated to his books. He didn’t mind very much though, now that his head wasn’t pounding it was much easier to focus on what he was reading. 
He carried the books to the common room where he sat down to read, the open window letting in a cool breeze. He spent the afternoon pouring over the books till he was dragged off to dinner, being told that he had done more than enough studying for the day and should eat.
“Finally, real food!” he said, mouth watering as he heaped noodles and cream sauce onto his plate. “This looks so much better than that stuff the hospital called food.”
He inhaled deeply, taking in the smell of the cafeteria and the food as he carried his tray over to a table, balancing it on one hoof. 
“Mmmm, real food at last.”
“Oh come on, you weren’t in the hospital for that long,” laughed Cloud Runner as Chase sat down. 
“Long enough to figure out that hospital food is disgusting and not worth being called food,” said Chase. “So hush it and let me enjoy this food.” 
With a grin he dug into the pasta, scooping up mouthfuls of the noodles and cheesy sauce. His tail flicked happily as he ate, a dopey grin on his face, nose scrunching ever so slightly and the ends of his ears wiggling. 
“Dis ish sho good,” he said, cheeks tinted pink with happiness.
“Watch it, if you keep talking with food in your mouth you’re going to make a mess,” snickered Thundermane.
Chase rolled his eyes, “Thanks dad.” 
A round of laughter filled the table from the other pegasi and Thundermane just shook his head before they all went back to eating.



While the dorms themselves were split between the Solar Guards and Lunar Guards, so that one group wouldn’t disturb the other while they were sleeping, the dining hall, or cafeteria, was not split and so during mealtimes both groups tended to mingle. Even if both generally avoided one another, even while there.
Chase munched on his dinner, his bunkmates lost in their own conversation about something they’d done while flying, letting his eyes scan around the dining hall. Some ponies remained in there to eat while others took their dinner elsewhere. The day guard seemed to make a point of ignoring the night guard, steering clear of them as if they were something dangerous. 
“I wonder if Wish is around,” he mused, looking through the group of Nocturns that were getting their own meals. He hadn’t talked to her for a bit, and after what he’d been through recently he wanted to talk to her again. It would be a nice change of pace from the dorks that were his roommates. His gaze landed on a familiar mare and his eyes lit up. He glanced over at the pegasi and shook his head, they were too busy talking and there was no sense in interrupting them.
Standing up he trotted across the dining hall towards the familiar Nocturn with the dusk blue coat and short grey-violet mane. 
“Hey, Wish!” he called, waving enthusiastically as he trotted closer.
She looked up from the pony she was talking to and her eyes lit up. She nodded a goodbye and trotted towards Chase with a grin on her face, and a tray in her hooves. “Chase, I was beginning to think you’d forgotten about me.”
He laughed, “Hardly, they’ve just been keeping me really busy since the last time we met. You wouldn’t believe how crazy everything’s been.”
“Why don’t you come on back to the common room and you can tell me about it?” she asked.
“Eh? But won’t I get in trouble?” asked Chase.
She shook her head, “No way, the only reason you‘d have gotten in trouble last time was because you were over during lights out. Since you’re not supposed to be in bed right now, and I’m inviting you over, you’ll be fine.”
“I just hope that no pony else minds,” he said, rubbing the back of his head. 
“Ah, to Tartarus with that they think. You’re my friend and I’m inviting you over to hang out, so let’em gawk.” She gestured for him to follow her and they headed out of the dining room and into the halls. She took to the air a few inches off the ground, the tray balanced perfectly in her front hooves.
“I gotta ask though, what is up with that thing on your horn?” she asked, gesturing to the inhibitor with her head. 
He sighed, “Yeah, that’s the cause of most of my, excitement,” he said. “I’ll tell you once we’re at the common room and I can sit down. Like I said, it’s been crazy.”
“I’ll bet I’m sure that accessory has a good story behind it.”
“Depends on what your definition of good is,” laughed Chase. “Because I’d really rather I didn’t have to wear it at all.”
She grinned, “Well, now you’ve really got me curious there.”
She pushed the door open, gesturing with her head for Chase to follow her in. There were a couple other Nocturnes in the room who looked up at the sound of the door opening and regarded Chase curiously before going back to whatever it was they were doing. Wish trotted over to a beanbag and flopped down, setting the tray down in front of her and gesturing for Chase to sit down on one too.
“So spill, what’s with the horn thing?”
He sighed as he sat down, making himself comfortable in the cushion. “It’s a magic limiter. I had an accident the other day during training. Got conked in the noggin so hard by a stray spell it cracked my horn.”
Her eyes widened, “Oh my god!”
“Yeah, tell me about it. So now I can’t use magic till it heals.”
“How long will that be?”
“At least a week provided things don’t get worse, again.”
Wish tilted her head curiously, the tip of an ear flicking, “What do you mean worse?”
Chase sighed and set about explaining what had happened to him the previous day, about his fit and subsequent trip to the hospital and overnight stay. Wish listened, wide eyed with interest and shock as he spoke.
“Chase, what in Luna’s name did you do to offend Lady Luck?” she asked as his tale came to an end. “I mean good gravy but your luck seems to have become horrendous.”
Chase rolled his eyes, “Tell me about it, I’m basically out of training and stuck studying instead. It’s ok for a bit but not several days on end. I’ll be glad to get back in the field once this is all over, and to get rid of this awful thing,” he gestured to the magic dampener. He sighed and stretched out, resting his head between his forelegs. “Thanks for letting me ramble. I mean, the guys are nice and all but sometimes I think their heads are still in the clouds.”
“Oh, so you guys are actually speaking now?” she asked. “Last I remember you saying, they didn’t seem to like you very much.”
“Yeah, we finally worked that out. Apparently they thought I was some, snobby unicorn noble and since they’d had some bad run-ins with those kinds, they figured it was best to nip it in the bud and not talk to me.” He shook his head, holding back a laugh. “I mean really, me, a noble? How could anypony think I was a noble? I mean, they’re so uptight and stiff, and act like there’s a bad smell under their nose. I act way too, lax, to be some noble pony.” 
Wish giggled, “Yeah, you carry yourself all wrong. Of course, not all nobleponies are like that,” she said. “I remember when I was shadowing one of the older guards we were assigned to be security for some charity event. Anyways, most of the rich and elite were there and they acted pretty much how you described, heck they barely paid attention to us. But, Mr. Fancy Pants and his wife Fleur, they were different. They actually looked like they wanted to be there and like they were enjoying themselves. They even said hello and goodbye to us and thanked us for doing such a good job. They may be rich nobles, but didn’t act like most.”
“I guess there’s bound to be someone who breaks the mold,” said Chase. “I’ve just only ever seen the bratty, rude ones.”
Wish tilted her head, “You met nobles? How? When?”
“My dad. He’s not a noble sure, but he’s a dang good smith so he often gets commissions to make something or to fix something for them. I think it’s the only time you’ll catch them ‘slumming it up’ with the lower class, not that I’ve ever heard them say it to his face.” He stretched out on the beanbag before tucking his legs to his belly. “Not to mention they seem to get really quiet when they realize he’s married to a pegasus. It ruffles their feathers for sure, if you’ll pardon the pun.” He grinned, “I actually heard one once comment under his breath that he couldn’t understand how a stallion like my father could have lowered himself to marry a pegasus.”
“Oh my,” said Wish quietly. 
“Yeah, so I told him to buck off and that my mom was the best mother in the world, pegasus or not. And I’d rather be part pegasus than a rude pony like him.”
Wish gaped, “You didn’t.”
“I did. But cut me a little slack, I was only four. I was hanging around my father’s workshop because he was almost done. Of course, I got a paddling afterwards for swearing in front of a customer.”
The Nocturn laughed, “I can’t believe you actually did that.”
“I don’t think my dad could either, I distinctly remember hearing him drop something heavy and metal on the floor after my outburst. Besides she’s my mom, why wouldn’t I defend her?”
Wish smiled and ruffled his mane, “You’re a dope Chase, but with a heart like that you’re going to go places for sure.”
He blushed, the heat rising up to his ears as he looked away. “Now you’re just saying things,” he mumbled.
“I am not,” she said. “Once you’re all healed up and back to training you’ll make a great guard, I know it. Who knows, maybe you’ll even end up a personal guard to the Princess?”
“Wh-what!” Chase sputtered in surprise. The idea of being one of her personal guards had never crossed his mind, only the elite of the elite could reach that position and Chase doubted he’d eve qualify for something like that. “You can’t be serious.”
“Why not?” asked Wish with a frown, “It’s possible. I mean, I think it’d be cool to be one of Princess Luna’s personal guard.”
“I thought you wanted to make star maps?”
“I can do both. They rotate the guards you know, when I’m not on duty I can work on my maps. I need someway to make money in the meantime. What about you, you have any kind of, fall back job in case this doesn’t work out for whatever reason?”
Chase rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, “Honestly, not really. I mean, I could probably convince my dad to let me work for him, but then he’d never let me live down that my dream failed.”
“Any idea why he doesn’t want you to do this?” asked Wish.
Chase shook his head, “None. The first time I told him that I wanted to be a royal guard he was, upset. He told me flat out not to do it and choose something different. That this wasn’t the job for me. I’ve asked him before why he disapproves of this so much, but he won’t tell me. And it’s beyond aggravating, I just want to know why my father is so against this.” He sighed, lowering his hooves and resting his chin on his legs. “I’ll probably never find out.”
“Maybe he’s just worried that it’s to dangerous?” 
“Well a blacksmith’s shop ain’t exactly a walk in the park. Skin searing heat, mane-scorching flames, bone crushing solid metal, molten metal that’ll melt your face off, it’s a death trap if you don’t know what you’re doing. And that’s not even taking account of the smell and the ash. Yeesh. That’s why I always had to sit in a corner when I visited the shop, he didn’t want me hurting myself on anything.”
“What about working for your mom? You said she runs a flower shop yes?”
He nodded, “Yeah, but I dunno how well that’d work out. I don’t know anything about flowers and if I’m around that much pollen for too long I start sneezing. Can’t do business if I’m sneezing all the time.”
“That would make it difficult wouldn’t it,” she mused before tapping her chin with her hoof thoughtfully. “Well, I’m sure you’d come up with something if you had too.”
“Which is why I hope I don’t have to.” He sighed, “Of course, if my lucks keeps being the way it’s been recently I might have to. I’m beginning to feel like I might not be cut out for this sort of thing, I can’t seem to do anything right recently. I couldn’t even raise a barrier to protect myself and got injured because of it.”
“Now that’s no way to talk Chase,” huffed Wish. “That certainly doesn’t sound like the Chase I first met. You’ll do great, but not if you start talking like that.”
He was quiet, she was very determined sounding and it was a bit startling. “I guess so,” he said. “I’ll try.”
“You better, I don’t like hearing ponies talk like that, it’s depressing and you shouldn’t be depressed.”
After a moment Chase lifted his head to look around, scanning the common room curiously. While it had emptied a bit since they’d got there, there were still a few Nocturns around. 
“Hey, where are the twins?” he asked when it dawned on him who was missing. “I don’t see them here at all.”
“They had to grab breakfast on the go, they actually have guard duty tonight out patrolling the grounds, so needed to get out there. Especially since they slept late,” she said with a nod. “So, you won’t get to see them tonight I’m afraid.”
“Ahh, that’s to bad. Can you tell them I said hi the next time you see’em then?”
“Sure, I’ll be seeing them later tonight anyways, I’ll tell’em then.” She looked down at the tray then back at Chase, “You hungry? You can have some of this if you want.”
The tray itself was filled with an assortment of fruits and seasoned insects, much like it had been the day they’d met.
“Well, if you’re offering,” he said, reaching for a few grapes. “Thank you.”
She grinned, flashing her pointed teeth in the process. “No problem, I don’t know how much you had for dinner, but I’d feel like a bad host if I didn’t offer at least once.”
The conversation petered off into silence as Wish ate, Chase occasionally sneaking a few grapes from one corner of the tray while avoiding the insects, they still grossed him out. He tried not to eat too much; this was her breakfast after all. Which it and of itself was still a strange thought, that she was having breakfast at the same time he’d been having dinner, and that she probably had dinner when he was getting breakfast, if not before. He couldn’t help to wonder when they had their equivalent to lunch, at midnight, sometime later, earlier? 
A crunching noise caught his attention and he looked towards Wish just in time to see the remains of a cricket vanish into her mouth. 
Chase blanched, pulling a disgusted face, “Ughh, that sounds so disgusting. How in Equestria can you stand to eat that stuff?”
She stuck her tongue out, “Says you, I find these guys tasty and crunchy. No different than crunching on a hoof full of sunflower seeds really.”
He shuddered, “Great, now I’ll never want sunflower seeds again, thank you for that image.”
Wish snickered before popping another cricket into her mouth, this time purposefully crunching it loudly. “You should try these dipped in chocolate, it’s like chocolate with nuts, it’s really good.”
“Are you trying to turn me off all my favourite foods?” he asked. He liked chocolate, a lot, but sullying it with bugs? Definitely a no go in his books. 
“You just don’t know what is good,” she said with a dramatic sigh, leaning back with her foreleg resting on her head.
“Oh hush it you drama queen,” he teased, tossing a grape at her and bouncing it off her muzzle. 
“I’m a drama queen? What does that make you?” she asked, raising an eyebrow, a smug grin plastered on her face.
“Normal? Rational?”
Wish stuck her tongue out playfully, “Yeah right.”
The next thing Chase knew a small cushion bounced off his head, smacking him square in the face and accompanied by giggles from Wish. “Really, throwing pillows at me?” he asked, prodding the pillow. “What are you, a foal-ahh!” He trailed into a yelp as she pounced on him, barreling into his side with a giggle and flap of her wings. 
“I’m a drama queen am I?” she asked. “Who’s the one who just screamed like a foal?”
“You startled me!” he sputtered as he looked up at her, now stuck on his side from how she’d tackled him. “What did you expect me to do, not scream? And what the hell was that for anyways?” 
“You need to loosen up a bit,” she said, poking his nose firmly. “You’re way to uptight. Plus you’re being a sourpuss and hard on yourself, you should smile more.”
“That still doesn’t tell me what this has to do with anything,” he said, pushing her off and back onto the floor with a thump.
Wish huffed, “You really don’t know anything do you?” she asked. “It’s called play, or as my mother put it, horsing around. You never gotten into a wrestling match of sorts with your friends?”
“Not since I was a foal, aren’t you a little old for this sort of thing?”
She snorted, “Of course not, you’re never to old to have fun, just as long you don’t hurt anyone and I’m always careful. Besides it’s a good form of exercising and fighting practice. You should try it. Not to mention you always end up laughing in the end, and you seem like you could use a laugh or two right now.”
“Not in my condition, I could make my horn even worse if it gets hit or something.”
“Oh, now you’re just being a foal,” she said, rolling her eyes. “That’s why you avoid the head, and it’s not that hard. I think you’re just chicken because you know I’d win.” She stuck her tongue out playfully.
“That-that’s not true at all,” he huffed, cheeks reddening slightly. “I’m not scared of losing, especially not t you.”
“Why, because I’m a mare?” she asked pointedly. 
“What no, th-that’s not it at all.”
She crouched down with a playful grin, “Then prove it.”
“What, here, but won’t everyone else get worried?”
She shook her head, “Naw, roughhousing happens all the time, they won’t think anything of it. Besides, I really don’t think they’ll care as long as I’m not killing you.”
He gulped and took a step back, what had he gotten himself into? “I dunno, I mean, we just ate, are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“Oh it’s not that much of a problem, I’ll just go easy on you.”
He flattened his ears, “Oh, now that’s not cool.”
“So you don’t want me to go easy on you?” She grinned, “Sounds good to me, I’d hate to have to hold back because you were a wuss.”
Chase felt his legs swept out from under him as she collided with him with a laugh, wings flared from her sides. 
“Oh come on, you gotta react faster than that or you’ll never make it anywhere,” she said, half splayed across Chase, pinning him down as he lay on his side. “I mean what if this was a real fight? You’d have lost.”
“If this were a real fight I’d be using my magic to fight back.”
“But you don’t have magic, what if you got into a fight and couldn’t use your magic? You need to know how to fight back without it. What are they even teaching you anyways? Which raises the question, I have you trapped and magicless, how are you going to get free?”
Chase huffed, wiggling underneath of her as he tried to get free. She was a lot heavier than she looked and seemed to know exactly how to pin him. If he could have used his magic he’d just have lifted her off, or in a real fight blasted her off. As he wiggled he felt one of his hind legs slip free. A grin crossed his face as he looked up at her. 
“You better think fast,” he warned, tucking his leg up momentarily before it connected with her stomach. 
Wish gasped, stumbling backwards as his hoof made contact. “No bad,” she said, rubbing her stomach. “But you took a while to figure that out, in a real fight you’d be toast.”
“Good thing this isn’t a real fight then.” He looked around before looking at Wish. “Is there even enough room in here for this? I’d rather not get body slammed into a wall or break something.”
“I guess you have a point there, and I can’t really fly in here either.” She took his hoof, pulling him to his feet, “Come on, we can find a spot outside.”
> Chapter Seven
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It wasn’t yet dark out, giving the pair at least a few hours of ‘practice’ in the fields before they had to go in, or at least before Chase had to go in. 
The air had cooled off considerably from the afternoon, the sun slinking below the horizon and painting the sky in waves of violet and red, orange and gold. The clouds had been cleared away to make way for a clear, cool night once again. 
Chase inhaled deeply as he ran his hooves through the grass, it felt so soft in the evening air and he was beginning to think they should just forgo it all and lounge around in the grass instead. Wish was having none of that, giving him a swipe across the back of his head with her wing to get his attention. 
“No day dreaming now,” she said with a grin, “Or I’ll get you again, you wouldn’t want that would you?”
“I’m not day dreaming, I’m admiring the sky, that’s all. The princesses outdid themselves with the sunset tonight.”
“You should see the sunrises, it’s like the sky’s on fire. But that’s not what we’re out here for. So keep your head out of the clouds.”
Wish wasted no time in pouncing on Chase yet again, or she tried, this time Chase managed to roll out of the way just in time. “You can’t get me twice with the same trick,” he said. Kicking up grass behind him Chase took off running after Wish, who took to the air in an effort to escape. As they ran, or flew in Wish’s case, Chase picked up speed and with a short leap caught Wish around the hind legs and dragging her back to earth, not that she’d been all that high off the ground in the first place.
He tilted his head back to avoid getting kicked in the face as she flung her hind legs out. He gave an ‘oof’ as one caught him in the chest and promptly backed off, only to be rewarded by Wish once again lunging at him, forelegs around his middle as she barrelled into him, pinning Chase to the ground.
He buffeted her stomach with his hind legs, unfortunately unlike last time; he didn’t have the space to kick properly so they didn’t do much. Until she started giggling and her grip loosened. With each swipe of a back hoof along her belly she giggled some more and Chase grinned.
“Oh, ticklish huh? I can work with that.” 
Wish soon dissolved into a fit of laughter, letting go of Chase and stumbling off to the side to avoid his hooves. “That’s no fair, you’re not supposed to tickle me,” she gasped between giggles. 
“Says who? You never said I couldn’t. And besides I wasn’t trying to in the first place, I just improvised when I realized what I was doing.” He grinned, “So it’s completely fair.” He charged after her again, sending Wish off running once more. She turned once to look back at him, only for Chase to crash into her and send them both tumbling across the grass. When they came to a stop Wish lay partially on her side, Chase standing over her trapping one wing, while the other was pinned between her and the ground.
“Looks like I win,” he panted, chest heaving.
She flashed him a devilish grin, “Oh, are you sure about that?” she asked, brushing a hoof under his chin.
His cheeks flushed, “W-well, yeah. I mean, you can’t move. I got you.”
“Maybe you do but I’m not out yet.” She drew her hoof down his chest with deliberate slowness, brushing it slowly over his chest. 
Chase trembled, what in Equestria was she doing? “Hey, s-stop that,” he stammered as a shiver rippled through him, his stomach clenching.
“How about, no.” She brought another hoof up, brushing them both along his chest and stomach, Chase trembling as he tried to hold back the inevitable.
He caved, sides shaking as he collapsed in a heap of giggles as she continued tickling him, all composure lost as he lost the fight against her hooves. 
“Alright, alright, I give,” he wheezed, tears beading in his eyes. “I give I give!”
“Good.”
There was a thump as her hind legs caught him in the stomach and knocked him backwards and into the grass.  
“Face it, I totally owned you there,” she panted, moving to lay into the grass next to Chase, legs folded to her chest as she lay on her back. “Though I gotta say, you’re pretty good. Get a bit more training in you and maybe you’ll win, once.”
“You tickled me,” he huffed, turning his head to look at her. “What was that even about?”
Wish stuck her tongue out playfully, “Turn about is fair play,” she said in a singsong voice. “I figured it was only fair. Oh you should have seen the look on your face. You were trying so hard not to laugh, but I could tell you wanted to. Your nose gets all scrunchy and your ears turn red, you look so funny. To bad I didn’t have a camera, it was priceless.”
“Hey, you look just as dopey laughing it up,” he said, “You get all wiggly and twitchy and your eyes crinkle up.”
They lapsed into another fit laughter as they lay there, chests heaving as they fought to catch their breath, grass and leaves stuck in their manes and to their coats and tears of laughter in the corners of their eyes.
“I gotta say, that was definitely something new,” said Chase as their laughter finally subsided.
“At least you weren’t against the twins, they tend to bite,” said Wish. “Not hard,” she quickly added noticing the look on his face. “But enough that you feel it.”
“I think I’ll pass on them then, I’d rather not be, bitten.” 
“Fair enough, they tend to put the ‘rough’ in roughhousing anyways, always coming back all scuffed up and covered in grass and dirt. You’re a bit, fragile at the moment for that treatment,” she said. “If your horn wasn’t cracked you’d probably be fine. Then again they are brothers so they’ve probably had a lot of practice fighting one another.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” said Chase. “Of course you do realize we’re both going to return all scuffed up and filthy right? I think I may have grass in my ear.”
Wish giggled, “Yeah, but that’s what showers are for, so just take one of those, before you turn green.”
Chase twisted his head around to try and look at himself, grass clinging to his body where he’d been tackled into the ground and while he couldn’t see it he was pretty sure his mane was littered with grass as well. “Yeah, that would be a good idea, and it might get rid of the grass smell too.”
They lapsed into silence again, staring up at the sky, watching it as it slowly grew darker, the reds and oranges becoming deep violets and indigos, the sun making way for the moon and stars. The warm air of the day gave way to the cool night air. 
He rolled over onto his belly, shaking his head to try and free any debris that might have become stuck in it. “I should probably get going, lights out will probably be in a few hours and I’d like a shower first.”
“I should too, I need to get some practice in, just like you do in the mornings,” said Wish as she sat up, shaking herself off as well. “As much as I’d like to stay out all night and watch the stars.”
“Maybe sometime when we’re not training and have the free time,” said Chase with a smile.
Wish returned the smile, “Yeah, maybe.”
They trotted back in modest silence before parting ways, each one heading back to their respective areas. Chase sighed as he walked, a slightly dopey looking smile plastered across his muzzle. As strange as it was to admit it, roughhousing like that had been a great release of energy and quite fun. 
The room was empty when Chase returned, his roommates having not yet come back for the night. He grabbed a towel and some soap before trotting off to the showers to clean up.



Chase tilted his head, letting the lukewarm water splash against his face and neck, soaking himself before he set about soaping up. He still had difficulties reaching to wash himself, the soap slipping and sliding out of his grip and across the tile floor. He twisted himself around to get at his tail and mane, lathering himself up as he scrubbed himself clean. Soon his light gold mane and tail were filled with soapy bubbles and he had to close his eyes to keep from getting any in his eyes. He’d made that mistake before and it had hurt a lot.
Blindly he set out rinsing the soap from his mane and coat, the water washing away with a grimy colour as it pulled away the dirt and debris. The water slicked his mane to his neck and his tail to his back. He cracked one eye open slowly, making sure not to get any remaining soap in his eyes. Satisfied he’d gotten it out of his mane he finished up scrubbing and washing till he was clean once more. 
The taps squeaked as he turned them off before trotting out to grab his towel. He carefully removed the magic limited to clean and dry around his horn and mane, balancing it carefully between his hooves as he held it. He had to use the bathroom mirror to put it back on, face screwed up in concentration. 
He shuddered as it slid back over his horn, once again cutting off his magic abruptly, it was a feeling he’d never get used to. He draped the towel across the back of his neck as he headed back to his room, he’d be so glad to get that awful thing off his head.



The next few days were pretty unexciting for Chase. He woke up and got breakfast, slowly finding easier ways to carry his food to a table, then he went out for morning practice before heading back to study up on shielding spells. Sometimes he took the books outside, the silence of the room was lonesome and almost distracting. 
He remained headache free as the week progressed, something he was more than glad about, for once boring was good.
The next bout of ‘excitement’ he had was his trip to the doctor at the end of the week. When he’d been discharged after his fit, the doctor had asked him to come back at the end of the week so he could see how he was healing. This was something Chase was definitely excited about, if all went well he could get the limiter removed and go back to training again. The sooner that happened the better as far as he was concerned.
Chase could barely sleep the night before, the prospect of getting the magic dampener off winning out over the prospect of sleep.



With a spring in his step Chase trotted through the halls to the infirmary after the morning’s warm ups and practice. He had to force himself not to just run down the halls, giddy with excitement. He stopped at the infirmary doors to compose himself before stepping in, making his way to the receptionist.
At the sound of his approach she looked up and smiled, “Ah, the doctor’s been expecting you,” she said. “I’ll let him know you’re here.”
Leaving Chase alone in the waiting room she trotted off into the back, returning a few moments later with the doctor in tow.
“Ah Sun Chaser, you’re looking well today.”
“I feel good too,” said Chase. “And hopefully that means I’ll be able to get this off my horn.”
Dr. Warmheart smiled, “Well, follow me and we can find out if you can.”
He followed the doctor into a small, typical looking checkup room, complete with a counter and a small bed for him to sit on. As Chase made himself comfortable the doctor’s horn lit up, levitating the inhibitor off Chase’s horn, setting it aside on the counter.
“I’m just going to run a few tests like I did the first time to check your horn’s condition, to see how the crack is healing,” he explained. 
“No X-rays?” asked Chase.
He shook his head, “No, if it were something like a broken leg I would take one, but for a horn injury it’s different. It’s a fairly simple procedure, all I’m going to do is scan your horn with waves of magic, the pulses of magic will bring to light any imperfections, such as a crack. All I need from you is for you to sit still while I do this. I think you can manage that.”
Chase nodded, making himself comfortable as he sat on the table, the sanitary covering crinkling underneath. 
The doctor pointed his horn towards Chase, the tip inches from his own horn as waves of silvery magic rippled out, washing over Chase’s horn like waves of water. It felt like someone was ticking the inside of his horn and he had to fight the urge to try and scratch at it. After a few moments the feeling vanished and he heard the doctor start speaking.
“It seems to be healing quite well,” he said. “The crack itself is all but gone now.”
Chase lit up at that, “So, does that mean I can use magic again?”
“That’s what we need to check,” said the doctor, rooting through a drawer. He pulled out a small rubber ball and held it out to Chase. “The only way to really know is for you to actually cast a simple spell. So, try to levitate this please. If it starts to hurt then stop and don’t push yourself.”
A levitation spell, that was all he had to do? It seemed simple enough. Levitation, in its simplest form, had been the first spell he’d ever figured out how to do as a foal, much to his parent’s chagrin as they couldn’t keep anything out of his reach and spent a good part of the day running around, making sure he wasn’t getting into things he shouldn’t. Lifting a small ball was an easy task, but Chase couldn’t help but to feel nervous. What if he wasn’t healed enough yet to use his magic? What if something went wrong?
“Mr. Sun Chaser? Are you alright?” asked the doctor when he didn’t respond.
“Oh, yeah I’m fine. Just a bit nervous,” he replied. “So, just lift it up huh?”
The doctor nodded, “Whenever you’re ready.”
Seemed simple enough, all he had to do was project his will on the ball and lift it up. He took a deep breath and focused on the ball, channelling the spell through his horn and onto the ball, both wrapped in a warm red hue.
“And up!” The ball rose a few inches off the doctor’s hoof, now at eye level with Chase. Chase relaxed, a wave of relief washing over him at the sight of the floating ball. “How’s this?”
“Excellent, how do you feel? Any pain or discomfort?” he asked.
Chase shook his head, “No, I feel fine, I think I’d made myself worry this was going to be harder than I thought.” The glow vanished from the ball and it dropped back into the doctor’s outstretched hoof. “Is there anything else you want me to do?” he asked.
“Easy there,” chuckled the doctor. “Just relax and take it easy. I know you’re excited but rushing things won’t help.”
As the doctor put the ball away, Chase raised a hoof to touch his horn; there was no stabbing pain, or even a throbbing pain, just the regular bland feeling of his hoof on his horn. From base to tip he moved it, checking to see if it hurt anywhere, and nothing.
“Well, it doesn’t hurt to touch anymore,” he said. 
“I’m glad to hear that, sounds like it healed up quite nicely, and I was only able to find the barest traces of the crack, which is quite normal,” said the doctor with a smile. “I dare say, you should be able to return to practice as soon as tomorrow. Take today to work on simple spells to get used to using magic again. Don’t need you blasting out a strong spell right off the bat and hurting yourself.”



Chase all but galloped back to his room after the doctor gave him a clean bill of health and sent him on his way. He couldn’t immediately join practice but that was a small price to pay. It would however give him a chance to return his library books and get in some practice of his own, making sure he could at least conjure up a small, simple barrier. Chocking in the middle of practice would be embarrassing to say the least.
He dug out the books and saddlebags, tossing the lot of them on his bed. Charging his horn he lifted up the saddlebags with ease, putting them on his back and tightening up the belt around his middle so it wouldn’t fall off. It felt so good to be able to use his magic again. Once it was snug and not about to slip off he turned his attention to the library books, picking them up one by one and putting them into the pouches of his bag before snapping them shut.
He reached up once more touching his horn with a smile, no more magic limiter for him. No more stumbling around trying to balance things in his hooves and no more struggling to put his bags on or comb out his mane. 
Making sure he had everything he trotted out the door and to the library to return the books.
The day seemed to just fly on by, Chase dropped the books off at the library before returning to his room to practice with his magic for a bit, levitating and carrying various objects, forming balls of light and tiny shields. When his roommates returned he more than happily announced that he could return to practice again. During dinner he sought out Wish to tell her of this new development, trying his best not to giggle like a little foal on Hearth’s Warming. The twins were only upset they’d missed the fun of seeing Chase stumble around trying to manage without magic and the playful wrestling match he and Wish had the other evening. Of course, the initial mention of a wrestling match brought some raised eyebrows and amused snickering, till Wish slapped the backs of their heads and told them to pull their minds from the gutter.
After saying his goodbyes he sought out Lance and Smart Set to tell them the good news, Smart Set to alleviate his worries of causing permanent damage to Chase and Lance because he was his friend. He didn’t know their rooms and wasn’t so sure he wanted to knock on every door to find them. In the end he only found Lance, who was in the common room playing cards, he’d have to talk to Smart Set at practice then.
“Well aren’t you a sight for sore eyes,” said Lance, looking up at Chase. “Doing better?”
“Loads, I’ll actually be able to return to practice again. I don't ever want to go through that again,” said Chase, shaking his head as he sat down. He looked at the cards for a moment then at Lance and the two others he was with. “What’cha playing?”
“Rummy, and I’m winning,” announced Lance.
“Think I could join the next round?” asked Chase. “Been a bit since I played, but it looks like fun.”




Shivering against the cool morning air, Chase trotted across the field with the rest of the unicorns, waiting for the captain to show up and begin practice. As he neared the group it became painfully obvious from the murmurs and looks he given that everypony knew what had happened and why he’d been absent. Of course, if the commotion was as loud and big as the pegasi had said it was, then that wasn’t very surprising.
“I see you’re rejoining us out on the fields trainee,” came Bronze Shield’s voice from behind Chase. The young stallion straightened up swiftly, saluting as the older officer strode into view.
“Yessir, the doctor gave me a clean bill of health and cleared me for training,” he said.
“Good, I hope you didn’t get rusty and complacent in your time off.”
“N-no sir.”
The large stallion nodded, “At ease there recruit, at ease.”
Chase relaxed, lowering his hoof from its position as Bronze Shield began to explain that days drills and exercises. It felt good to be back.
> Chapter Eight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“So what’s it like, getting to work with one of the older guards?” asked Chase, looking across the table at Wish and the twins. 
It was one of the few times that both of their schedules meshed together in a way that allowed them to have time off at the same time, so the lone unicorn and trio of Nocturns had gone out for the evening. They were all a bit too young to drink, though only by about a year or so, so they found themselves sitting at a small café sipping on caffeinated drinks instead. Chase had a large glass of soda, while Wish had white hot chocolate with marshmallows. The twins each had had coffee, though they took it vastly different.
Chase had just recently learned that they were going to be mentored and most likely trained by older guards. In addition to this they would be shadowing the guard that was mentoring them, seeing how they did their job and even working alongside them. Chase was surprised at how soon they were moving into this, he’d thought for sure the basic training would last a lot longer than only a month or two. This was not the case, first hoof experience was the best teacher so while they would still have classes, most of their time was going to be spent shadowing someone and learning from them.
So, curious for some insight into it all, Chase had gone to Wish and the twins, Comet and Star Dust, to ask them about their experiences, as this was something they’d already gone through.
“It was interesting,” said Wish, “You get to learn a lot, and it’s fun.”
“Speak for yourself,” snorted Comet, taking a sip from his drink, black coffee with an ungodly amount of sugar. “I got saddled with following a total drill sergeant. Worst months of my life ever.”
“It couldn’t have been that bad,” said Chase.
“Oh yes it could. I’m pretty sure he had his sense of humour surgically removed and transformed into a stick that someone shoved up his-” he was silenced by a hoof up the backside of his head and a glare from Wish. 
“Watch the language, what if someone’s foal heard you?” she scolded.
“What are you now, my mother?” he asked, rubbing the back his head. “Besides all the pint sized ones are probably back home by now. Any that are still out have probably heard worse than ‘ass’. But no, he was about as much fun as a test. Not to mention if I were late for any reason, even by a minute I would be forced to do push ups, on my wings, with armour on my back! Not to mention I was practically turned into his errand boy.” He rolled his eyes, “’Comet go get this’, ‘Comet go do that’, ‘Comet clean my armour’, ‘Comet you’re being so slow’.” He gagged and shook his head, “No thank you.”
Wish sighed and gave Chase a reassuring smile, “Well, they’re not all bad. I shadowed and apprenticed under North Star, he’s actually what inspired me to keep making my maps I the first place. Sure, I’d always loved stargazing and mapping out the skies, but he’s the one who said to make maps for ponies. I’d never originally thought about doing it as a career before.” She smiled happily at the memory and the twins began to giggle. 
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure you had a crush on him too,” said Star Dust. “What with how you kept going on about him every morning when you got back?”
“That, that is not true,” she stammered, a heat rising to her cheeks and not from her dink. “I admired him and nothing more. He’s a very noble stallion with a strong heart; unfortunately he was transferred to Manehatten shortly I finished my apprenticeship.”
“Yeah, and I bet he had nice flanks too,” snickered Comet.
“Oh, like I haven’t caught you checking out some of the guard’s flanks yourselves?” she shot back. They both squeaked, cheeks darkening under their coats. “Yeah see, you’ve no right to poke fun at me when you’re just as guilty,” she said. “I can fight just as dirty as you can when it comes to teasing.”
They grumbled something under their breath, ears pinned back as they looked down at their drinks. 
“You fight dirty,” snickered Chase at the sight of the humbled colts, or at least embarrassed.
“And don’t you forget it,” said Wish with a triumphant grin. “So, when are you going to meet the guard you’ll be working under?”
“Tomorrow I think; we’re all meeting out in the big court yard. So I guess I’ll find out then who I’ve been assigned, or who’s been assigned to me.” 
She nodded, fanning her mug before taking another sip, a ring of foam clinging to her muzzle before she licked it off. “Well I can’t wait to hear what stories you’ll get to share about all this.”
They finished off their drinks in due time before heading on back to the palace, a yawning Chase more than ready to turn in for the night.
His room was empty when he returned, and if the voices coming from the common room were any indication, it would probably be empty for a while more.



All the new recruits paced about the courtyard nervously, the air abuzz with their voices as thy chattered among themselves. This was the first time in a while that they had not broken off into groups after morning warm-ups and even though the group had shrunk a bit since the start of the year, mainly due to drop outs, it was still quite full.
Chase made a beeline for Lance, searching out the splotched unicorn from the sea of wings and horns.
“You excited?” asked Lance. “I know I am. Who knows, maybe I’ll get to learn from one of the palace guards, you know, the ones that stand in the day court. Or maybe even the princess’ guard themselves.” He gave a giddy sounding squeak, prancing on the spot in excitement while Chase merely shook his head.
“Calm down, you’re acting like a foal on his first day of school for crying out loud,” he said, putting a hoof on his shoulder to try and calm him.
“Well, in a way I am. I mean think about it, we’re learning right from the more experienced guard themselves. That’s completely different than what we’ve been doing so far. I mean, we’ll still be doing this, but we’ll actually get to see what it’s like on the job.”
“Only some of the jobs,” Chase reminded him. “Remember, we’re not following any that are being shipped out to the borders or anywhere dangerous. If I remember what the captain said we’ll still all be in and around Canterlot for the most part.”
“Yeah I know, don’t make it any less cool.”
“Besides, when you start getting excited your accent starts to show through.”
Lance paused for a moment, before covering his mouth with one hoof. Despite having grown up in Canterlot for a good part of his life, he had been born in Trottingham and spent the first couple years of his life there. The accent was all but diluted, but as Chase had learned, when he got excited or overly emotional in some way it bled through.
Chase laughed, “Yeah, so try to tone it down. I’m not sure why you’re worried about how you sound though.”
“I told ya, my accent sounds funny and everypony laughs at it.”
The sound of a shrill whistle cut short the rest of their conversation and all heads turned in the direction of the noise, a few curious ‘hmms’ accompanying them. The sound of the whistle came from the one around Bronze Shield’s neck as he strode into the courtyard, the crowd nearest to him parting to let him through.
“Alright recruits, or what’s left of ya, I’m sure you all know why you’re here rather than off in groups.” There were a few nods of agreement. “Good, that means you’ve been paying attention, a useful skill for any guard not matter the job. Today is the day you start your apprenticeship. Not only will you learn valuable skills but it will also help to determine who really has the skills for this job. It is not a walk in the park despite what you might think. It’s a hard job and sometimes a thankless one. Not to mention the hours can suck.” This elicited a few laughs from the crowd before he raised a hoof to quiet them. “But I can assure you, if you really are dedicated to the job then you should do just fine.”



Trail Blazer, the name of the large burly stallion in front of Chase was Trail Blazer. He was a large, barrel-chested earth pony with an amber-brown coat and charcoal black mane and tail. Chase was pretty sure that he was even larger than his father and just the sight of him was rather intimidating. They were no longer in the field, Trail Blazer had just gotten off his shift for the day and was waiting in the tackroom for Chase. 
“So, you’re Sun Chaser huh?” he asked as he removed his helmet, sitting it on the ground and resting a foreleg on it.
“Y-yes sir,” squeaked Chase. 
“Easy, no need to use ‘sir’ here little one,” said Trail Blazer with a warm laugh. “I don’t bite.”
“S-sorry I just, I’m just nervous I guess.”
“Well try to take is easy. I’m certainly not that high ranking that’s for sure so there’s no need to throw titles my way. Just a plain old guard, been on the force several years now. Just got back from being stationed on the Equestrian border.”
Chase’s eyes widened, “Wow, that sounds like a really long trip. What, what was it like out there?”
“Hot, dry, and full’a cranky griffons,” he replied with a nod.
The griffon borders, that was even more interesting to Chase. He couldn’t help but to feel like a foal as he stood in awe of Trail Blazer. “Griffons?”
The guard nodded, “Yup, I was helping monitor the trade routes, make sure no one pulled anything funny and make sure stuff gets where it belongs safely. And checking everything that goes in and out of the country.” He made a face and shook his head, “Some days it’s interesting and some days it’s not. Most of the time it’s the latter. But for now, why don’t we start your training with something simple.” He turned his head, unclipping the straps of his armour and sliding out from it and tapping it with one hoof. “So, you can start by helping to polish my armour. Armour is a guard’s best friend, next to his wits of course, so you need to best learn how to take care of it. It could save your life.”
“I’ve never polished armour before,” said Chase. “I’ve helped clean dishes and sometimes I helped clean stuff my father made in the forge but, that’s it.”
“Well, that’s why you need to learn, and I’m going to help you. Trust me, it’s not as easy as some would lead you to think.” He chuckled and shook his head as he picked up the armour and gestured for Chase to follow. “You can’t just dip in it water and clean it with soap, that’ll do the exact opposite of what you want, it’ll only rust faster if you aren’t careful.”
“So, how do you clean it then?” asked Chase. When cleaning off stuff at home water, a bit of soap, a cloth and a bit of elbow grease always did the trick.
“Oil and wax if you’ll believe it. You can throw in a bit of water initially to get off dirt and grime, but to really make it shine and keep it from rusting, you want to oil and wax it up.”
He set the armor down with a heavy thud as they reached what could only really be called a cleaning room. It was large, very open room that reminded Chase of pictures of barns, only emptier.
“The oils and waxes should be over in that cupboard,” he said, pointing to a series of cupboards on the far wall. “They’re all labeled so as long as you can read you should be able to find everything. Grab a bottle of each, some clean rags and a bucket and bring them over here.”
“Wax, polish, rags, bucket, got it,” repeated Chase with a nod before trotting over to the cupboards.
True to his word, all the bottles were neatly labeled and aligned in neat rows, or at least most of them were. The rags were all stored under the cupboard, as were several buckets and bins, as well as a hamper full of filthy rags.
A soft glow enveloped Chase’s horn and a couple of the bottles, lifting them from the shelf while he pulled out a bucket to toss them and some rags into. He carried the bucket back to Trail Blazer and the armour, looking between the two for a moment before speaking. 
“So, what first?”
“Well since it’s not all that dirty all it needs is a scrub down to get rid of the dust,” he said, indicating to the rags. “So put a bit of oil on one of the rags and get scrubbing, and don’t forget to get into all the cracks.”
Chase pulled out the bottle of oil and one of the rags, uncorking the bottle of oil and carefully pouring some onto the rags. “So I just, rub?” he asked as he picked up the oily rag.
Trail Blazer nodded, “Exactly, just rub it down good and hard.”
“Is there any particular place I should start cleaning?” asked Chase. “Or just anywhere?”
“Start at the top and work your way down.” He pushed the helmet closer to Chase, “Here, try starting with this instead, it’s smaller so it should be good practice.”
Chase sat down, the helmet sitting in front him and the rag in a telekinetic grip.
“And don’t be gentle, this stuff is sturdy so scrub hard if you have to. You want it to have a nice glossy finish. Not only does that mean it’s clean but it’s smooth, so there’s less areas for it to rust,” he explained as Chase started scrubbing at it, moving the cloth in circles around the armour. 
He shifted the cloth, moving to follow the contours of the shining metal from the top to the bottom in repetitive strokes. Chase frowned; nothing seemed to be happening other than dragging a layer of oil over the metal.
“Use more force, use your muscles,” said Trail Blazer with a grin. 
Chase scrunched his face up in concentration, taking the rag in his hoof to use more force in scrubbing. It was indeed a lot harder than it looked as Chase found himself beginning to sweat as he scrubbed, holding the helmet in one hoof and the rag in the other. He only switched the rag to his magic to get into the tiny grooves and crevices that adorned the armour. There were so many of them and they were so fine, he almost wished he’d asked his father about how this was done, it was so detailed. 
Off to the side Trail Blazer stepped out of the shoes before emptying the bucket and dragging it over to a tap. Once it was filled he carried it back to Chase. He looked around for a moment and then rather unceremoniously stuck his muzzle in, drawing a big gulp of water to quest his thirst with a sigh. 
“Don’t tell anyone about that alright?” he asked with a chuckle. “I’m not sure I’d live it down, but darn am I thirsty.”
Chase nodded, trying not to laugh, “Alright, my lips are sealed.”
“So, tell me about yourself Chase, what made you decide to be a guard? You can clean while talking.”
Chase sighed, pausing a moment before continuing to scrub the armour. “I guess I just always wanted to help ponies. One summer my mom took me to see the Summer Sun Celebration and during it they have that, event where the guards perform and showcase their skills. I was inspired, they seemed so big and strong and not afraid of anything while I was just a tiny foal frightened of his own shadow. I mean, who doesn’t want to be brave right?” He chuckled and shook his head, taking a moment to add more oil to the rag before continuing to clean. “And I guess I wanted to prove I could do whatever I wanted if I tried hard enough. And of course, once this appeared,” he gestured to his cutie mark, “I knew that I wanted to be a guard, to protect everypony, especially those who couldn’t. Of course, if my dad had his way I wouldn’t be here at all.”
Trail Blazer tilted his head, giving him a curious look, “Oh? Does he have something against the guard?”
“I’m not really sure. When I first told him I wanted to be a guard he was furious and insisted that I work in the forge with him. He told me to ‘banish the idea from my mind’. So when I said I was going to join, he told me he wasn’t going to help and I had to do it on my own.”
“Ah, so it’s also a matter of pride, you want to prove to your father that you can do this.”
“Yeah, I guess it is that too. I hadn’t thought about it that way. I don’t even know why he’s so against it. I mean I’ve asked him before but won’t say. He just gets quiet.” Chase shook his head, “Yet I know he respects them, he always attends the Memorial Day service and he’s very respectful. He just didn’t like the idea of me becoming one it seems.” He sighed, setting the cloth down and picking up a clean one to continue his work. “My mother encouraged me though. ‘If that’s what you want to do Chase then follow you dream and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise’ she told me anytime I started feeling down or got worried I wasn’t good enough.”
Trail Blazer smiled, “Your mother sounds like a smart mare.”
Chase grinned, “Yeah she is she’s the best mother ever. I wouldn’t trade her for the world.”
He returned to scrubbing the helm, carefully avoiding the large plume on the top. The helm wasn’t even all that dirty; most of the dirt was in the cracks and crevices. 
“Just be lucky you’re cleaning that today,” said Trail Blazer. “I haven’t done much to get it dirty recently so it’s just acquired dust and dirt. Imagine if this had caked on mud and dirt, or even blood, cleaning that would be a lot harder I assure you.”
“So this is easy cleaning?” asked Chase. “I think I’m going to be sore by the time I’m done.”
“Well maybe it’ll help you build up some muscle, you’re going to need it if you want to be a guard, unicorn or not.” He gestured to the armour, “You’ll need the muscle just to wear this, try picking it up.”
Chase looked down at the helmet, setting aside the rag. It didn’t look that heavy, Trail Blazer had carried it effortlessly as if it wasn’t very heavy at all. “It doesn’t seem very heavy.”
Trail Blazer just smiled, “Then try to lift it.”
“Shouldn’t be to hard,” said Chase, resting his hooves on either side of it. Gripping it carefully he picked it up, or at least he tried to, the helmet turned out to be a lot heavier than he thought and he just about dropped it after managing to lift it only a few inches from the ground.
“And if you think that’s heavy just try and imagine wearing it, and the chest piece for an entire day,” said Trail Blazer with a nod. “Now do you see, you’re going to need to work hard, and not just on your magic.”
Chase looked down at himself and sighed, “Yeah, I am kinda scrawny aren’t I? I look so small beside everyone else. Perhaps I should practice lifting these, that’ll build up my muscle.”
“For now just focus on cleaning, you still have a long way to go.”
Chase sighed, the older stallion was right, he wasn’t finished with the helmet yet and he still had the body armour to clean and more than likely the shoes. Picking up the rag he went back to cleaning.
“So how do I know when I’m done?” asked Chase.
“If you can see yourself in it then you’re done.”
> Chapter Nine
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Chase panted, flopping onto his stomach on the floor of the cleaning room, the armour sitting in front of him and several oily, dirty rags off to the side. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been cleaning and polishing, but his forelegs were sore and beginning to ache. The helmet was polished, the shoes shined and the body armour oiled till it was like a mirror.
“And you have to do this everyday?” asked Chase, looking up at Trail Blazer.
“Just about, unless I’ve been doing a lot of work a simple rub down is all it needs. A full, thorough cleaning is best saved for the most extreme times.” He picked up the helmet to inspect it, turning it over in his hooves. “You did a good job for your first time, but there’s one last thing to do.”
Chase groaned, “More?”
Trail Blazer, “Don’t worry, it’s not that hard. Once you finishing oiling and polishing, a light coat of wax will help to seal it up and keep dust and dirt from sticking.” He gathered up the dirty rags, taking them to the bin with the rest of the dirty ones and grabbing a few clean ones. “The waxing shouldn’t take as long.”
“Any special way to wax?” asked Chase. 
“Not really, just follow my lead.” He unscrewed the jar of wax and dipped the cloth in, picking up the helmet in one hoof. He rubbed the helm with gentle, repetitive circles. 
After watching him for a few moments Chase moved closer to the body armour and started mimicking his movements, rubbing the wax over the metal. As he worked his ears perked up at a noise from beside him. Turning he noticed that Trail Blazer had started humming while he worked, seemingly oblivious to Chase watching him. He nodded his head slowly as he hummed.
Chase worked quietly, not wanting to disturb the older stallion as he hummed to himself. He wasn’t sure what the song was, he didn’t recognize it; it sounded nice though.
“So, what are you humming?” he finally asked during a lull in the music.
Trail Blazer made a startled noise, lifting his head, “Oh, was I humming again?” he said. “I hope I didn’t bother you to much. Sometimes I start humming to pass the time when I’m working on something.”
“It wasn’t a bother,” said Chase, waving it off. “It was a nice break from the silence, sir.”
“Please, you don’t need to be so formal. I told you I’m not that high ranking, just a regular soldier. As for the song, it’s just something I picked up while serving, you wouldn’t believe how boring the job can get sometimes.” He looked over at the armour Chase was working on, “How goes the polishing?”
“Good, I think?” Chase looked down at the armour he was holding, it was certainly very shiny. “I’m definitely going to have shiny hooves after that’s for sure.”
“You’re still going to want to wash them though, the wax and oil with get into your coat and make a real mess,” he wrinkled his nose. “And that’s not coming from a vanity standpoint either, the stuff really is messy and it makes it hard to do anything with your hooves. Hot water and soap, the best way to wash it off.”
“I will definitely remember that,” said Chase, setting down the waxy rag so he could stretch. “Man, I never thought being a guard would mean so much cleaning.”
Trail Blazer nodded, “At least it’s just dust and not blood, that’s even harder to clean off.”
“Have you ever had to clean blood off your armour before?” asked Chase.
He sighed, “Only once. I was helping break up a fight and things got really out of hoof. It wasn’t my blood thankfully; it was one of the combatants due to all the kicking and biting. You wouldn’t believe how many times we get called out for stuff like that.”
“So you do riot control too huh?”
“I suppose that’s one way to put it yes, from crowd control at any large event to breaking up particularly nasty fights between ponies, we guards do them all,” he said with a nod. “It’s not all glamorous that’s for darn sure so I hope you didn’t join hoping for something like that.”
“N-no, I told you why earlier, I want to protect ponies and help them. After the Changeling invasion,” he shuddered and shook his head. “I want to be brave, but the idea of facing something like that is a bit frightening.”
“That’s a very noble reason, you wouldn’t believe how many ponies join hoping to get fame and glory. And I wouldn’t worry about getting scared, everypony does at some point in their lives.” He looked back at the armour, then over at Chase. “I think that’s good enough for today, you go wash up while I put this stuff away and meet me back in the court yard.”
“Really?” asked Chase. “I mean, shouldn’t I help clean up or something?”
He shook his head and waved him off, “Don’t worry about it I can handle this. You did good and you could use the break.”
“Thank you,” said Chase with a nod before trotting off to wash up. 
Trail Blazer watched as he trotted off before picking up the body armour and a cloth to finish waxing it. “I must say, for his first time he did pretty good, and he’s a fast study, he could go far,” he thought. “He just needs a bit more confidence in himself.”



Chase shook his head and hooves dry, flinging water off as he finished washing himself. Trail Blazer was surprisingly nice and almost laid back. Of course he’d just come back from a really tough sounding job out at the border, he was probably super tired as well.
“I wonder what else he has planned for today,” he thought. “Maybe we’ll do some practice, maybe he wants to see what I can do.” Chase gulped, the very thought made him nervous, compared to a fully trained guard he wasn’t very strong or good at anything. “Well, I guess it’s back out to courtyard to find out what’s next.”
He dried his hooves off before trotting down the hall and back to the courtyard.
Trail Blazer was already waiting, a pair of wooden swords lay on the ground near his hooves and a large punching dummy stood a few feet away. The punching dummy was a glorified bag filled with hay and sawdust with a dopy grin that looked like it had been drawn on by a foal. Common consensus was that the foal of one of the higher ups had helped draw the face on before it was brought to the training halls. 
“I was wondering if we could see how well you handle a sword,” he said. “I have the rest of the day off so I’d like to get to learn more about what you can do, although I’m afraid I won’t be able to help you much with your magic.”
“A sword? I’m afraid I don’t know much about using one,” admitted Chase. Most of his practice had been limited to using his magic or hoof-to-hoof combat, but nothing really with a weapon save for the occasion where they practised with staffs.
“Well, then I guess practice is good for you,” he said, knocking a wooden sword towards him. “They’re just wood so that way you won’t hurt yourself.”
“How, how do I hold it?” asked Chase with an embarrassed blush. “Should I carry it with my magic or without?”
“Why don’t we practice without? I can be of more help to you that way, plus this skill may come in handy should your magic be incapacitated in some way. Just follow my lead.” He picked up the sword in his teeth and nodded for Chase to do the same, waiting till he had a good grip. Usually the guard’s weapon of choice was a polearm, it had a long reach and allowed an easy grip in the hoof, while a sword allowed the user to get closer but was a bit awkward to hold without magic or wings. The handle itself was quite long so that they could hold it comfortably in their mouth when fighting.
“Very good,” he said through clenched teeth with a nod. 
Chase wobbled, trying to find a comfortable way to hold the sword, it felt so odd to hold it in his mouth when every instinct was telling him to pick it up with his magic. Trail Blazer seemed to know what he was talking about though so Chase wasn’t about to question him. “This is so weird,” he said. “I feel like I’m going to mess up.”
“Ahh chin up, yer doing great,” said Trail Blazer, trying not to laugh. “Jus’ don’t drop it. Now, follow my movement alright?” He took a fighting stance, holding the wooden blade out in front of himself, pointing towards the dummy.
He drew his head back to one side before swinging the sword out, striking the dummy across the middle with the wooden blade. The soft dummy buckled where it was hit, bouncing back several moments later. “Now you try.”
Chase took his position in front of the dummy as Trail Blazer stepped off to the side, trying to position himself the same way he’d seen Trail Blazer do. Taking a step forward he swung the blade at the dummy, only to miss and fall on his face, the sword slipping out of his mouth. 
“Ohh, that hurt,” he groaned, rubbing his snout. “And that really didn’t work as planned.”
“That’s alright, just try again.” Trail Blazer gave him an encouraging nod and smile.
Rubbing the dirt off his nose Chase pulled himself up to grab the sword and try again. He walked back to his position before charging the dummy again. It took him several attempts before he landed a halfway decent hit on the dummy. 
“This is a lot harder than it looks,” he said, resting the wooden blade in one hoof.
“It is, now imagine trying to do that with a metal blade, this one’s just plain old wood.”
Chase gulped, “That sounds really tricky. I’m not sure I’ll ever get the hang of it.”
“That’s no way to talk little one, no one ever gets it right on the first try so I’m not expecting you to either.” He knelt down in front of Chase, setting the sword down. “Did you get any of your spells right on the first try?”
“Well, no I guess not,” said Chase.
“Alright then, and if you couldn’t get that right on the first try, you’re not going to get this right on the first try.” He placed a hoof on his shoulder gently, “So you just need to get back up, pick up the sword and try again until you get it. Think you can manage that?”
“Of course,” said Chase with a nod. “Let’s try again, that dummy won’t be smirking anymore.”
Trail Blazer laughed as he stood up, “Good, that’s the sort of spirit I like to see. Now get that sword and let’s give it another go.”
Chase picked up the sword again and turned to face the training dummy, he wasn’t going to let it win, even if it didn’t actually attack back. He landed several blows in succession, his accuracy improving with the more swings he took. He stumbled over his feet less and less, leaving impact marks in the dummy as the wooden sword struck it. It was a basic form, a swing and strike, the sword making a soft thump as it hit the dummy. It wasn’t sharp, being made only of wood, but he knew if it had been made of steel the impact marks would have been cuts and the stuffing would be spilling out.
He tried to find a way to hold the sword in his hooves but he kept dropping it and went back to holding it in his mouth to strike the dummy. He didn’t doubt that to the outside viewer it much look strange, a unicorn practicing like this, but he kept at it, no one had said anything yet and he hoped to keep it that way.
“This is tiring,” he panted, dropping onto one knee to catch his breath as he set the wooden sword down. His legs were shaking with exhaustion, ears pinned back to his skull. He’d been at it for hours, following Trail Blazer’s instructions on how to stand, how to swing and how to hold the sword.
“It’s supposed to be tiring, that means you’re doing it right,” said Trail Blazer. “If it didn’t push you to your limits it wouldn’t really be practice.”
“It’s also making me hungry, I think I missed lunch.”
“Well we can’t have that,” chuckled the large stallion. He scooped up the swords in one leg, “Why don’t you take a break and get something to eat, no sense practicing on an empty stomach. I have a few things I need to take care of in the mean time.”
“So should we just meet back here?” asked Chase. 
“Ah, how about you take the rest of the day off? I think I’ve worked you enough for today, besides I don’t know how long things are going to take. We can meet here tomorrow first thing after breakfast alright, before I start my shift.”
Chase nodded, “Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
With their goodbyes said Chase trotted off to the cafeteria to get something to eat and hopefully stop the growling in his stomach.
As he passed his room he stopped, raised voices were coming from inside and they didn’t sound happy.
“I told you I don’t know where your dumb pin went,” snorted Cloud Runner. “Maybe it’s in your bed somewhere, that’s things a mess.”
Chase shook his head, with how messy their room got it was a wonder more things didn’t go missing more often. The only time it was ever remotely clean was inspection day, and that was only because none of them wanted to end up on latrine duty or worse. 
“It’ll turn up eventually,” he thought, turning away from the door to head to the cafeteria. Stuff that went missing always did. He sniffed the air as he neared the dining hall and licked hip lips, something smelled delicious.
Alfalfa salad with spiced dried apples and honeyed nuts. Chase drooled as he looked at his lunch, he had half a mind to just dig right in, cutlery be darned. He held he bowl between his hooves as he sat down, stomach grumbling at the site of the food. 
“Oh, poo with what they think,” he thought before sticking his muzzle into the salad. The apples were dried and flavoured with cinnamon, while the nuts, a whole variety of them, were sweetened with honey, all things he enjoyed. His tail swished happily as he ate and his ears wiggled. 
“I’ll have to remember this so I can make it myself later,” he thought as he polished off his salad. Having eaten his meal Chase made his way back to his room, hoping the noise had quieted down. 
Pushing the door open he stuck his head in and looked around, it had quieted down, but it was an even larger mess than he’d ever seen it before. Sky Fire was the only one left and was flying around, digging through anything and everything.
“Lost something?” asked Chase, stepping into the room.
The white pegasus sighed, wings drooping as he landed on the ground. “I think I misplaced my dad’s silver pin,” he said. “It’s my good luck charm.”
“Well, where did you last see it?” asked Chase.
“In my bag, but I’ve been through it several times, I even emptied it all over the floor to look.” He sighed and bowed his head sadly. “I can’t have lost it, this is awful.”
“I’m sure it’ll turn up,” said Chase, placing a hoof on his shoulder reassuringly.
“I hope so,” said Sky Fire. “I really hope so.”
Lowering his hoof Chase looked around the room then back to Sky Fire. “So where is everypony else?” he asked.
“I think they went to eat,” said Sky Fire. “I should probably do the same.”
Chase grinned, “You should, they have alfalfa salad today.” Sky Fire perked up at this and nodded saying goodbye to Chase before he left. Once alone Chase pulled his bag out and began digging through it to find something. “Huh that’s odd, my journal should be in here somewhere.”
> Chapter Ten
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Chase huffed as he sat on his bed, tapping his chin thoughtfully. He’d spent the last little bit searching for his journal; he wanted to write about his day, more specifically about Trail Blazer and what he’d been learning from him. For some reason he just couldn’t find it. It wasn’t in his bag, under the bed, or even between the bed and the wall, where he thought it might have fallen. He asked his roommates if they’d seen a small blue book, but none of them had seen it either. 
The unicorn frowned, this didn’t make any sense, it wasn’t like he took it anywhere outside the room. He lifted up his pillow again and sighed, it wasn’t there either. Of course he knew it wasn’t there because he’d looked there already but it didn’t stop him from looking, no more than it would have stopped him from looking in the fridge even knowing there was nothing there he wanted to eat.
“Is anyone else missing anything?” he asked, looking around at his roommates. 
Thundermane and Cloud Runner shook their heads, “Naw, at least nothing important,” they said. 
“Weird, maybe we have boggarts or something.”
“Boggarts?” Sky Fire gave him a bemused look. “What are those?”
“Well, if my mother’s stories are to be believed they’re mischievous little monsters that like to steal stuff and mess around with everything. Like, mini Discord’s I guess,” explained Chase. “Of course, who knows if they’re even real to begin with.” 
“Even if they were why would they want an old book and a pin?” asked Thundermane. 
Chase just shrugged, “Who knows, I just hope they turn up soon”
“So how was your day?” asked Thundermane. “I thought I saw you out sword fighting earlier.”
“Oh that, I was practicing, Trail Blazer was teaching me how to use a sword. He said it’s a good idea I learn how to use one without magic in case something happens to me and I can’t use it,” said Chase. “He just got back from a tour out on the Equestria-Griffon Land’s borders, I bet he has a lot he can teach me. So what about you guys, how was it with your mentors?”
“I ended up flying through an obstacle course all day,” groaned Thundermane, wigs relaxing at his sides. “And then had to clean all his armour, and it was filthy. My hooves and wings are killing me.”
“Mine called in sick,” said Sky Fire. “So I couldn’t do anything, it was really boring.”
Cloud Runner yawned, “I had to help with weather duty; apparently even though he’s a guard, my mentor works part time with the local weather team so I got stuck helping clean clouds and stuff. Exhausting.”
“Not a weather pony huh?” asked Chase. “Given your name and cutie mark I kind thought you were one,” he admitted. 
“It’s not that, it’s just I’ve never done that much work before,” he said. “I was born in Cloudsdale and worked part time on the weather team there to earn some spending bits, then we moved here. They’re practically slave drivers in comparison. I’m exhausted, I need sleep.” The upper bed creaked as he flopped onto his side with a sigh. “So try to keep it down alright?”
“Don’t worry, we’ll be quiet,” said Thundermane. “We’re probably all going to sleep anyways.”
“Sounds like a good idea,” said Sky Fire, making his way over to his bed.
Chase yawned as he stretched out, it was getting late and there was no sense in stressing himself over a missing journal and ruining his sleep. It was bound to turn up; it certainly didn’t wander away on its own. Maybe there really were boggarts, that would be interesting.
The lights flicked off, plunging the room into darkness and silence soon reigned.
Curling up Chase closed his eyes as he snuggled into the covers to go to sleep.



Chase galloped along through a jungle, the ground underfoot was slick and muddy, splattering onto his white coat. He wasn’t sure what he was running from, but he didn’t want to find out. The air around him was hot and sticky and the plants wide leaved and strange looking. From somewhere off behind him he could hear the deep, heavy breathing of some large creature. With a leap he burst from the bushes, only to find himself on the edge of a cliff, staring down over what looked like a giant ocean.
‘That wasn’t there before,’ he thought, taking a step back so as not to fall off. 
The bushes behind him snapped and cracked and Chase spun around to see what was chasing him. 
As he turned around, something wet and cold slapped against his cheek.



Chase’s eyes snapped open as his hoof flew to his face, a shudder rippling through him. While the dream itself was hazy, the wet, slapping feeling had felt so real. As he rubbed his cheek he shuddered, it was damp. 
“That’s weird, I don’t remember crying,” he thought with a frown, unable to understand why his cheek was wet. As he sat up he noticed something else odd, his sheets were all bunched up at the bottom of the bed. “Well, no wonder I’m cold. How weird is that, I’ve never kicked my covers off before.” He pulled the covers back up to his chin, wrapping himself as he wiggled back under and tried to go back to sleep. 
Unfortunately, Chase wasn’t the only one having problems trying to fall asleep that night. Every time Thundermane closed his eyes he felt a tugging on his ear, but when he opened his eyes to look around there was nothing there, as there shouldn’t have been what with him being on the top bunk. Rubbing one eye he looked around the room, everyone else seemed to be sleeping fine. Chase was snoring away as usual and Cloud Runner and Sky Fire were fast asleep, one of them mumbling in their sleep. With a huff he rolled over, drawing his blankets up close and went back to sleep. This happened several more times, a tugging feeling on his ear pulling him from his sleep. He groaned, burying his head under the pillow. 
“Just let me sleep,” he grumbled, ruffling his wings as he tried to get comfortable.
Needless to say, despite their best efforts, Chase and Thundermane were quite tired when they woke up, their sleep having been disturbed.
Chase yawned as he ate his breakfast, the bowl sitting in front of him on the table. “What a weird night.”
“You too huh?” asked Thundermane.
Chase gave him a curious look, “What do you mean?”
“It felt like something was tugging on my ear last night,” he said. “Every time I went to sleep it felt like something was yanking on my ear. It was weird. What about you?”
“Well, I think I kicked my covers off sometime in the night because I woke up cold and they were almost all at the foot of my bed. And it felt like something wet hit my cheek, but I thought that was just my dream.” He rubbed the spot on his cheek where he remembered being hit, “But when I woke up my coat was damp.”
“Maybe the dorm’s haunted,” suggested Thundermane, prodding around his food.
“I hope not,” sighed Chase, resting his chin on the table. “I like reading ghost stories as much as the next guy, but I’d prefer they stay there, in stories.” He stretched out, “I need to get going, Trail Blazer’s going to be waiting for me.”
“Yeah, I probably should too. Oh it’s going to be a nightmare, doing everything sleep deprived,” yawned Thundermane. 
“I don’t even know what I’m going to do today,” said Chase as he stood up. “See you later.”
With another yawn he started off down the hall. “I hope Trail Blazer slept better than I did.”



The sleepless epidemic and missing items seemed to be spreading through the dorm as Chase noticed he wasn’t the only one who was sleepy, as well as there being several sticky ‘lost item’ notes on one of the note boards. 
“What on earth is going on in this place?”
“You look a bit sleepy,” said Trail Blazer, looking up as Chase approached. “Did you not sleep well?”
“Not really, I guess my bed was just a bit lumpy or something,” he said. “I’ll be fine.”
“I hope so, I was hoping we could get in a bit of practice this morning before I head off to my rounds.”
“Your rounds?”
The large stallion nodded, “Mmhhmm, I may be back from a tour out on the border lands but I’m not retired. My rounds take me around the castle grounds, so you may get to see a bit more than you may have usually seen before. But I like to get in some warm ups before I go on patrol.” He kicked a wooden sword across the grass to Chase, “Why don’t you show me what you remember from practice yesterday?”
Chase picked up the sword, walking towards the practice dummy. He fought back a yawn; he’d drop the sword if he did that. He remembered the moves well enough and was sure he could execute them, but his sleepiness made it hard to concentrate. Taking a step back he trotted towards it, swinging the blade into the bag.
Trail Blazer watched him quietly, nodding as his attacks struck the training dummy.
Chase set the sword down, looking over at Trail Blazer hopefully; he hoped it wasn’t too obvious that he was tired.
“Not bad, you certainly have a good memory,” he said. “But, I need to get ready for patrol, so keep practicing till I come back.” With that he trotted off back to the barracks to get ready. 
Chase looked back at the dummy, picking up the sword. “Man, that was pathetic,” he thought. Only a hoofful of his strikes had made hit, the rest had glanced off or even missed all together. “Pretty sure he was just being nice. I think I need a nap later.” He took a few more practice swing at it before setting the sword aside to sit down and rest. There was no time for a nap, but being off his hooves felt nice.
“You think you can keep your eyes open long enough for a patrol around the grounds,” laughed Trail Blazer as he came back, adjusting his armour. “A sleepy guard is a fired guard, or a dead one depending.”
“I’ll be able to stay awake, don’t worry,” laughed Chase as he stood up. 
“Good, because the last thing you want to do is fall asleep on the job. Especially when your job is to protect something, or someone.”
Chase nodded as he followed him, Trail Blazer falling silent as they walked. While he’d been teaching Chase how to use a sword he carried with him a spear, resting it against a foreleg. Chase looked around as they walked, he wasn’t used to this area of the palace before. There were fewer ponies around and Chase began to wonder if the public was even allowed around these parts.
“So, where are we headed to?” he asked, trotting to keep up with Trail Blazer.
“The gardens, statue gardens and the west wing,” he said. 
“Does anyone go out that way?” asked Chase.
He nodded, “The gardens are public land, or most of them are, the only place we don’t get to go are the Princess’ private gardens. That’s reserved for her and her personal guard alone. The west wing houses the archives sections of the library you need permission to enter.”
“So like a restricted section?”
Trail Blazer nodded, “Something like that, it’s not restricted in that nopony can go there, but you can’t just waltz in. It’s mostly just researchers in there, a rather boring lot, so invested in their work. Chances are good they won’t look up at you; so don’t take it to personally. You’re more likely to find ponies in the gardens and statue garden.”
The last time Chase had been near the statue garden was the middle of the night, when the most grotesque statues looked even more fearsome and disturbing, and as if they could come alive at any moment. They weren’t so bad in the daylight though. 
“So is it just walking through those areas?” asked Chase.
“Walking and keeping an eye out for anything suspicious is pretty much it, though why anyone would want to break into the statue garden in the middle of the day is beyond me. Most of the problems happen during the night, that’s when you have to worry about the vandals and whatnot sneaking in.”
“Why in Equestria would anyone want to sneak into a statue garden at night?” asked Chase. “It’s not like it costs anything during the day as it is.”
“Usually to tag the statues, of course somehow I don’t think Discord minds, he probably enjoys the chaos.” He laughed and shook his head, “Of course being stuck in stone I’m not sure how much he’s aware of but I think he’d like it all the same. Anyways we’re almost there.” 
He trotted up to a guard, a Lunar Guard by the looks of it and they started to talk. The shadowy guard nodded before trotting off, leaving Trail Blazer and Chase there. 
“Just relieving the current guard,” he said, looking over at Chase. “He’s been up all night so his shift is over and mine starts. When you start your shift it’s always a good idea to find the guard currently on shift and relieve him or her by letting them know you’re there. It’s like clocking in for a job that way they know you actually made it on time.”
“What about if you’re sick and can’t come in?” asked Chase. “What do you do then?”
Trail Blazer rubbed the back of his head, “Well, the few times I was too ill to come in I had find someone to cover for me and explain my absence. Which isn’t always easy when you have the early morning shift and no one else is awake.”
“That sounds really tough,” said Chase. “I hope I don’t get sick.”
Trail Blazer adjusted his helmet and looked around before looking back at Chase. “I am officially on duty, so try and keep up.”



Chase wasn’t sure how the idea that being a guard was glamorous had ever gotten started, but he was pretty sure they had been lying. Patrolling the grounds was anything but that. The most excitement stemmed from a group of foals on a class trip through the garden, a group of very bored foals from the sounds and looks of it as the trudged after their teacher. The library was quiet, and a nice break from the screeching foals that were currently running through the garden, having been given free time at last.
“I’m glad I’m not their teacher,” he thought. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to control of that many foals at once, or even control one foal. 
While it was a large enough area to patrol, and was actually patrolled by several guards that way no pony could sneak in while a guard was in a different area, it got quite boring fast. They didn’t really talk much because there wasn’t anyone to talk with.
“I’m sorry it’s not more exciting,” apologized Trail Blazer. “But we’re in the middle of Canterlot, and in the palace nonetheless, not exactly a high crime area.”
“At least it’s peaceful and quiet,” said Chase. “The best way to be alone with your thoughts.”
Trail Blazer smiled, “That is true, I get some of my best thinking done when I’m alone. You just need to remember to keep your wits about you so you don’t miss anything.” He shifted the spear to his other hoof as they continued walking through the gardens. “And don’t disturb the bees. There’s nothing worse than angry bees getting under your army. I’d sooner take on an army of Changelings than deal with that. So if you see any bees don’t bother them, they’re usually calm if you leave them alone.”
“Oh don’t worry about that, I know bees. My mom runs a flower shop so the front of the store is always swarming with them in the spring,” laughed Chase. “The wasps are the worst though, you just look at them wrong and they’ll chase you to the ends of Equestria. At least I’m not allergic though, those stings hurt.”
A hoof clapped his back slowly with a laugh, “Well you’re definitely going to need to toughen up if you can’t handle a small sting. I assure you, sparring hurts a lot more.”
“Yeah, it looks like it could hurt a lot,” said Chase, “Especially if you do it wrong.” 
“Oh yes, so be careful when sparring alright?”
Chase nodded, he was definitely going to be careful from now on after the incident with his horn.
Chase’s next lesson involved breaks, specifically lunch breaks. If lunchtime fell when on guard duty they had two options, wait until their shift was over to eat if they had a short enough shift, or simply eat while working. The latter option usually involved sitting down to eat while at their post, which was what Trail Blazer was doing today as he didn’t get off till later and he was not about to skip lunch. Chase however was allowed to go and get something to eat so long as he came right back.
“I hope I can get a nap later,” he thought as he wandered into the cafeteria. “I need one before I fall asleep on my hooves.”



The rest of the day passed quickly enough, and Chase returned to his room after Trail Blazer got off duty, the older stallion telling him to go and try to get some rest.
With a yawn Chase flopped onto his bed, not even bothering to crawl under the covers this time. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a midday nap, not since he as a foal at least.
With a yawn he pulled his pillow close, hugging it to his face as he made himself comfortable for a nap.
> Chapter Eleven
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The number of disappearing items only seemed to increase as the days went by, along with it also increased the number of sleepless nights that were had due to ear pulling, wet slapping against their face or covers being removed. The older officers tried to calm them by saying it nothing and but that they would look into it nonetheless, but it didn’t seem to help, everypony was jittery and tired. Whoever or whatever was doing this didn’t seem to have any plans on letting up soon.
Chase had tried to cast a simple spell on the door to their room to alert them should anyone or anything come in during the night that wasn’t supposed to, a glorified burglar alarm, but the strange things still happened and the spell was never tripped. 
“Maybe it’s a ninja,” said Sky Fire, front legs dangling off the edge of his bed as he peered over to talk to them. “I mean, how else are they getting in without tripping all those spells?”
“It’s not ninjas you dolt,” said Cloud Runner, rolling his eyes. “Why would ninjas even do any of this stuff anyways? Steal meaningless items and bother us while sleeping? Doesn’t make sense.”
“Not to mention I heard that someone got into the cafeteria storage and turned all the milk sour and left the taps on,” said Thundermane, “It was a mess.”
“So that’s why there wasn’t any milk the other morning,” said Chase. 
When they’d gone for breakfast one morning they’d been surprised to discover not a drop of milk for them to have with their cereal. The senior guards were trying to keep it under wraps, but it was pretty clear they were just as freaked out as anyone and had no idea what to do or what was going on.
“Maybe it really is ghosts,” said Thundermane. “I mean, what else would it be?”
“Something unpleasant I’m sure.” Chase hung his forelegs over the bar at the head of his bed, giving him a good view of both the door and the rest of the room. “I just wish it would stop, I mean, this place isn’t that interesting.”
“Maybe it’s working its way up,” said Cloud Runner. “You know, steal its way through the guard’s quarters to make sure it can’t get caught before moving onto something bigger, like the Princess’ quarters or one of the forbidden wings of the palace.”
“Now you’re just talking crazy talk,” said Chase, swiveling to look over at Cloud Runner.
Sky Fire and Thundermane had the top bunks while Chase and Cloud Runner had the bottom bunks respectively. From his position the only one Chase couldn’t see was Sky Fire, save for his forelegs as they hung off the top bunk above Chase. Cloud Runner was lounging on his bed, chin resting on the bar on the foot of the bed with his wings relaxed at his sides. Thundermane lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling and occasionally over at them. Chase had to guess how Sky Fire was sitting, though the placement of his forelegs suggested he was sitting widthwise on the bed so he was facing the other two and allowing his legs to hang off the edge.
“Then what do you think it wants?” asked Cloud Runner. “Just to cause trouble?”
“Well it makes more sense than ninjas or ghosts,” huffed Chase. “Or getting to the Princess’ chambers. The real question isn’t what thought, it’s how do we make it stop?”
“Catch it?” suggested Thundermane. “Then evict it like a grumpy landlord.”
Sky Fire snorted, “No duh, but how do we catch it? We don’t even know what it looks like, or how big it is.”
Chase tapped his chin thoughtfully, tuning out the bickering pegasi. Sure his mother had told him about boggarts and gremlins, but not much more than them being mischievous little critters. She often jokingly said they were responsible whenever something went missing, but how to get rid of them had never come up. But if she knew about them surely there was something written about them somewhere.
“Hey guys!” They all turned to look at him, their chattering silenced quickly at the sound of his raised voice. “I was thinking, maybe we should check the library, there’s bound to be a book somewhere that tells you how to get rid of spirits and creatures like that, right?”
“I guess so,” said Thundermane, now sitting up. “Why, you think we should go look?”
“Well we don’t really have anything to lose now do we?” Chase hopped off the bed with a thump, pulling his saddlebags out and double-checking his library card was in it, hoping that that whatever was stealing things hadn’t stolen his card. “Any of you going to come with me, or am I doing this on my own?”
“Eh what the heck.” Cloud Runner shrugged as he stepped off his bed, soon followed by Thundermane and Sky Fire who flitted down from the top bunks. “I got nothing better to do, and who knows, maybe we’ll get lucky and find something.”
Chase certainly hoped so, what other choice did they have?
As the following day was the weekend the ‘lights out’ time was a bit more lax as it wasn’t uncommon for the young trainees to go and enjoy a night out. As long as they were quiet in the halls and weren’t bothering anypony they likely wouldn’t get in trouble for still being up. So even though it wasn’t even dark yet, Chase and the three pegasi found themselves walking slowly and quietly through the halls to the library, trying not to make too much noise.
The pegasi where whispering among themselves, though Chase couldn’t tell about what. “I hope I won’t regret this,” he thought, shaking his head as he turned his attention to the hall in front of him. 
The library was thankfully still open when they got there and Chase had to hush the group as they came to the door.
“The librarian in there seems a bit, uptight, so keep your voices down, I’d rather not get kicked out,” he hissed as they came to a stop at the door.
“Yeah you don’t want to anger a librarian,” said Sky Fire. “I hear they bite.”
This earned a few snickers and Chase just rolled his eyes, these guys were impossible. “Fine, all the more reason not to make her mad.” He pushed the door open as quietly as he could and waited for them to follow him in. 
“So where would we even start?” asked Thundermane. “The fiction section?”
“Why don’t we split up, two of us check the fiction section the others check the references or self-help sections or something,” suggested Chase.
Sky Fire gave him an amused look, “References, really?”
The unicorn huffed, stamping his hoof in annoyance. “Well where else in the nonfiction section would you look for pest control?”
“Well I’ll take fiction,” said Sky Fire quickly. “Sounds easier and more interesting.”
“Same here,” said Cloud Runner before anyone else could get a word in.
Chase sighed, that left him and Thundermane to browse the other sections. “Alright, we might as well get this over with, and hopefully one of us will find something.”



Chase stared at the book in his grasp, resisting the overwhelming urge to throw it at the wall in frustration. While he’d found several books on pest control, none were what he was looking for. He’d found books on dealing with various insect infestations; both in the house and garden, rodents and an inane number of other little creatures, but nothing detailing what he was looking for.
Thundermane seemed to be having the same kind of luck, which was none. Eventually he’d given up looking and simply started taking the books Chase was looking through and reshelving them when the unicorn was done reading them. 
“Maybe we should go check on the guys, see if they’ve had any better luck,” he suggested, hanging in the air, a few books in his hooves. “I mean they certainly couldn’t have had any worse luck.”
Chase set the book down with a sigh, “Yeah you’re probably right. Besides if I look at these any more I think I might chuck it across the room. I mean, if we had a rat problem I’d have the solution right here, but we don’t have rats. At least no any rats I’ve ever heard of.”
The grey pegasus chuckled as he gathered up the remaining books to put away, “I wish it were rats, that would be an easy fix.” 
He landed beside Chase after he put the last book away and nodded, “To the fiction section.”
Chase chuckled, “Yeah, to the fiction section. I just hope they didn’t get side tracked.”
“Yeah, they’re a bit airheaded sometimes aren’t they? But they’re my best friends so it’s tolerable.” He gave his wings a short stretch as he adjusted them comfortably at his sides, following Chase through the aisles of books. “Sky’s a bit lazy, that’s probably why he took fiction over non fiction, he’d probably fall asleep if he had to go through the non fiction books. Hopefully Cloud’s keeping him in line and from reading some novel.”
“That bad huh?”
Thundermane grinned, “Only sometimes, he doesn’t like to admit how much he likes reading but you give him a book and he’ll be occupied till he’s done,” he said. “Especially that one series, Hairy Trotter. He’s got the whole series, same with Daring Do. Don’t tell him I told you though, he’ll never forgive me if he found out.”
Chase smiled, “Alright, my lips are sealed.” He made a zipping motion across his muzzle to prove his point. “But if he’s that well read maybe he did have better luck than us. It certainly couldn’t have been any worse.”
Almost as if on cue they rounded a corner and just about crashed right into Sky Fire who had a book tucked under one wing. The white pegasus yelped as he skidded to a stop, bumping Chase in the process. “Ah, there you are,” he said, backing up once he regained his footing.
“Well you’re not buried in books,” said Thundermane. “But I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not. You find something?”
“Ah maybe?” he asked, rubbing the back of his head. “We found some books that talk about them but it’s hard to tell what’s going to be helpful and what isn’t.” He looked between Chase and Thundermane, “I take it you guys didn’t find anything huh?”
Chase shook his head, “No, not unless we’re dealing with giant rats or something.”
“Did learn how to get rid of cloud-mites though, but that’s not going to help,” said Thundermane as they followed Sky Fire.
As they approached the area that Sky Fire and Cloud Runner had been working in they noticed a ton of books just scattered around. Many had simply been put into piles, organized in a manner that only they must have understood. Cloud Runner was seated amidst several of these piles, flipping through a book before putting it in a pile to his right then grabbing a new one from one of the other stacks.
“What’d you do, empty the shelves onto the floor?” asked Chase as he looked around, nimbly avoiding the books as he walked.
“Um,” Sky Fire bit his bottom lip innocently. “Maybe?”
Chase groaned and shook his head, this was going to take forever to put back, let alone in the right order. The librarian would have their heads for sure if. “Well I hope you managed to find something cause we sure we didn’t.”
“Depends on what you consider something,” said Cloud Runner; finally lifting his head out from the book he was reading. “I found a couple books about obscure mythical creatures and a couple on folklore from different parts of Equestria.” He pointed to a stack of books to his left. “I haven’t gone through them yet, but I figure they might be helpful, more helpful than these,” he pointed to the stacks to his right. “So grab a book and start reading.”
They each took a book and sat down in silence, starting to read. Chase had picked up a large book on creatures from myth and legend from all across the world, not just Equestria. It was large, calling itself an encyclopedia of creatures, monsters and spirits. Flipping it open it became clear that it was alphabetized, like a dictionary or encyclopedia. That would make searching easy. Flipping through he came to the ‘B’ section, quickly skimming through it.
“Banshee, Basilisk, Behemoth, Bicorn, Black Shuck, Boggart! Ahah!” He read the names off under his breath and he flicked through the pages, trying to find what he needed. The passage regarding Boggarts was small, not even half a page in length. 
“Wait, is that all?” he sputtered aloud as he came to the end of the entry. “That can’t be it, there has to be more.”
“Something wrong?” asked Thundermane, looking up at Chase’s outburst.
“Yeah, the only entry this book has on boggarts isn’t very big, and listen to how it ends. ‘They are very difficult to get rid of’. I mean what the heck? That means there is a way to get rid of them, but it doesn’t say how.” He puffed his cheeks in annoyance as he stared at the book, that had to be the most useless answer in the world. He took a deep breath to calm and compose himself before continuing. “Maybe the section on brownies will have something, it said boggarts are kinda like mean brownies.” 
Brownies it seemed were the opposite of boggarts. Brownies were small, helpful spirits who seemed to enjoy doing housework and chores in exchange for a bit of food while boggarts seemed like brownies that Discord had gotten a hold of, preferring to steal things and bother sleepers, doing things that included removing the covers and slapping a clammy hand to the sleeper’s face. Despite being similar, Chase doubted that offering clothes to a boggart would make it leave, nor would trying to offend it drive it off. Chase groaned and buried his face in the open book, talk about useless information. 
“You guys found anything we can work with?” he asked.
“Well, this says they like milk and cream,” said Cloud Runner. “There’s also something about pouring seed on the ground because they’ll be compelled to count it, but I think we might get in trouble for that.”
Sky Fire and Thundermane nodded as well, they were getting similar results, lots of information on what they were and what they did, not so much on how to get rid of them.
“This says if an infestation is bad enough the only thing to do is leave and move to a new home,” said Sky Fire.
“Well that certainly isn’t going to help. At this rate we’re just going to have to wing it, so to speak,” said Chase with a sigh as he closed up his book.
They continued looking through the rest of the books with the same results, only finding bits and pieces of useful lore, such as iron and salt being a repellant and hanging horse shoes over the doorway to keep them out of a room or dwelling. They had their own magic but they didn’t seem to be immune to unicorn magic, and if they were none of the books made mention of it. 
Chase stretched out as he stood up, gathering a handful of books in his magic and started reshelving them, urging the others to do the same. It was getting dark and soon the library would close, at least for a period of time while the day and night shifts switched places and the night shift set everything up. 
“So what are we going to do?” asked Sky Fire as they exited the library. “We found like, nothing man.”
Chase scrunched his face up in thought as they walked, he had no idea what they should do, all the information they’d found was seriously lacking in removal remedies. There had to be someway to deal with, whatever they were dealing with, boggart or not. 
The pegasi chattered among themselves, presumably about what they did or didn’t find and what they could do. While Chase wasn’t paying much attention to what they were saying he was aware that they were talking so when they suddenly went quiet and the sound of their hoof beats stopped he got curious. 
“Something wrong?” he asked, turning to look back at them.
The three of them looked, almost scared, staring dead ahead at something past Chase. Sky Fire lifted a shaking hoof, pointing at what they were looking at. 
“Chase,” he squeaked, wings pinned to his side.
Chase frowned, who or what could have them so freaked out? 
“Chase, is that you?” 
His ears perked up at the sound of the voice and spun around quickly, perhaps a bit to fast as soreness twinged at the back of his neck. “Wish!”
The Nocturn grinned, “Yeah that’s me. Who’re your scared looking friends?”
“W-wait, you know her?” asked Sky Fire, finding his voice finally. “How, when?”
“Remember the first night, when I got dared to spend a night in the Night Guard’s wing of the place?” asked Chase. “I met her then and we spent the night hanging out.” He looked between the groups, “Wish, these are my roommates Thundermane, Sky Fire and Cloud Runner.” He pointed to each in turn. “You guys, this is Wish she’s cool. And don’t worry, she won’t bite you or anything.”  
“Yeah, you don’t look tasty enough,” she said. “But you do though.”
Chase hid his face behind a leg in embarrassment, trying to hide the blush that was rapidly spreading over his cheeks. “Please don’t tease me in front of them, it’s mean,” he mumbled. “And you’re not helping make them less freaked out.”
She huffed in an exaggerated manner, “Fine, I’ll lay off the teasing. But Chase is right I don’t bite. Not ponies any ways, I bite fruit.”
“So please try to relax a bit, she really is nice,” said Chase, finally getting the heat in his cheeks under control. “And you,” he looked back at Wish. “Behave please.”
She stuck her tongue out playfully, “You’re no fun. But in all seriousness though, what’cha doing out here?”
“Coming back from the library,” said Chase. “You hear about all the items going missing recently?”
“I think I heard something about that yeah,” she said with a nod. “Yeah, we’ve been having things go missing while we’ve been out on duty. We come back to our rooms and stuff’ll be gone. What about it?”
“Well that’s not all that’s been happening, something’s been eating the food in the store room and bothering us when we sleep,” continued Chase.
“This guy thinks it’s a boggart,” said Sky Fire, a hint of skepticism in his voice.
“It makes more sense than ninja’s and ghosts alright?” Chase snorted and shook his head, “Anyways, yeah, boggarts. We were at the library trying to find any information on how to get rid of them. As you might guess, we had crap luck.”
“So, you’re planning on trying to catch one?” she asked. Chase nodded and she grinned, “Then you can count me in, this sounds great.”
> Chapter Twelve
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The now slightly larger group made their way towards the kitchen, which had been shut down for the night. Only a small section was left open for the Nocturns to get something to eat.
“So what’s the plan?” asked Thundermane as they stopped at the door.
“Well, one of the books said they like milk, I was thinking we could set out a dish of milk for it and when it comes to eat it or whatever I trap it with a modified shield spell,” said Chase. “Instead of putting the shield around me, I’ll put it around the, whatever it is, like trapping a spider under a glass.”
“You make it sound so easy, what if nothing comes? We’ll be watching it all night,” said Cloud Runner. “And before that, how are we going to get the milk? The door’s sorta, locked.”
“Oh, that’s easy, just give me a minute or two,” said Chase, wiggling through the group to the door. A light glow surrounded his horn as he focused a tiny stream of magic into the lock, his face screwed up in concentration. “Now keep quiet or we’ll never get in,” he hissed, hearing them start to speak. He clenched his teeth, feeling around the inside of the lock with his magic. Doing this blind was tricky so he had to work on feel alone. Finally, after several minutes he felt a release as the lock clicked, the door unlocking. “Aha, there we go.” 
“Should we be worried that you know how to pick a lock?” asked Thundermane.
Chase just laughed as he pushed the door open, “Naw, this was just a basic lock, really simple stuff, so it was just pushing and prodding till I got a result. If it were a more advanced lock I probably wouldn’t be able to do it. So don’t worry, no secret criminal ties here if that’s what you’re worried about. I’m just glad it wasn’t magically protected.” 
The kitchen was dark and it became apparent after a few steps that no one, save Wish, could see where they were going. 
“Will you all stop pushing for a moment,” growled Chase, trying to move so he didn’t have a pegasus up his flanks. His horn flared to life as he cast a quick light spell, a ball of light clinging to the tip. “There, now we don’t need to worry about climbing over one another,” he said as they moved apart, no long being crushed into a mess of feathers and hooves. “Now, we need to find the milk and a bowl, and be quiet in the process.” He looked over at Cloud Runner, the last one through the door. “You keep a look out in case, for some reason, someone comes by. The last thing we need is to get caught here.”
“Any particular size of a bowl?” asked Thundermane. “Big, small? Does it matter?”
Chase shook his head, “I don’t care, just a bowl. As long as we can pour milk into it, it’ll work.”
The kitchen where food was prepared for the barracks was separate from the kitchens of the main palace and noticeably smaller. It had a decent sized stove and counter space for cooking, a fridge, freezer and numerous cupboards that were kept stocked with food. A lock had since been placed on the cupboards in an attempt to keep out who or whatever had snuck over the last few nights for a midnight snack. The fridge however had no such luxury, though that could have been in part because it was large and quite heavy, so trying to open it could be difficult. 
Chase sent a few tiny orbs to light up the room so they could see what they were doing and where they were going as they split up, Chase unable to be in multiple places at once. Wish didn’t need the extra lights, easily navigating the darkened room on her own, even before he’d lit his horn up.
“I found the bowls!” she called in a loud whisper.
“I found a bottle of milk,” said Thundermane as Sky Fire shut the fridge. 
“So, where are we setting this all up?” asked Sky Fire. “We can’t do it in the hall, someone will see, and the common room probably won’t empty till later.”
Chase shut his mouth; he hadn’t even thought about that, he was just thinking on his feet. “That’s a good question. We could always set it up here? I mean, if it’s going to be sneaking in for food it’s bound to come back here right? We’ll need to hide though, somehow I doubt it’s going to come out if it sees us here.”
“The pantry section looks roomy enough, like a glorified closest full of food,” said Wish, “We could leave the dish of milk out here and wait in there for it. The problem will be not falling asleep while we wait.”
“Why don’t we take turns keeping watch?” suggested Cloud Runner and he rejoined the group, closing the door quietly behind him. “The hallway’s pretty much dead so I don’t think we need to keep an eye on that. So we just take turns keeping watch and whoever’s on watch can wake up Chase so he can do his thing and catch it, if you’re asleep when it comes.”
They looked among themselves, nodding and murmuring as they discussed the idea.
“Alright then it’s decided, we’ll each take watch and see if anything comes,” said Chase. “Let’s get this set up.”
They set the bowl that Wish had grabbed out in the middle of the kitchen and carefully filled it to just below the brim with milk. 
Dimming his horn down, Chase led them into the pantry room, pulling the door shoot behind them till it was only open by a crack. The pantry was roomy, at least until five adult ponies were crammed in, and filled with various, nonperishable foods; the shelves were lined with breads, cereals, fruits and vegetables, dried fruits and vegetables, bags of various powders and mixes sat along the floor and the bottom of the shelves. 
Getting comfortable took a bit, each trying to make sure they weren’t getting someone’s flank in their face or a leg in their side, or hit by a wing or horn.
“I gotta say, of all the crazy shit I’ve done, this is new,” said Wish as she settled down, wings folded to her sides.
“I hope we’re not taking you away from work or anything,” said Chase. It had only just occurred to him then that while they were doing this because they had nothing to do, this was her ‘day’ and when she had to work.
She waved away his concern, “Naw it’s cool, I have the later shift anyways. Or early I guess it would be. Either way I’m free for a few hours. I just hope we catch it before then. I do not want to be late for my shift or I’ll never hear the end of it.”
“So, you spent the night hanging out with her?” asked Sky Fire. “How’d you not go crazy?”
Chase just laughed and shook his head, “Who knows. Probably because I ended up falling asleep at one point, and playing cards at another. It was certainly interesting.”
“You enjoyed yourself and you know it,” said Wish with a grin as she elbowed him. “You were jittery at first by you warmed up to us after a bit.” 
“Us?” asked Sky Fire.
“Yeah, Chase, me and the twins. Heh, I bet they’d love this, if you could get them to sit still long enough.”
Chase chuckled, somehow he doubted that the twins could sit still long enough, or keep quiet long enough, to stake out and catch something. Of course, he wasn’t sure anyone in the room could for that matter. In the deathly silence of the room he could hear the ruffling of feathers as the pegasi adjusted their wings, the soft scuffing of hooves as they shifted their position and their heavy, tired breathing.
Chase laid his head on his forelegs; he wasn’t tired so much as he was bored. A weight across his back caught his attention and he lifted his head up to look over his back at Wish, who was resting her chin and forelegs across his back. 
“Can I help you?” he asked.
“Yeah, try not to move, you’re very comfy,” she said with a grin. 
“I’m not a pillow,” he protested, but was stopped as she pressed a hoof to his muzzle. 
“Shh, don’t talk. We’re supposed to be quiet remember, and you’re my pillow now, and pillows don’t talk.”
Chase sighed, ignoring the snickers from the other guys, who had now noticed his predicament. There was clearly no talking her out of this, and not quite enough room to move to get out from under her.
The room was quiet though and he did feel warm where he was sitting, so much so that he did in fact nod off at one point, head resting against his legs.



A hoof collided with his shoulder none to gently, jostling the unicorn from his nap with a startled snort.
“Dude wake up there’s a, thing out there drinking the milk,” hissed Thundermane. “I dunno what it is but it’s weird. Not a ghost or ninja that’s for sure.”
Chase rubbed his eyes, taking a few moments for everything to sink back in about where he was and what he was doing.
“Anytime now, before it gets away!”
He stood up, knocking Wish off his back and onto the floor rather abruptly before making his way through the pony pile and towards the door. The Nocturn yelped in surprise, although she hadn’t been asleep she was relaxed enough that his outburst was startling. Peering through the crack he got his first view of the, whatever it was.
It was a small creature that couldn’t have been any taller than his knee. It stood on two legs like a dragon and had long spindly arms and claws, which it was using the scoop up and drink the milk. It had two short legs and a strange tufted tail. Its ears were wide, almost bat like and seemed to flick about as it listened. It had a very flat face and pointed nose, like a strange looking dog. 
Chase wasn’t sure if that was what a boggart looked like, but it probably shouldn’t have been there. Charging his horn he focused on the small creature, which was to busy drinking to notice him. A bubble of magic appeared above it, spreading and widening out as he lowered it, curving it into a dome shape. 
The creature’s ears perked up suddenly and it looked up at the barrier, paused for a moment and took off across the floor, knocking the dish of milk over in the process.
Chase cursed, he’d taken to long and now it was getting away. 
“I don’t think so!” He barreled out of the doorway and across the room towards it. Surely it couldn’t move faster than he could, could it? “Stay in one spot darn it!”
It made a chattering noise, dropping onto all fours to run and sounding very upset. It skidded to a stop as it came to the stove, it couldn’t move any farther forwards. 
“Gotcha now,” said Chase, positioning himself in the only escape it had. “Now let me catch you!” He brought the barrier down, only for the creature to lunge towards him, bounce off his head and run down his back. Chase yelped in surprise and the barrier fizzled out as the creature collided with his face. 
A clang came from behind him and he turned around to see Thundermane leaning on a large pot, an angry growling coming from inside it followed by a rough scratching sound.
“Th-thanks,” panted Chase. “Slippery little devil huh?”
“Yeah, but now what do we do, if I lift this up it’ll get away,” he said, tapping the metal pot he’d trapped it under. 
“I just hope no one heard that, you know how loud that was?” asked Sky Fire as the rest joined the pair. “The answer is really loud.”
“If it’s as dead out there as Cloudy said it was, then I think we’re pretty good.” 
“I told you not to call me that.”
“So, what the heck is that?” asked Wish. “I’ve never seen anything like that. And what do we do with it now that we’ve caught it?” 
“How about we get it to show us where it hid all the stuff it stole?” suggested Sky Fire. “I want that pin of mine back.”
The pot suddenly lurched, Thundermane hurriedly stumbling to keep it pinned down. “Well you better decide soon, it’s trying to escape. Ornery little fella huh?” The pot growled again and a harsh clawing sound could be heard as the trapped creature tried again to escape. “I can’t keep this held forever.”
“Here, I can cast a barrier over that since it’s not about to move,” said Chase, conjuring up a barrier again. It didn’t take as long to form this time and once it was made he indicated for Thundermane to let go of the pot and move back. As soon as Thundermane was out of the way he dropped the barrier, though it made much less noise than the pot had earlier. As the barrier came down the creature shoved the pot again, this time knocking it off. It was too late though; the barrier had already trapped it in place.
“So how do we make it show us where the stuff it stole is?” asked Sky Fire. “It looks kinda grumpy, I doubt it’ll just tell us. Of course we don’t even know if it can even talk.”
Wish smirked, “Oh, let me handle this,” she said as she made her way between them to face the trapped creature. Lifting one hoof she tapped the barrier as if she were tapping a glass case to get its attention. “Oi pint sized,” she said, crouching down slightly as she stared at it. It cocked its head to one side, as if trying to figure out whether or not she was talking to it. “Yes you, you stole some stuff and my friends here want it back, think you can be oh so kind as to show them where you put it?”
It narrowed its eyes at her and made a ‘humph’ noise, folding its arms across its chest and turning its nose up.
“Yeah, I thought you’d say that.” She curled her lips back slightly to reveal her fang-like teeth, and stared hard, her eyes unblinking like a large predatory cat. Having narrow, vertical slits didn’t help, only serving to make her appearance that much more frightening as she stared the little creature down. It was like watching a cat and mouse, and Wish was the cat. Chase was almost surprised that her tail didn’t start swishing with the way she was watching it. Then a change, the small creature made a whimper, ears flattening back as it backed away from Wish as best as it could. 
“So, you gonna show us where everything is?” she asked. A tiny nod. “And no funny business now you hear me?” It shook its head this time. “Good.” She looked to Chase as she stood up, her entire demeanor relaxing and reverting to the way it had been previous, calm and at ease. “Alright, you can lower the barrier, though you might want to keep hold of that thing somehow, just in case.”
“What in Equestria did you do?” asked Thundermane, looking between the creature and Wish. “Threaten it in its mind?”
She laughed, “Oh don’t be silly, I can’t send thoughts into minds, I just let it know how scary I can be and what might happen if it doesn’t do what we want. It’s called intimidation, it’s a very useful skill.”
“We may want to clean up, that first,” said Chase, pointing to the milk that was spilled all over the floor. “I don’t know about you but I don’t want to get in trouble for that. The least we can do is pretend we were never here.” 
The contents of the dish now covered a large portion of the floor and the bowl lay upside down in the middle of it all.
“Or try to,” added Chase after a moment. Even if they did mop it up there was no way someone wouldn’t notice a damp cloth or a wad of paper towels from the clean up.
Cloud Runner grabbed the bowl, lifting it from the puddle and taking it and setting it in the sink before grabbing a few dishtowels to help mop up the spill. It took more dishtowels than expected to mop it up and in the end they tossed them in the sink as well. Everything was technically cleaned up and off the floor, so they couldn’t be faulted for that, but cleaning up the clean up materials was a different story altogether and something they just didn’t have the time to do.
Once cleaned up, Cloud Runner made his way back to the door, peering out through a crack to make sure the coast was clear so they could leave without getting caught. He looked up and down the hall, twice, and sighed with relief, no one was around. He looked back at the others and gestured for them to follow, it was safe to go.
Once in the hall, Chase handed the boggart to Wish so he could attempt to relock the door, the glow around the creature fading as he dropped it in her hooves. She gave it another stern look and it shrank back fearfully. It did not want to mess with the Nocturn.
“Ah close enough,” he thought, drawing his magic back out. It felt close to being locked to him so he wasn’t too worried about anyone noticing it that it wasn’t fully locked. 
He turned back to Wish, scooping the creature back up in his red aura again so it couldn’t run. “Now, lead the way small fry,” he ordered. “And there better not be any more of you around.”
It shook its head quickly; there was just the one mischievous creature here, no others. 
Chase carefully set it on the ground, the glow around it weakening to allow it movement on its own, but so that he had just enough control to yank it back should it try to run away on them, like a leash of magic.
“Now march,” he ordered, giving it a tap with the back of his hoof to get it moving. The boggart made an annoyed squawking sound but started walking, too afraid of Wish to think of stopping anytime soon.
Chase and Wish followed it, Chase keeping a magic leash on it and Wish watching it to make sure it didn’t run off, while the trio of pegasi kept a lookout for anyone as trying to explain what they were doing and what the thing was they were following, was something no one wanted to do.
It galloped down the hall on all fours, pausing every now and then to look back at them before starting again.
Chase rubbed his forehead, he’d never sustained a spell for this long before, and it was beginning to hurt. 
“I hope it takes us there soon,” he said. “Before I end up with a magical migraine. Magical drain is awful.”
“Magical drain?” asked Wish.
He nodded, “Yeah, I’ve used a ton of magic tonight, light spells, picking locks, holding this thing and it’s starting to take its toll. Especially holding this guy because I have to sustain the spell. Strong unicorns can sustain a spell for a long time, but I’m not that strong yet, too many spells in to short a time or held for too long can use up a lot of magic, not to mention the headaches it can cause.” He thought for a moment, trying to come up with an analogy that they would understand. “It’s like, like if you had to fly for a really long time after doing a whole bunch of easy exercises, you’d eventually start to get tired and want to land on a cloud for a nap. But you can’t land because there’s no cloud so you keep going even though your wings are beginning to ache and tired out. I can’t let this guy loose incase it slips off somewhere even though it’s making my head hurt.”
“That sounds uncomfortable,” said Thundermane. “Glad I’m not in your horseshoes right now. Didn’t realize magic could do that to a pony.”
The others nodded in agreement, they all had wings so magic the way unicorns used it was not something they were familiar with.
“Oh yeah, you really have to be careful, overexertion is the worst. Not to mention trying to cast spells that are far beyond your skill level, that can land you in hospital. It’d be like, trying to perform a maneuver the Wonderbolts do without ever having been trained in how to do it. You’ll hurt yourself.”
The boggart made a chattering sound to get their attention, sitting down in front of the doors as it waited for them.
“Outside, you hid the stuff outside?” asked Chase and it nodded quickly. He sighed; he hoped everything was still in good condition. A book outside, especially over night, was bound to get soaked with dew, rendering it a soggy useless mess. “Well we better find them then,” he said as they pushed the door open and followed the creature outside.
Chase shivered as they stepped outside, the temperature had dropped considerably since the daytime and he wasn’t enjoying it one bit. 
“Let’s hurry and find this stuff,” he said, hurrying them creature onwards. 
It led them through the courtyard and out towards the storage shed, where all the training equipment was stored when not in use. It bounded towards the shed, circling it a few times before sitting down in front of it patiently, like a dog waiting to be let inside after doing its business.
“Wait, everything’s in there?” asked Thundermane. “Wouldn’t somepony have seen it by now when they go in to get stuff?”
“Evidently not,” said Chase as he handed the boggart once again over to Wish so he could work on the door. “I really hope this has no alarm,” he grumbled, his headache only adding to his souring mood.
“I don’t think so,” said Thundermane. “I mean would anyone really want to steal wooden swords and punching dummies?” 
“Good point.” With a click the door unlocked and they trotted inside, though this time Chase didn’t bother to cast the spell back on the boggart, it would only make his head hurt even worse. Instead he just let Wish hold onto it. It pointed them to a back corner, hidden behind most everything in there and turning it into a veritable maze of stuff that they had to navigate in near darkness.
Sure enough, at the back of the shed was a large pile of stolen belongings, including Chase’s journal and Sky Fire’s pin. The pegasus just about barreled him over in the process of getting to the stuff, scooping the pin up in one wing. Chase scooped up his book in one leg and checked it over, it didn’t seem to be any worse for wear so that was a good sign. 
“So what do we do with the rest of the stuff?” asked Thundermane. “I mean, we can’t go around returning it to everyone because we don’t know who lost what, or where anyone is.”
“Oh, leave that to me,” said Sky Fire with a grin before he took off, back to the barracks. “Just make sure that thing’s gone before I get back.”
> Chapter Thirteen
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Sky Fire it seemed was a talented story teller-he said it sounded far politer than talented liar. When he ran back he got one of the older guards and spun him some story about how Wish had gone to the shed to get a punching bag to train on and while they were helping her in getting it out, as those things were quite heavy and awkward to move by one’s lonesome, they discovered the heap of missing items. He told they guard he’d come to find him because they weren’t sure what to do with the stuff now that they’d found it since they didn’t know who all it belonged to.
He never brought up the boggart, Chase and Wish having shooed it away while he was gone, with Wish extracting a promise from it never to come back in the process. 
The older guard, relieved to have found the missing items, said he would make sure they were all returned to their respective owners by morning and thanked them for finding everything and suggested that they all go back to bed, save Wish who was more than welcome to finish practicing.
With everything settled Chase made his way back to his room, he was tired and his head hurt from the magical exertion and all he wanted was to lie down and sleep till morning. He didn’t care what his roommates wanted to do he just wanted to sleep. Rest was the only real cure for magical exhaustion, allowing the unicorn a period of time to recover both their magic and their strength. And the darkness and silence of the room would help with his headache. Writing about everything would have to wait till morning.
“Chase wait!” called Wish, trotting after him. 
“You forget something?” asked Chase.
She shook her head, “No, I just wanted to wish you a goodnight, you really look like you could use some sleep. I had fun tonight, and your friends are kinda cool, tell’em if they want to hang out again I wouldn’t mind. I don’t think the twins would mind either.”
He nodded slowly, “I can do that, but in the morning though, I think they have other plans, maybe.”
She looked over her shoulder at the pegasi and snickered, “Yeah, sleep. They look pretty tired too. I mean, that stakeout lasted a good few hours; you just napped through most of it. Anyways I have to get going or I’m going to be late, so, see you another time.” She gave his cheek a quick nuzzle before taking off down the hall with a giggle.
As the pegasi approached Chase they looked from him to Wish and back again. “She’s totally in to you,” said Sky Fire.
“N-no she’s not,” said Chase quickly, a rosy colour painting his cheeks in stark contrast to his white coat.
The white pegasus just laughed, “She so is, I saw that nuzzle, she likes you dude, I’m sure of it.”
“I think you’re just seeing things,” said Chase, making his way back to their room. There was now ay that Wish could have a thing for him, could she?
He shook his head, now was not the time to start thinking about such complicated things, now was the time for sleep. He tossed his book into his bag and crawled into bed without another word, falling asleep only minutes later.



Chase had a surprisingly restful night’s sleep, undisturbed by boggarts, gremlins or his roommates. So much so infact that it wasn’t until around 10 the next morning that he finally woke up. The room was empty, devoid of pegasus life, or any life really save for Chase.
He went about his morning routine, neatening up his bed-head of a mane which was sticking out at odd angles from the way he’d slept on it. Once he was more or less presentable he headed to the dining hall to grab breakfast, even as late as it might have been.
After that he just, walked. He didn’t have much of a plan in mind for the day so he just walked around the palace, at least the places he was allowed to go and where he wouldn’t be in the way. It was through this absent-minded walking that he found himself in a very empty hallway, empty only in that there were no other ponies around. The walls were decorated with plaques, many names etched into each one, filling them from top to bottom. There were also what looked like awards, in cases, each with their own plaques and lists of names. Despite that the air held a very solemn feeling to it and it made him shiver a bit.
Chase approached the first one on the wall and stopped to read it, his curiosity finally winning out. Across the top it read:


	Dedicated to the 72nd Regiment


And under that was a list of names, a list that continued onto the next several plaques on the wall. Chase skimmed over the names, he didn’t recognize any of them until he came to one name, Lieutenant Silver Sword. He paused, he was sure he’d heard that name somewhere before, but for the life of him he couldn’t think of where. He committed the name and rank to memory along with the regiment number, perhaps Trail Blazer would know what that was about. Now he regretted not paying attention to his history classes, they’d just been so dull.
Deciding not to linger any longer he slipped out of the hallway and went about his day, as un interesting as it was.
He wrote about the recent happenings in his journal that evening, including about the hallway and the plaque and the name he still couldn’t place. He didn’t want to wait till the end of the weekend to ask Trail Blazer, it bothered him too much, so he decided that he would seek out the older stallion the next day, hopefully before his shift started, to ask him about it.
The rest of the day and evening was pretty dull, especially compared to the previous night, which was more than all right with Chase as it allowed him another night of peaceful sleep.



He woke early the next morning, or earlier than he had the previous day and before his roommates woke up, bounded out to search for Trail Blazer.
He trotted through the halls, narrowly avoiding crashing into ponies as he rounded the corners a bit to quickly. His eyes lit up as he spotted the brown stallion, his helm carried under one foreleg as he walked down the hall. 
“Mr. Trail Blazer!” he called out, hoping to catch his attention.
The large earth pony looked up at the sound of his name being called, a bit surprised that someone was looking for him. “Oh, Sun Chaser, what brings you down here this morning?” he asked. 
“I had a question I wanted to ask you,” he said, slowing to a stop. “If you have the time that is.”
“Ahh, well I was just about to go on duty, I get to help with the day court this morning by controlling how many ponies go in at any one time.” Chase wilted, he was too late and now he was going to have to wait till after his shift was over. “How would you like some on the job training to see what I have to do here?” asked Trail Blazer after a moment.
“Really?” asked Chase.
He nodded, “Yes, I think there’s more than enough time to find you some training armour so they don’t mistake you for a civilian.”
“Training armour?”
Trail Blazer nodded, “Yes, it’s un adorned and quite simple but they have armour that the trainees wear during practice and to help them get used to the feel of armour.” He looked up at the clock, “We’ve got 10 minutes till the day court starts and I have to be there, if you sit in with me today I’ll see what I can do about answering your question.”
“Are you allowed to do that?” asked Chase.
“Of course, you are more or less apprenticing under me so what better way to teach you than to have you observe me on the job. It may not be a regular day for you, but then again schedules change all the time.” He smiled and ruffled Chase’s mane with his hoof. “Come on, let’s get you ready.”
The training armour was really just glorified leather padding with a sun emblazoned on the sides. Unlike metal armour which needed to be specially made to fit the one wearing it, the leather armour was adjustable to fit any number of body sizes. It didn’t come with boots or a helmet though, just body padding.
With Chase fitted up, Trail Blazer led him to his post, the throne room doors, explaining what it was he had to do once they got there. While he wasn’t stationed inside the throne room to keep an eye on the petitioners and whoever else showed up, he had to keep the ones waiting outside the throne room under control and make sure they waited their turn. It wasn’t uncommon for them to get pushy and impatient, everyone thinking their issue was more important than that of whoever was ahead of them. 
“I’ve never been to the day court before,” said Chase as they came to the doors, another guard already waiting there. 
“It’s interesting I’ll say that. There’s a short break around noon so the Princess, and everyone else, can eat, but we’re back to work after that. So if you think you can hold on till then, we can talk at lunch.”
Chase nodded, “I can live with that, besides this sounds kind of interesting.”
“Well I can guarantee you’ll come away with at least one interesting story.”
A large group had already started to form outside the doors and they were already getting antsy, trying to push past one another to get in. Trail Blazer and the other guard, a stern looking pegasus, held their ground, pushing everyone back and ordering them to wait where they were till the doors were ready to open.
Soon enough the large doors opened and the first of the petitioners were let inside. Chase strained to try and hear what was happening on the other side of the door, what they were talking about or asking, but the large doors muffled the sounds. He could hear the voices but he couldn’t make out what was being said. 
They were let in either one at a time or in groups, depending on how they showed up and everyone had to wait their turn. If there were those that came in separate but all came for the same reason they would be ushered in as a group or as several groups depending on the size.
Chase looked over the group; there were ponies off all three types and of all classes there, young families and older couples, those that came alone or as representatives. Many new couples came just to get the Princess Celestia’s blessing either for them or for a new foal. Some came with business problems, some with things they wanted changed. How all of these ponies were going to be dealt with in one day he wasn’t sure, at least till he asked Trail Blazer.
“I don’t think we’ve ever had a day where we got through everypony that came,” he laughed. “Often they come back the next day, or more recently they’ll come to the night courts if they’re really impatient. So don’t worry if not everypony gets through, they’ll just keep coming back till they get through.”
“And this happens everyday?” he asked.
Trail Blazer nodded, “Just about there’s only ever a few times when the day court has been shut down, usually when the Princess is entertaining dignitaries or has business abroad. And of course during the Summer Sun Celebration.”
“She must be really busy,” said Chase, “How does she ever do anything else?”
“Well sometimes she has someone else stand in for her, I actually saw Princess Luna doing day court a few times.” He grimaced, “That was almost a disaster.” He shook his head, “Other times she just won’t hold court or only holds it for half the day. She finds a way.”
As the most recent group left the throne room there was a noise like a loud chiming and Trail Blazer smiled, “And that would be the sign for lunch,” he said. “We have about 30 minutes.” He removed his helmet, tucking it under a foreleg as he wiped his brow, “So, what was it you wanted to ask me?”
“What’s the 72nd Regiment?”
Trail Blazer came to a very sudden stop, a strange look crossing his face. “The 72nd? What brings that up?”
“Yesterday I was going for a walk and I came to this, hall and it had a bunch of plaques and one of them mentioned the 72nd,” explained Chase. “Who were they?”
He sighed heavily, “That’s a bit of a story, and not exactly a pretty one. The 72nd was one of the worst casualties on Equestrian soil since the Nightmare incident. They were a small regiment of young soldiers that had been stationed near the borders for training exercises. That’s all they were doing, training.” He looked at Chase sadly, “You have to understand, things weren’t as peaceful then as they were now, relations with the griffons were shaky at best. It was supposed to be a regular training exercise, but they were attacked by griffon raiders and the entire regiment was slaughtered. It was only by chance that some guards from a nearby battalion heard the commotion and drove the griffons off, but they were too late. I was still a colt at the time, but I think most everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news. Several hundred lives cut short just like that.” He took a deep breath to compose himself, his voice having gone quiet while speaking and it looked like he’d been on the verge of tears. “What you found Sun Chaser was the Hall of Heroes. It’s a memorial to all those that gave their lives fighting for Equestria.”
Chase didn’t know what to say, an entire regiment wiped out just like that, he couldn’t even fathom something like that. Even the recent Changeling incident had produced no casualties. Wounded, yes, but there had been no deaths. It was a sobering reminder that not every fight was that lucky.
“That’s awful,” he said, finally finding his voice. 
“It was, and still is. Is that all you wanted to ask?”
“I had one more thing. There was a name on the plaque that stuck out, a Lieutenant Silver Sword. I don’t know why but the name seems somehow familiar, do you know anything about him?”
He shook his head, “I’m afraid not just that he was along the casualties. From what I remember everyone had said that he had promise and they were expecting that in time he could even make captain.”
“Alright, well, thank you for answering my questions, I hope it wasn’t to much of a problem.”
Trail Blazer gave him a small smile and shook his head, “It’s alright, you were curious and there’s no harm in that. Now, how about we get lunch before we forget.”
They ate in the dining hall in silence, Chase thinking about what he’d just learned. Nowadays relations with the griffons were steady; they were a large trading partner in many goods, especially rare metals and certain foods, while Equestria in turn sent them plenty of meats, fish especially, and fabrics in return. There were even griffons that lived within Equestria and ponies living in the Griffon Lands. But to think that there had been a time so recently when that hadn’t been the case was frightening. Perhaps that had been why his father was so against him becoming a guard, he was more than old enough to remember the incident, perhaps he just didn’t want Chase to risk his life. 
But, that didn’t make much sense to Chase, this was the most peaceful Equestria had been in ages, there was very little he needed to worry about. While rogue individuals would never really be gone, they certainly weren’t the majority. Chase shook his head, he didn’t know, maybe it was just parental worry on his father’s part.
And then there was Silver Sword, a faceless stallion whose name he still couldn’t place. There were probably records around about him; though Chase doubted very much they would available to the public. 
He turned his attention back to his lunch, a simple daisy and alfalfa sandwich that he’d picked up while they’d been talking and walking; he could deal with finding out more about Silver Sword later.
“Have you ever been inside the throne room during day court?” he asked, looking up at Trail Blazer who sat across the table from him. 
“Once or twice, it’s lot more demanding though. Not to mention you don’t really get to socialize with your coworkers. You have be to stoic and quiet and never interrupt the princess. You escort everyone in and out, sometimes by force if they refuse to leave or if they’re making too much of a scene.”
“How often does that sort of thing happen?” asked Chase.
“More than it should, some ponies get upset if the Princess can’t give them what they want, even their request is utterly outrageous. Some get upset just because they’re in the same room as a different kind of pony. I once had one try to get the Princess to have me removed from the room simply because they didn’t want to be in the same room as an earth pony. She told him if that was the case then he needed to remove himself from the room.” He chuckled and shook his head, “Needless to say he wasn’t happy and tried to charge me, so we dragged him out by his back legs and tossed him out.”
Chase did his best not to laugh as Trail Blazer recounted the tale. “Oh wow, that guy sounds like a piece of work.”
“Not much we can do about them though other than remove them from the room and hope they don’t try to come back.” He stood up, picking up his empty plate, “Time’s almost up, would you like to come back to day court with me? You don’t have to since this is your weekend.”
“I’ll come, I don’t really have anything else planned. Plus it’s kinda interesting, you hear all sorts of things from the ponies waiting outside the doors.”
“Just don’t let anyone know you’re eavesdropping,” chuckled Trail Blazer. 
Chase polished off his sandwich and the pair quickly returned to the doors to the throne room, Trail Blazer putting his helmet back on as they walked. With how heavy the helmet was, Chase was amazed at how easily he could put it on and take it off, and while walking to boot. He could barely lift it, something he knew he was going to have to fix if he ever wanted to become a guard, he couldn’t be a proper guard if he couldn’t lift the equipment. He didn’t even want to think about how heavy the chest armour must have been.
The crowd around the doors had thinned out a bit by the time lunch had ended and the noontime courts were ready to begin, though where they’d all gone Chase wasn’t sure. That didn’t mean that the crowd wasn’t big, it still was, but they weren’t nearly as noisy now and seemed a lot calmer. Perhaps getting lunch had helped in calming them down. Chase chuckled at the thought.
At the sound of a ringing bell the doors opened again, letting the first petitioners through and signalling the start of the afternoon section of the day courts.
> Chapter Fourteen
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Chase looked about the common room nervously, he no idea why he’d been called there, and judging by the looks worn on everyone else’s face, neither did they.
The days since the boggart incident had passed pretty much without incident, the only thing of interest for Chase being when he found the Hall of Heroes and sat in Day Court guard duty with Trail Blazer. That itself had been a bit of an adventure, the most excitement that day having come after lunch when they ended up having to escort a lost filly back to her parents as they’d gotten separated in the crowd. She was a dainty little thing, almost trampled by the impatient ponies who couldn’t wait their turn. In the end she got to ride on Trail Blazer’s back as they sought our her parents. They were understandably relieved to see her safe and sound. Nothing much happened after that, there were a few that got rowdy and tied to start a fight, but harsh glares from the on duty guards shut them up pretty fast.
This morning however had been different; before any of them could leave to go to breakfast they were all summoned to the common room, apparently for something important. As more and more young trainees filed into the room it became clear that no one knew what was going on as they all wore looks of confusion on their faces and shrugged when asked if they knew why they’d been called.
There were a few grumblings of ‘I just want to eat man!’ and ‘why are we even here?’ from the very antsy group. 
Eventually Bronze Shield made his way into the room, clearing his throat to get their attention. “Since we’d all rather be somewhere that’s not here I’ll try to make this as brief as possible,” he said, earning a couple snickers. “The annual Hearts and Hooves Day gala is coming up in a week, and you’re all expected to be there. You may not be guards yet but you will be, hopefully, and guards are expected to come to these functions.”
“Can we bring a date?” asked a voice from the front of the room.
“Yes,” he sighed, “You may bring a plus one to the dance. It is not as fancy as the Grand Galloping Gala, but you should still look presentable and not like you just came in from training. While it’s not mandatory that you come it would make a very good impression that you do. So while I can’t force you to come, I can highly recommend that you do so.”
A wave of murmurs and chatter swept through the room, a gala, a Hearts and Hooves day gala at that, and they were all invited! The reaction were a mixed bag, some sounded quite excited, others sounded like it was the worst thing ever, and others were just neutral on the whole thing.
The only thing Chase was worried about was who was he going to bring as a plus one? Sure he didn’t need a date, but going to a gala like that without one would feel very, strange. It was Hearts and Hooves day, a day for couples, even if he didn’t have a marefriend and they only went as friends he’d be happy, because he didn’t want to go alone. The problem was, he didn’t know that many mares, let alone ones he could invite to something like that. Not to mention he had no idea what to even do at a gala, he’d never been to any before. School dances sure, but never a big gala, and certainly never at the palace. 
“Maybe you should ask that Wish mare,” said Sky Fire, smacking the back of Chase’s head with a wing to get his attention. “I bet she’d go with you.”
Chase blushed, the ends of his ears turning red in the process, “What? N-no, no way, I mean I doubt she’d want to go to a dance with me,” he said. 
Sky Fire just shook his head as he walked off, “You just keep telling yourself that.”
Chase followed the group of the room to go get something to eat; he needed to meet Trail Blazer for sword practice soon and the last thing he needed was to be distracted by these sorts of thoughts. Sure, Wish was kinda cute, he would admit that, but he was nothing special, just a plain looking white unicorn. White, even his coat was a bland colour, or rather a lack of colour, and one of the more common ones among unicorns. There was nothing special or remotely striking about him, so what reason would she have to be attracted to him?
He shook his head as he pushed the thoughts aside, he couldn’t think about that now, he needed to eat then get his flanks out to the courtyard before he was late. Hearts and Hooves day could wait till later.



“You’re doing great, keep it up,” commended Trail Blazer as Chase took another swing at the dummy. His footwork was slowly improving as was his sword handling, though Chase would have preferred to use his magic to hold the sword. The sword connected with a satisfying ‘thump’ once again and Chase took a few steps back, chest heaving as he panted through clenched teeth.
“I have to say though, for as good as you are, you do seem a bit distracted, is everything alright?”
Chase dropped the wooden sword into the crook of his leg, freeing up his mouth to talk. “Yeah I’m fine, no need to worry.”
“If you say so, I just don’t want you distracted during practice that’s all, it’s not good for you.”
“I uh, it won’t happen again sir.”
He nodded, “Good, well why don’t we start working on defending. Swordsmanship isn’t all swinging and slashing. If someone comes at you, you need to know how to block their attack.”
“Don’t be there?” suggested Chase.
Trail Blazer laughed, “Yes, that’s always a good idea, but sometimes you can’t move out of the way. Maybe you’re hurt, maybe your opponent is to fast, or he’s right up in front of you.” He scooped up the sword from the ground in front of him and walked over to Chase, taking his place in front of him. “Now if I were to attack you right now, how would you block it?”
Chase fidgeted nervously, “Umm, I’d bring the sword between the two of us so it would catch the blow, instead of my face. Or use a shield.”
He nodded, “Good, that’s a good start, you’ve been paying attention.”
“That’s because you don’t let my mind wander anywhere,” said Chase. Anytime his mind started to wander he found himself brought right back, usually by some loud, attention getting sound such as the stamping of a hoof or a slightly raised voice.
“Then I know I’m doing my job now don’t I? Now, to give you a better idea of how to block, why don’t you come at me and I’ll show you how it’s done. For this exercise we’re going to pretend you don’t have a shield, perhaps it broke or you were disarmed. Either way your sword can work just as well.”
“You want me to attack you?” asked Chase.
“Of course, you need to learn somehow.”
Chase picked the sword up again, positioning it in his mouth as he took his place in front of Trail Blazer, who was also readying his sword. “Well, here goes,” he thought as he took a swing. Unsurprisingly it never connected, the other sword moving in the way to catch the wooden sword before it even got close. Then he felt himself being pushed back as Trail Blazer lifted the sword, the upward momentum throwing his sword off and causing him to stumble backwards.
“We’re just going to work on basic blocking skills today,” said Trail Blazer as Chase recovered from the movement and readied himself again. “So try to pay attention to how I do it so you can show me later how you do it.”
Chase nodded that he understood and waited for his next instruction.
He wasn’t sure if blocking was just that much more difficult or if he just needed a lot more practice, but by the time Trail Blazer called it quits he was panting heavily, legs shaking and threatening to collapse under him as his chest heaved and nostrils flared. He felt exhausted and sore, his muscles beginning to ache from all of the running and dodging and blocking he’d been doing. Even Trail Blazer was bit winded by the end of it.
“You’re doing very good,” he said, wiping his brow as he leaned on the punching dummy, the sword in the grass next to him, along side Chase’s. “At this rate we’ll be able to start moving you up to the heavier practice swords soon so you can get used to the weight.”
“Well I have a good teacher,” said Chase. “I’m not sure I’d be any good without one.”
“Well I’ve had plenty of practice, you’re not the first I’ve had to teach and I certainly hope you won’t be the last,” said Trail Blazer. “I don’t plan on retiring quite yet.” He clapped his hooves together suddenly, as if remembering something, “Oh, I found something you might be interested in. After you asked me about the 72nd I went looking for something to see if I still had it around. I found an old newspaper clipping with a group photo of the regiment if you’re interested. I thought perhaps if you saw Silver Sword it might help you remember why the name seemed familiar.”
Chase gaped, he had what now? “You-you really didn’t need to,” he said. “It was just something I was curious about that’s all.”
Trail Blazer waved him off, “Think nothing of it. It got me thinking about it and I figured it couldn’t hurt to look. Besides I know what curiosity is like, especially this kind. It’ll eat you up till you get an answer, not to mention it’s very distracting. I can bring it to you later if you’re still interested.”
Chase wasn’t quite sure how to respond, he didn’t want to sound overly eager but he really did want to see this picture. Eventually he just settled for a nod.
“Alright, but first, do you think you can handle a few more sets?” asked Trail Blazer, picking up the wooden sword.
“Sure, I can do that.”

After they finished up some more sets, combinations of back and forth blocks and strikes, Chase was tasked with clean up. The dummy was too heavy for him to put back alone, even with his magic, so he was left to gather up everything else they’d been using, which wasn’t just the swords. Sometimes, to test his balance, Trail Blazer would set a beanbag or two on Chase’s back to see how steady he could remain even when fighting. Sometimes he just used them to test how much Chase was paying attention by lobbing them at him if he thought he wasn’t focusing once again. Sometimes they’d hit him, sometimes he’d manage to jump out of the way before they made contact and at least once knocked one away with his sword.
He wasn’t really sure what all it was supposed to accomplish, but Trail Blazer seemed to think it was helping. 
Chase scooped up the swords in one hoof and gathered the beanbags in and aura of magic before making his way over to the shed, which was left unlocked during the day. Not that there was much need to lock it as it was. Its location made it so that the only ones who’d even have access to it would have to already be inside the palace, and since it contained nothing but training equipment he doubted anyone inside would want to steal anything, and certainly no one would want to break in to the palace to break in there to steal anything. It would be too much effort with very little reward and too much risk.
In the daylight it became clear how it was that, despite it’s frequent use, no one had noticed the cache of stolen items being stored in it. The shed was full of stuff. Had it not been useful stuff Chase would have called it a shed full of junk. It was packed quite full with everything from swords and shields to fighting dummies to targets for shooting at. He couldn’t even see the back wall, let alone the dark corner on the ground.
He tossed the beanbags into a pail with the rest of them and set the wooden swords on one of the many cluttered shelves. He scrunched his nose as he walked out, trying not to sneeze. Not only was it full of stuff, but it was full of dust and cobwebs as well. He kicked the door shut with a back leg, turning his head away as the sneeze finally made itself known. How he’d managed not to sneeze last night he wasn’t sure, but he really didn’t want to have to go back in.
He didn’t have long to wait for Trail Blazer, sitting by the dummy for only a couple of minutes when the earth pony can trotting back, still dressed in his armour. Chase wondered if he’d gone all the way home like that.
“It’s a bit and faded in area but you can still see the photo just fine,” he said as he pulled out a small, yellowing folded up piece of paper.
The photo itself was smack dab in the middle of the article and was captioned only with ‘The 72nd Regiment before heading out’. He wasn’t surprised that it didn’t list all the names, that had to be a good hundred or more soldiers in the photo, there wouldn’t have been any room for all the names if the plaques on the wall were any indication. They all seemed so happy, crowded together into one large group for the shot, leaning on one another or on the wall behind them, some sat with shields others with nothing.
“This one’s Silver Sword,” said Trail Blazer, pointing to a proud looking unicorn on the left. He wore a band with several bars on it around his left foreleg and had one hoof resting on a shield with a sun emblazoned across the front. He wasn’t wearing any armour, none of them were, but he was dressed in a uniform with his mane neatly trimmed. The yellowed paper made it difficult to see his original colouring, but compared to many of the others in the group he looked fairly light coloured with a darker streaked mane. 
As he looked him over he felt that same feeling of familiarity, he’d seen that unicorn before. The it hit him like an on coming train, this stallion looked like a younger version of his father. But that wasn’t possible; his father would only have been a colt at time, younger than Chase was now. And his mane was all wrong; while his father did keep his short it was very dark, darker than this stallion’s mane.
“Is something wrong?” asked Trail Blazer. 
“I know it sounds crazy but, I know I’ve seen this stallion somewhere before, like in a picture or something but I can’t place it,” said Chase, wracking his brains to try and think where he’d have seen him before.
Silver Sword, a white unicorn with a two-toned silver-blue mane, where could he possibly have seen it? His train of thought stopped there, a silver blue mane, the yellowing paper made it hard to make out any colours but he knew upon looking the colour of mane as a colour image formed in his mind. He just about dropped the paper as the old, long forgotten memory resurfaced. Something he’d seen back when he was a foal, long before he’d even gotten his cutie mark. A photo sitting on the dining room table that his father never talked about, a photo with a colt version of his father and a larger unicorn stallion behind him. A white unicorn with a two-toned silver-blue mane and tail and a pair of crossed swords adorning his flank. Of a large grey stone with the name Silver Sword etched into it, surrounded by grass and flowers and many other similar stones. But there was no way, he couldn’t be.
“Sun Chaser?”
Chase looked up, pulled out of his mind. “Hmm?”
“You’re staring off into space, everything alright?”
“Y-yes, thank you for bringing the photo it was helpful. I um, I have something I need to go check, if it alright if I leave?”
Trail Blazer gave him a curious look as Chase handed back the photo but nodded, “Yes, it’s quite alright, you could use the break anyways.”
Chase gave a polite nod before excusing himself and trotting off, there was something he needed to check, and he knew just where to look, the cemetery.
He didn’t know why he hadn’t thought of this sooner, but he needed to see to find out if he was right, to make sense of his foal hood memories. 
There had always been a picture on the dining room table, but at some point his father had replaced it for a family photo with the three of them, a squirmy Chase in his mother’s forelegs with his father standing beside the pair, one hoof resting on her shoulder. He never asked about the other photo because he thought he’d just been imagining it, the family picture was all that had ever been there.
Now he was beginning to doubt that, there had been a photo, a different one a long time ago. One his father refused to talk about.
He trotted through the streets; the cemetery was in a different section of the city, closer to the edge of it. He’d only been there a couple times before, but he didn’t remember them very much, he’d been small, and the one time he did remember he’d slept through most of it. A funeral he didn’t want to sit through, torn between crying his eyes out and curling up to sleep, the only two things a 10 year old colt wants to do at a funeral for his grandmother.
He came to a stop outside the large iron gates, chest heaving with each breath as he stopped to catch it before he passed out. Here it was, the Canterlot cemetery, now if he could remember his way through he would be golden. Taking a deep breath Chase pushed the gate open and stepped inside. Unlike the graveyards in the ghosts stories he liked to read, this one didn’t feel frightening at all. In fact it felt very serene and peaceful, almost welcoming in a way. There was a sadness in the air to be sure, but it was a cemetery after all, were loved ones were lain to rest.
He wracked his brain trying to remember where he’d seen the gravestone; something about a large tree came to mind. Unfortunately there were a lot of trees in the cemetery and many of them sheltered graves.
Pink blossoms and white lilies, that was what he kept remembering, pink spring blossoms and bouquets with white lilies.
His hooves carried him over the stone path and through the cemetery at a lofty gait. He hoped it wasn’t too hard to find, the last thing he wanted was to get lost there.
Swan Song, that was the other name he remembered, the one whose funeral he’d gone too. In life they said she’d had a beautiful singing voice, especially as a young mare. He couldn’t remember, he didn’t know if he’d ever heard her sing. His mother sang sometimes, and sometimes she hummed. She used to sing him to sleep or sing to calm him down if he was upset or scared. 
He finally came to a stop near a large tree, green but devoid of any full blossoms, not surprising given the season. It never bloomed till summer. In the shade of the tree lay two plots, the first read;


Lieutenant Silver Sword
Beloved son, devoted father and husband.
May he watch over them forever more.
25


Underneath was emblazoned the crest of the guards, a sun upon a shield. Chase turned and looked to the next one.


Swan Song
Beloved wife and mother
May her voice sing on the winds with the birds.
65


She had died young for a unicorn, they usually lived up into their hundreds, then again if Chase remembered rightly, her health hadn’t been all great as she got on. 
He gave a weak laugh as he sat down, his rump hitting the grass with a soft thump. So that was it, right under his nose the entire time. He touched the grave marker gingerly, reading the names over. Silver Sword, the name should have been a giveaway. After all, his father’s name was Steel Sword. Silver Sword, married to Swan Song, parents to Steel Sword.
“So, you’re my grandfather.”