Good Mourning
Captain Twilight Sparkle arose at exactly 5:00. She brushed her teeth, did her bed, cleaned up her quarters, and put her armor on. It was a repetitive and orderly manner to start the day. In mornings like these, being up before her highness, Princess Celestia, raises the sun, made her feel complete. She charged up her horn and started going through her checklists.
Wake up- Check, at exactly 5:00
Brush teeth- Check, with her favorite mint toothpaste
Put on armor- Check, strapped on with it covering all of her vital spots except for her neck.
Clean up the room- Check, with simple levitation spells that only took 5 minutes.
Brush your mane-
Wake the Princess-
Do the Night Route-
Bugle Call-
What the purple mare could not believe, however, was that she forgot to complete the next item on her checklist. Brush your mane. It was an innocent item of normal necessity that everypony would do in the mornings. Of course, some ponies may have natural bed hair that just looks like they came out of a hair salon, but if you saw her hair in the mornings, you would think she had fought a Hydra and dived through a wall of dragon fire only to end up thrashing about in a thorn bush.
Most of the times, you would be correct in assuming so. Being such a notorious Captain of the Royal Guard got you into very peculiar situations. However, the dragon and fire thing usually came when she was done handling her brother/son-figure, Private Spike. Or was it Sergeant? Did she promote him yet?
Nah, you didn’t because you found out that he ate almost half of the Eastern wing in the Crystal Empire.
Twilight snorted as she trotted into the washroom to get her brush. While gently combing her messy mane down a bit, she levitated the Daily Hoof to her side. Captain Cadence of the Medic Corps, and Best Battle Buddy From Fire (also known as B.B.B.F.F, it was a long story), had subscribed to the newspaper before and introduced it to her. After reading its science page, she slowly found herself paying 5 bits a week. Its column on Equestria and its threats were quite fascinating, though. Who knew that manticores reacted so strongly to chairs?
After taming her mane down considerably, she donned on her helmet and started to begin her rounds around the castle. One of which, was to relieve the Princess of the Night of her duties. Her Highness, Princess Luna was a peculiar pony with lots of experience in the old Canterlot times. She found that talking in old Canterlot did wonders for her voice. Sometimes, she and the princess would take turns yelling at the guards in their loudest yells. The faces of the unfortunate guards were funny. One almost pissed in his pants.
She knocked softly on the door, “Your Highness, I am here to relieve you of your job.” Twilight stopped, her tongue dry as she wished she could take those words back in an instant. Stupid Twilight! This is the princess! Do you know how rude that is? She’ll banish you to Tartarus and strip you of your ranks! Then she’ll throw your precious books into the trash can! All that knowledge, gone!
Deep breaths, Twilight inhaled and exhaled again in the simple exercise Cadence had taught her. C’mon wouldn’t be the first time you had to get out of Tartarus.
The door opened with an ear-splitting creak and soon, the alicorn princess of the night was looking down upon her with a slightly frazzled mane. “What is it that thou seek?” Princess Luna asked tiredly, stifling a yawn. The blue alicorn then shook her head, as if trying to shake oneself from a daze in WPD class.
The WPD stood for ‘Watching Paint Dry’ and was, by far, the most boring test of the Equestrian Guard Units. Unfortunately, with the big threats against Equestria being dealt with by the Elements Of Harmony or the Princesses, that was the thing guards found themselves doing the most often.
“Ah, Twilight Sparkle!” Princess Luna smiled, “Is it the time for us to start the ‘Twilight Rounds’?”
Twilight could barely stop herself from rolling an eye, “Yes ma’am, it is time to relieve the Night Guards of their posts. It’ll be the ‘Reveille’ this time.” The alicorn had dubbed her waking of the guards, ‘Twilight Rounds’ because it happened at the end of the day to the night or on some rare conditions, the end of the night to the day.
“Reveille? Then where is your bugle?” The Princess asked, “I think Tia said those stopped happening a few decades ago.”
Twilight nodded along as the pair padded through the halls, “True, your highness. However, Pinkie Pie gave me a bugle for my promotion. She was very adamant about me using it and I hate to disappoint.”
She conjured the bugle up, teleporting it to her side as she made her way to the general center of the castle. Twilight frowned she had spent three months trying to perfect the song, but there were times where she would hit the wrong note. Blowing through the brass instrument with a constant flow of air was great for getting the body used to its control of the air.
Twilight levitated it up to her lips and started the tune. The clear brass instrument filled the quiet dawn as the sun slowly rose from the horizon. She guided the instrument through the high notes and hummed along with the low ones. Of course, Princess Luna winced whenever Twilight messed up a note or added way too much air pressure to the bugle to cause a particularly ugly sound. Her playing was far from perfect but she found herself reflecting it upon herself.
She heard the same tune every morning she woke up. Her comrades in arms did as well. Every soldier did, from all the way back to some time long, long ago. Its tune was somber at times, sometimes it was tired, in some cases, it was even upbeat and happy or furiously mad. Pinkie Pie had taught her that the tune came from your heart, from soldiers experiences. She said it was “Putting everypony’s deepest, darkest, and honest feelings into one big epic-wake-everypony-up-to-a-new-day-song!”
In a way Pinkie was right. Twilight moved on to the next verse, Pinkie dubbed it ‘Dawn’. She stifled around the B that didn’t sound quite right like it was awkward. A natural B that stood amidst a clef of flats. Like she had felt when she had been promoted to Lieutenant and thought everyone was crazy. Or when she was alone against the odds in Tartarus, trapped in a cave, blinded by the shadows…
Life was hard back then, people criticized her every move because she was considered a ‘prodigy’. It was like that if she were anything but superior in any case, they would deem her a failure and send her on suicide missions on the intent of planning her funeral. If she exceeded their wishes, she would be sent on harder suicide missions with just a grunt of acknowledgment when she made it back alive.
She hastily moved on to the next verse. Dubbed by Rainbow Dash as ‘Tornado’, because of its high octave and fleeting notes that seemed to whirl one’s head. Twilight Sparkle has been whirled around on many occasions. One minute she would be seeing stars and the next, flying pigs. Discord wasn’t her favorite ex-villain to greet around, but it was her duty to Equestria all the same. Her head was spinning like a spinning wheel after a few days, but it was all in good fun.
The last verse was ‘Farewell’. It was a promise of seeing one again, maybe one who had died or lived but was never there. The ponies crashed through her head like a migraine and soon her head was throbbing from the built up pressure. Her magic sprung from her horn, she was no longer trying to contain it. It had a mind of its own as it weaved a story around her hooves. Captain Twilight Sparkle was not new to sacrifice and the horrors of life. However, that bookish unicorn with an adorkable grin was and will always be new to the pain of leaving somepony behind. Each wound to her shattered heart would always remind her of the other ones. With every new day, she would fix it with her friends, piece by piece.
I love you, Twily. I’ll find you, no matter what it takes, that’s what Big Brothers are for, right?
Those were the last words she heard from her brother, it was a miracle she even remembered the colt. All she could remember was a kind grin and crystal blue eyes with a darkened glint. She loved him and her heart broke in half when she didn’t find him again. However, she had let it go already. She became a Twilight Sparkle she was proud of being. If destiny allowed it, she would find him soon.
You! You killed my baby! I hope you die! Go to TARTARUS for ALL I CARE! You killed your squadron and you can just stand there? They trusted you! And you led them to their deaths!
That was one of the voices that had shamed her when she had failed her first mission under Lieutenant Pebble Spear. If only she had been fast enough, shot a spell or something, did something, anything to help them. Then, maybe... Them, her squad mates. Why did they even throw away their lives for some stuck up prodigy, when they could’ve just left that room without her? Because it was ‘All of them for One of me and One of me for All of them’. While the pain still hurt, she knew that if she let the guilt and sadness overwhelm her, their sacrifices wouldn’t matter. She lived for them and herself, now. By being the best soldier she can be.
Maybe you just don't like that I have a real parent now. Dragon? Of all ponies, I can't believe you would have a problem with that.
It had broken her shattered heart into even smaller pieces. When Spike accused her of just being jealous of him finally having a parent again. They later found out that it was all a scam. But Spike never apologized…
Twilight hit the last note- SMACK!
She was brought down to Equestria when a blue wing smacked the bugle out of her telekinesis just as the dreary note filled the castle walls. Twilight instinctively resumed a guarded position with the intent to defend herself or lash out. Her violet eyes darted around before landing on a tearful Princess Luna.
“I command thee to stop that playing at once!” The Princess commanded with an outstretched hoof. A tear fell the alicorn’s eye as if someone had just kicked a puppy in front of her.
Twilight’s eyes widened when realization dawned upon her. The Princess of the Night was a patron of the arts, she would’ve heard the fancy notes and random wrong notes. In fact, the princess was one of the most famous music critics out there. And she just played the mighty reveille in an amateur stage. The mere thought! This was a mockery of the Royal Guards! It was like calling a mare fat! (Her ear hurt for another 3 months after that encounter.) Or telling a stallion that they’re physically unfit! (She didn't want to talk about it.)
Here she was, playing the traditional reveille with faulty notes and imperfection. In front of Princess Luna! This is bad. This is really, really bad. Stupid Twilight! Now she’s gonna banish you to Tartarus for sure! Then burn your book collection! And melt your armor! She’ll probably even take your necklace!
“Captain Twilight,” Princess Luna started as Twilight braced herself for punishment, “Your bugle playing needs much improvement, it’s out of tune. The rhythm is off and did you even learn the right notes for the second passage?”
Twilight chuckled nervously at the accusing glare, “Um-I’m sorry?”
Princess Luna shook her hoof, “Despite the amateur playing, you captured the spirit in such a way that I feel like I…” The Princess blushed a bit, “Well, I feel like I learned more about you at that moment than all of the times I’ve known you.”
The renowned Captain couldn’t believe her eyes or ears. Twilight grinned, “Thank you, Princess Luna, I’m very flattered.”
“YES! IT IS TO MY GREAT PLEASURE THA-” A loud snore came out of the Princess's mouth as the Princess fell asleep at that very moment. Chuckling softly to herself, she engulfed the Princess in her magic aura and levitated Princess Luna away. Twilight made her way to the mare’s bedchambers. She nodded at the guards at their posts, saying good morning to them politely. Twilight believed that guards needed to know each other. They needed to form a bond of equality, to be ‘Battle Buddies’.
For everypony to have at least another to watch their back. So they’ll never be alone.
After gently settling the Princess into her bed and covering Luna with a blue blanket, she left the room silently. She continued to trot around the castle, in a quieter tune as she played her bugle.
Waking around half of the castle, she rounded the corner, not really looking where she was going, and bumped into somepony. In this case, it was some stallion. One stallion she had a history of bumping into. She quickly helped him up and adjusted her helmet and her bugle.
Excusing herself quietly, she quickly brushed past him into the other hallway. She had a day with her friends to get started on. Because while the shadows of the past will always haunt you in your despair, you live to see another day because of them. The Reveille was more than a wake-up call for ponies to start living their lives. It was to remind them they survived one more day, despite the obstacles. To remind them that they had all the power to make this day better than its last.