Pony POV Series
"Shining Armor"
Part 18.1
dnaL railimaF A nI regnartS-Stranger In A Familiar Land
It was like waking up. The white light had faded, and I was in a room... One I'd both never seen and knew somehow to be the embassy in...Hakuna Matata, the capital of Kundu...
The alarm was another radio, tuned into our flotilla's station.
"-my hero through it all. I thank you for the moments of your life, and never giving up on me..."
This wasn't was right. I'd been in a northern city port, not the capital on the lake in the middle...
...It had worked? He was gone and so was all he'd done? The world was as it should be?
I touched my chest. The bruising from the sniper round I'd taken wasn't there, I felt good as new. I didn't feel tired or sore like I'd just been to Tartarus and back.
...Where was everypony?
An answer burst in the door a moment later.
"Shining, are you alright?!" Cadence practically yelled.
"I, uh... Y-yes, I'm fine, why?"
"You and the rest of your squad were..."
Oh horseapples, does she...
"Princess, what's wrong?!" Sunset asked as she arrived, Twinkle Shine and an oddly disturbed looking Minuette arriving in tow.
The noise was also attracting attention from Guards. I felt like I was looking at a mirror to a certain event involving an existence erasing Wolf, a chase scene, and an empty airship...
"...Um... I thought... Makarov had..."
Oh buck!
"Who?" Twinkle Shine asked.
Cadence looked around my room in confusion, as I tried not to catch her gaze. Her eyes landed on the map I'd hung on the wall, the gift from Twiley...
"...Shining, that map."
"Yeah, Twilight gave it to me, I know it's not the regulation one but-"
"No, where the hay is the Hooviet Empire?!" She shouted, causing a gasp from Minuette.
I examined it... And the largest nation on the planet wasn't there any more! Well, okay, it sort of was, but now it was clearly marked 'Roedina' and a few other smaller nations.
"...Princess, the Hooviet Empire collapsed twenty years ago," A guard said.
"I... I know, Captive, I... I could have sworn..."
"Everypony-"
Griffen cleared his throat.
"Everycreature, could I perhaps have a minute alone with the Princess? And no smart remarks..."
"Wasn't planning on it," Twinkle Shine lied.
"Or musical numbers."
"Aww..."
Everyone shuffled off, but the door remained open. I quietly put a shield up to stop noises from escaping. Or any songs from getting in.
"Okay, Princess, I think this might be a long story..." I began, only for Minuette to poke her head around the door again. I resisted the urge to face hoof at me forgetting to lock the door on top of the shields.
"Er... Can I stay? I... I think I know what you're both talking about..."
We both stared at her in confusion for a few seconds, and then, it got complicated.
"You remember too, Minny?!" Cadence asked.
"The... Makarov capturing everypony, yes. I remembered we were all... You were so afraid, Princess, and so were we! But now we're in Kundu, we've been here a couple of days, but yesterday I remember we just arrived and..."
Of course, in Makarov's timeline we'd arrived and spent the first day looking for the Defiant. And then he'd spent the rest of that time setting up his war... Instead of being in a warzone yesterday we'd been settling into the Embassy.
"But why? Why only us three?"
"It's a long story, like I said," I spoke up.
I kept it to the basics. Azure Raven had been an alteration to time, some cosmic horror the Hooviets had accidentally unleashed, had been feeding off the existences of others, and we were probably remembering a world from before his damages were repaired. Except, something told me not to mention the wolf... If I placed too much worry on her, too much faith in her, she'd fear for me every moment... and when she feared for me, the Wolf came. So I...adjusted things a bit.
If she was afraid all the time... and if it really was still after me... If it GOT me, she'd still remember me, and she felt she failed to protect me...
"So when his machine broke down, his changes all undid themselves including his own existence? That... That makes a lot of sense, somehow," Minuette shivered.
"Yeah, apparently, the accident at Chernobull that let him in, had to stay open, and he'd opened a new gap to try alter reality, but me closing both...undid him," I lied about what had now never happened.
"...Why aren't you calling him Makarov anymore?" Cadence wondered. I realized she'd never heard me call the late General-Admiral anything else.
"It, uh," I stumbled on that one, recalling Dima and the other rebels.
Would they be in different lives now? Would I ever see any of them again? And what of my own squad, of all those I'd encountered, everything that had happened...
I suddenly had thoughts of... different events. We'd still met The Doctor. I'd still had a chase in Columbia... but not with Hooviets.
"...It was someone I met, they called him that, but I... I suppose I never met him now..."
A bar in Caledonia, a Deer officer of the Guard...
"...Maybe I did, I'm not sure. Um, what else do you know has changed, because I'm getting a little..."
"Whatsh all the noishe up here about?"
The Ambassador entered, a cup of coffee held in his telekinesis.
"Admiral Bond, the Princess was just... Admiral Bond?!"
Getting ready quickly, we wound up having a fairly awkward breakfast where Cadence explained a (slightly falsified) story to... Rear Admiral Sir Saltire Bond (Ret.), the Laird of Skyfall and his wife, Lady Monique Delacroix-Bond. Who looked a lot better than when I'd last saw them...
(Interviewer's Notes (Unicorn): Is that really appropriate?)
Ahh! You're still here?!
(Interviewer's Notes (Pegasus): Yes. We had to find you again, but we're still here. Don't worry, Nameless' been obliterated and reabsorbed by Pandora, to our knowledge everything SHOULD be fine. We're just going to keep being support while you catch up to the present.)
Oh...ok...Is it weird I can still know you're there?
(Interviewer's Notes (Pegasus): No, because you remember us being there, our glamour doesn't work on you. It's the nature of how we work.)
Really?
(Interviewer's Notes (Pegasus): As close as we can really put it. Do you want to spend ten minutes discussing timey whimey stuff and giving yourself a headache again or just accept it and move on?)
...Just accept it. Do I need to fill you in on what you missed?
(Interviewer's Notes (Unicorn): No, I set it to autorecord before the temporal reset.)
You can do that?
(Interviewer's Notes (Earth Pony): Yeah, but we don't like to because then we can't be the Good Alicorn on pony's shoulders!)
I guess that makes about as much sense as anything else.
(Interviewer's Notes (Pegasus): Wait, if you didn't think we were here why were you still thinking in past tense?)
I...don't know...I think thinking in it so long broke my brain...
(Interviewer's Notes (Unicorn): Could you please answer my original question?)
Maybe that joke about the Bonds appearances was in bad taste, but, they were very welcome physical changes to what had been. The Defiant hadn't crashed here twenty years ago, it had helped Equestria have decent relations with nearly all factions in the civil war that had been kept in stalemate by Columbian peacekeepers - and was ultimately ended six years ago by Defiant leading an Equestrian force in to replace the Columbians after peace talks reached that agreement for ceasefire because Azure Raven and the Hooviets weren't there to disrupt it.
(Interviewer's Notes (Unicorn): Bond's parents, and all the others on the Defiant, and all those the Defiant saved are alive because of you, Shining. You should be proud of yourself.)
...I wasn't on the Defiant leading the mission...
(Interviewer's Notes (Pegasus): But you saved their lives so they could.)
I guess I did...Just doing my duty for the Princesses and Equestria.
There are still only three, right? Azure Raven didn't eat a fourth Princess representing cliches or being annoying did he?
(Interviewer's Notes (Unicorn): Yes, there are still only three. And glad to see you still have your Equestrian Wit.)
Good. Learning about Luna had been a big enough shock.
The Admiral proudly wore his Campaign Medal and his Harmony Horseshoe. Another surprise had been when I was getting ready. I'd found my own campaign medals for peacekeeping - in Kundu and a place called Chernarus. I'd also found a Guard Distinguished Service Medal I'd apparently earned in the latter location. I'd had no medals of my own at all before.
"...I said you seem rather interested in my father's Harmony Horseshoe, Captain. Wanting one?" Commander Bond was... teasing me?!
I turned to face him and is that a Con Mane book in front of him?! And is he grinning?! This is just unsettling.
"N-no, Commander, just... You seem, er, rather cheerful..."
"Well, it's just, to be honest it's a little amusing the Princess had such a rather odd dream."
"W-well, it rather unsettled her so I'm not so sure it..."
"Pfft, you're so humorless, Captain," Manes shrugged and went back to his book.
...Knowing what he'd have been like if Azure Raven was still around, that one really stung.
"I had the impression you didn't like those books..." I spoke up.
"Nonshenshe. Manesh can't get enough of them. Shure, he'sh worked enough with real epshionage typesh in the Shecret Intelligence Shervice and UNIT to know it'sh all make-believe but that'sh what'sh sho fun, right, Shon?" Admiral Bond answered for his shon. Er, son.
"Pretty much."
(Interviewer's Notes (Earth Pony): So he's not some sorta scary super-serious spy guy any more?)
Oh, he's still SIS and probably every bit as badflank as he was before, it's just he's not quite so serious any more and the real one uses more amusing gadgets now apparently...And I'm assuming the 'is no longer an orphan' thing helped.
(Interviewer's Notes (Unicorn): Oh, good, Celestia finally got her prank-based espionage agency...)
What?
(Interviewer's Notes (Unicorn): Nothing, continue.)
Kundu was... Well, it was now the last leg of our trip, and it turned out we'd arrived just the night before. Triana, you see, was reunited... so we'd visited the whole place. There wasn't a South Triana to visit as a last leg anymore.
(Interviewer's Notes (Pegasus): So what else changed?)
Well, Cadence and Minuette wanted to discuss that with me, actually.
"Okay, so, that thing in Columbia first... That was all Nightmare Moon cultists after me?"
"I think so..." I said as Minuette checked her diary.
"Yeah, uh... You managed to announce she'd been defeated to the President without him interfering and it had become major news by lunchtime, except it turned out... Uh, Captain can you try to find a report, actually, this one got messy..."
I recalled it too. Cadence frowned. We fetched a report, which confirmed the three of us hadn't jointly gone nuts.
It seemed the NMM cult had been angry and wanted revenge on Celestia for attacking their mistress. There had been quite a few groups like them across Griffin lands (a fair few Griffins impressed by Nightmare Moon - oddly enough mostly lower-classes given she killed a lot of kings and princes...), but this small group was openly a cult, having barely been tolerated by the government because of freedom of expression laws, and the fact the leaders had the money to afford lawsuits if anyone dared to snoop in on them -especially the press. Despite their own introduction package saying if their queen fell they had to kill the other Alicorns themselves to bring her back.
They'd sent a threat to us the night we arrived. They claimed they were among us without identifying themselves... and yes, poor Sunset was mistaken for a spy still. I suppose it was good to know she and Ranger were still together, but...
(Interviewer's Notes (Pegasus): Say, how come this cult never showed up before?)
...Well, given their leader had a golden skull for a cutie mark and had been a famous actor, that maybe give a hint why the Hooviets replaced them before? I guess the Hooviets had to get their compulsion to make it blatantly obvious they were evil from somewhere.
(Interviewer's Notes (Unicorn): Actually, the Hooviet March was unchanged.)
Okay, then I guess the Hooviets are where Azure Raven got his compulsion to make it blatantly obvious he was evil.
Meanwhile, Cadence's first foray outside Equestria had attracted the attention of another group, Maasailand. The Brotherhood had sent an Inquisitor to covertly try and see if maybe she was the right Goddess for them (at least, so we now knew - it had been added to the report I fetched later).
The NMM cult hired a local gang to perform the hit. Their escape plan had been to draw any chasing troops into an ambush, like before: but there had been no riot as a cover. In truth they were trying to cause a diversion for their own attack.
(Interviewer's Notes (Pegasus): So no tripods this time?)
Thank Celestia no tripods this time! But instead, what happened was this. The Diamond Dog woke me up like before but when fleeing? Slammed head-first into the lost Inquisitor. He then screamed at seeing what to him looked like some kind of assassin (or at the very least another assassin considerably more intimidating looking than himself), was convinced he'd been set up as a decoy, and ran.
We chased, and Audience didn't shoot a gunner dead this time. Ellis subdued the whole gang pretty much himself when they tried to ambush us - they didn't have such fancy weapons this time.
(Interviewer's Notes (Earth Pony): So all the Diamond Dogs lived?)
Yes, filly, they all lived.
And then the Cultists tried to attack us and our prisoners before the Police arrived, instead of going for the embassy since it was now on lockdown. They'd managed to source pretty good magical armor and had some high level unicorn mages skilled in dark magic. Audience was forced to cripple a cultist unicorn for life, shoot him right in the base of his horn, shattering it and damaging the magic center of his brain, one that had been carrying an automatic airgun (though one considerably less advanced than the Hooviets had), when he'd began firing on the police on top of his dark magic spells and I had been recovering from a pretty nasty dark magic spell that had almost gone through my shield. Just goes to show that in the wrong hooves and being misued, magic and technology can both be pretty dangerous.
Thunderchild managed to stop that guy. Audience couldn't stun him, and even when he tried an arrow, it was eaten by his black magic shields. A bolt of lightning disrupted that.
The fallout from that had been considerably messier in another sense than the previous timeline though (even though no riot equaled less property damage and deaths), no cover-up... Just a very angry reaction from the press and Princess Luna, while happy she HAD followers, making it quite clear she wouldn't tolerate criminal acts in her name. Other denominations following the basic principles were happy to shift to simply worshipping Luna instead, except some in Knossos who insisted the real Nightmare Moon was meant to be coming back in TEN thousand years, and that it had always been Luna.
Sure, the ink was still wet on their parchments proclaiming that it had always been that time... but nopony minded as long as they didn't try to set fire to anything. I was informed Luna's reaction to that was 'a head desk so powerful it broke the table in front of her and cracked the floor under it.' Or that's the rumor at least.
(Interviewer's Notes (Unicorn): Actually, she just groaned and dismissed them as mostly harmless.)
Good to know.
We'd went to the Roedinian Embassy and looking at it from where we were now... it had been very odd. For starters, all the 'we kicked the dragon's flanks' and 'war is glorious' decorations were replaced with a lot of nature imagery that was a VERY welcome improvement.
Ambassador Reznov had heard of me, but I, er... had only heard of him as Ambassador. At least now I get why he was so amused by that (assuming he still has weird psychic powers)... and now I get why he said Mother Deer thanked me and wished me luck.
His bodyguard, a fanatically loyal Federal Protective Service Lieutenant named Chekov was in hindsight also 'familiar', but unaware that in the other timeline, he'd been a Commissar that shot himself... for no good reason, really. This time, he'd been regarding a Columbian Navy officer, a Lieutenant Commander Dai Mason, and his father, Colonel Alex Mason, with some suspicion, even though the elder Mason was close friends with the Ambassador...
Still, it took a certain kind of loyalty to your charge and your appointed task to be ready to suspect virtually anyone of being a spy or a threat until proven otherwise - even a Princess. Yes, he did seem to give Cadence a look-over as if to confirm she WASN'T a spy. The head of the Embassy's platoon of guard troopers, a certain Captain Nikolai Romanov, assured us the protective officer who he technically outranked was merely dedicated to the job rather than truly paranoid of everyone.
(Interviewer's Notes (Pegasus): Sounds like someone else I know when he was a colt.)
Yeah, I suppose... wait, how did you-
(Interviewer's Notes (Unicorn): There were two other ponies present and we're interviewers.)
Oh...yeah...right. Yeah, I guess me and Chekov actually did have a bit in common. He was dedicated to protecting his charge, I was dedicated to Twiley...I think Reznov is in good hooves.
(Interviewer's Notes (Earth Pony): And Nikolai? What about him?)
Guy seemed a lot happier with himself. He was still a great swordsbuck (or at least that's what Reznov said about him), but now I think it was more out of dedication to the art than needing to fight for survival all his life. And yes, it felt bucking good to see one of the Rebels when their lives didn't revolve around saving creation from something Horsecraft probably couldn't cook up.
"And in Zebrawa, no Marauder Shields?"
Minuette flicked through.
"No. But, uh... Those really arrogant Airborne guards... they're part of the Harmony Guard now."
I groaned as I realized that a lot had changed... and I would need to try make sense of two different setups to the Guard over the next few days...
(Interviewer's Notes (Pegasus): Think of how Minuette feels, having to work with two conflicting schedules, one of which involved an evil empire that no longer exists.)
At least she ENJOYS schedules.
I tried to think of the next big incident.
"Did Paisneigh Buddies actually beat us still?!" Cadence gasped.
"...They did. Celestia help us but that one still happened," I sighed. Me and Cadence promptly slammed our heads into a nearby wall.
Next, Minuette was nervous as we discussed the Doctor.
"Wait, uh, I just realized..." Cadence nodded towards the perch in her room, where the warbler was presently sitting.
"We met him when we met the Doctor," I sighed.
"Why haven't I named him yet?"
Our meeting with The Doctor had in fact been Equestria providing him and a local UNIT team some assistance... UNIT being an Equestrian-backed international peacekeeping force, the Unified International Taskforce. And it had in fact replaced events in the village in Nambutu.
"Does that mean..." Cadence looked at a box with a book on it, and was about to open it.
"NO! No, Princess, the bug is still in there!"
"WHY?! And why the heck did we keep it?!"
"...I think the scientists on Enterprise were arguing over studying it and you held onto it until they figured out what they were going to do?" I recalled.
But yes, The Doctor and UNIT. We'd had to face another blasted eldritch abomination! Why can I still say that after we got rid of the last one?!
(Interviewer's Notes (Pegasus): What about Order 1954? Doesn't it exist for stuff like this?)
Well yeah, sorta (though most aren't THAT big of a threat, and Nightmare Moon and Makarov are probably the only world threatening ones I'm aware of), just I thought they'd stop gravitating towards me!
It had been possessing villagers and fed on fear. It had made them paranoid, and they had began to be violent towards outsiders. UNIT had went in at the Doctor's request, and we had joined him. Gag's language talents let us figure out how to defeat it - a stone tablet had the idea of the demon written on it, letting us know the weaknesses. He also managed to devise lyrics for Cadence to sing that the possessed villagers (and some Nambutuan troopers from the UNIT contingent) would hear her and the creature would lose power as they were calmed, driving it out and letting The Doctor defeat it with mirrors. Given Gag had to figure out the language of the creature too from the stone tablet we found, it was no mean feat...
So yes, he was promoted for that of course (Ellis and Audience still got promoted in Columbia). And Garnet still gave him his kiss, which was nice. Yeah, she and Gag are still a couple, Gag still got a concussion slipping in water. Only this time it involved avoiding taking him to a new Roedinian biotechnology called 'Scan-Cats', these cats trained and magically conditioned to pick up certain injuries or illnesses that scan spells have trouble detecting. They still hate Gag. In fact, I think they hate him worse than normal cats. My guess is they react to the same unfortunate condition that causes him to think he's capable of telling jokes.
(Interviewer's Notes (Pegasus): Wait...then what about the bug? Didn't Cadence need to power up for it to mutate in her mane?)
The Doctor mentioned that his method would only temporarily defeat the creature. Cadence was clopped off seeing what it'd done and didn't want to see it happen again, so she powered up and combined her magic song with the mirrors to turn it into an echo chamber. Between the two, it was defeated for good.
Oh, and there was one other weird thing...
"Splendid job! You're still a wonderful companion, Shiney, though I still don't think the universe would survive us regularly traveling together. Oh! And before I forget, great job dealing with that Imagination Eater!"
"What?"
"Oh, I'm sure you'll figure it out sooner or later."
Of course, Past Me hadn't known what the heck he was talking about...Who is that guy?
Also, Buranda, while having still cut down a lot of their rainforest BEFORE the Hooviets imploded, were more environmentally conscious and now, with Equestrian and Roedinian aid, performing reforestation efforts. I was right, the country was a lot more characterful with more house-trees, and looking to be on its way to being a pretty nice place to live.
It was recalling Maasailand that was the shocker really. Not only did the revelation about the Inquisitor back in Columbia take us by surprise, but it turned out... we had found their chosen one after all.
Are you a donkey, are you bald, do you have a goatee beard, and have you met a goddess that may fit the bill, Vectron asked.
My replies were no, no, no, yes, and...
"...You can answer yes to all those questions yourself though."
And of course, the prophecy said their chosen one will see the truth of his duty in the presence of white horses...
"...Hehe, that was actually kind of funny, his face when he realized it, and all his friends started fainting..." Cadence giggled.
"And all the Maasailanders planning to go around preaching about you!" Minuette laughed.
"Don't forget the bit when they said they'd avoid Equestria and one of them said 'hear hear, by Vectron's beard' and he just said 'oh dear, they're swearing on my bodyparts already...'. He just looked so bewildered!...Though admittedly, I can relate. Kinda never get used to 'by Cadence's mane.'"
"And then they gave you the 'Crown of Peace and Happiness.'" Minuette pointed out.
We all looked over to the crown, which was pitch black with blood rubies and scorpions embedded inside it, and lots of spikes. According to Cadence it was actually incredibly comfortable though.
A good laugh later, we had mostly recalled it all properly... and then they asked what happened with me, as I'd only skimmed before.
So I tried to explain in more detail. I omitted the Wolf of course, but instead, I claimed I'd thrown him into the machine.
"You...you erased him yourself?" asked Minuette, looking a bit scared.
"...'Solomon' was never supposed to exist, he was bending the world to his whims, devouring other's lives, literally...you weren't under the Iron Curtain...there were thousands, if not millions of deaths in there...And not a one of them was supposed to have ever happened. Him being undone was the only way to fix the damage he'd caused..." I won't say I wasn't glad Nameless had been destroyed...but that doesn't mean the things he almost drove me to won't haunt me.
(Interviewer's Notes (Unicorn): As I said before, it is not a sin to hate that which is evil, but it IS a sin to let that hatred become an unending grudge. That it still haunts you shows you didn't make that mistake.)
Thank you.
"...It was for the best, Shining," Cadence said gently.
I was about to make a request as Minuette them spoke again.
"What puzzles me though is... Why us? Cadence is an Alicorn, so I can understand her, but why me and the Captain?" Minuette fretted.
I had been about to ask to have the false memories of the time that never was erased. Cadence would give me clinical permission, there's no doubt about that...she'd seen it too.
Seeing so much death, seeing Gag get his wing blown off, Thunderchild tortured, the others beaten, memories of wars that never were...and none of it had ever happened, why should I remember it? I wouldn't be dishonoring deaths, they'd never happened at all. Why torture myself with this? Why remember suffering that never happened? A maniac that never existed? Why not have them taken away and live my life the way it was supposed to be? And wouldn't it be the best revenge possible on Azure Raven if that egomaniac was forgotten?
...But without Nameless, without all that, I wouldn't be the pony I am now. This new strength I can use to protect everypony would still be sealed away. I wouldn't remember seeing them stand up for me, like I know they still would...and Cadence and Minuette would have one less pony to confide in, they'd be even more alone.
And even if it never happened to us... it had happened to them, hadn't it? It was for the best maybe that someone remembered them, even if it was just three ponies...
...it was all I wanted myself, wasn't it? To be remembered. How could I ever ask to forget all those Ponsians, Neighponese, Columbians, even the Kunduans and Hooviets who had all died back there? They were probably alive now, but... they died there. Had that timeline continued as if Solomon had perished? Had it been remade into this one? I'd probably never know.
I couldn't forget. There was too much to remember.
"...I don't know, Minny, but I... I'm glad you both remember it too. I thought I was going mad this morning..." Cadence admitted, suddenly drawing us both into a hug.
"...Minuette, you sing about this and I'll let that bug loose," I warned.
The hug was broken up.
"Maybe you could both ask Auntie if she has any clue. She might even remember some of it herself after all."
"A good idea, Princess... We are heading back towards Equestria for a short while after this?"
"Er, should be. Let everypony see their families and stuff... Once we're done here in Kundu in a few days," Minuette said.
"And a pretty hectic schedule over those last few days, I think..." Cadence sighed.
That was very much the case. We'd been lucky to even have this short time to figure things out. As I was leaving a few moments later, Cadence halted me.
"Shining... I just realized, even without Makarov around, you looked over your shoulder a lot... Why was that?"
"...I'm cautious," I said.
"So you're Spike huh?" I said looking over the baby dragon sucking it's tail.
My sister had just became the Princess' personal student, she turned our parents into plants for a few seconds, and I was talking to a baby dragon. It was official - my life was just plain freaking weird.
The dragon looked up at me innocently, so much cuter than when he was crying his lungs out. Sort of like how Twiley used to be, then again, Mom and Dad said Twiley had been a little too quiet for a baby sometimes.
"Yeah! His full name is Kenbroath Gillspotten Heathspike VII! He's being raised by The Princess! But I'm the one who feeds him, make sure he doesn't get hurt, talk to him about stuff, and uh... clean him up," Twiley admitted the last part meekly and gave a cute little 'yuck!' face.
"Sounds like you're the one doing the raising. Is Smarty Pants jealous yet?" I smiled and gave her mane a gentle rubbing.
"Uh, no, she isn't," Twiley blushed a little. HEH! So cute!
"And the Princess is raising him, she said so to the school staff when they asked if it was safe for me too. Right after she told me that I had to make sure Spike grew up to a good dragon and that he could always trust me to look out for him and that this was part of being her personal student! And she's always ready nearby to help if something bad happens."
Yeah. Sounds like raising to me, with grandma supervision. Then I remembered, some animals imprinted on the first creature they saw and thought it had to be their mother. Were dragons the same? Did Spike see Twilight first? Maybe Twiley was the only one who could raise Spike if that was the case. But who knew anything about dragons? You'd think us having a treaty with the Queen of the Dragons would've changed that.
Twiley took the moment to snuggle Spike... and wouldn't ya know? Twiley had a tiny tinny little magic surge, her last one really, most outgrow them by her age, but my sister, heh, her body always had more mana than it knew what to do with. And she was holding Spike at the time, and later I'd be told that Spike's magic signatures had imprinted on Twiley. Long story short. Spike did what he wouldn't be doing until YEARS later... and his belch of flames engulfed me... and my uniform was now on Princess Celestia's tea table. Some mares walking by giggled at me as I curled my tail between my legs.
I heard Twiley crying in her bedroom. It didn't sound like tears of joy over getting her cutie mark.
I opened the door, and saw her crying on her bed hugging Smarty Pants for dear life. I trotted next to her.
"Twiley, what's wrong?"
She looked up at me, red eyed, hiccuping and a runny nose.
"Some... some of the grownups said... they said I'm a monster. They said somepony should lock me up so I can't hurt anypony... I-I turned mommy and daddy into plants and made that cute little baby dragon into a monster... maybe they're right..." She didn't stop crying.
Twiley, I never imagined... no, I wasn't scared of her when I heard she turned mom and dad for a minute into plants. I thought it was weird, not terrifying. She was Twiley, she was always Twiley. She'd never hurt ponies deliberately. We all make mistakes, I knew. The Princess would help her get a grip on all her extra magic. I was honestly more scared for her than of her.
And... I knew where she was coming from. My magic? My shields? When I was a colt, when the grown ups didn't think I was listening, they talk with my parents, saying my magic was too powerful. That I could put a shield around a pony's head and suffocate them, or put a force field inside a pony and expand it, or a hundred other horrible things. That was stupid and dad told them so. I think one or two of those ponies who kept pushing ended up being introduced to his hoof. Sure my magic was really strong. But my magic was to protect ponies, not hurt them.
"Twiley, you're not a monster, Princess Celestia wouldn't have accepted you as her student if she thought you were, she'll make sure everything will be okay...and so will I," I hugged her.
"R-really? You promise, BBBFF?" She looked up to me again with tears still in her eyes.
"Yeah, promise. Don't worry about a thing, Twiley, I've got your back. I've always been there for you and I'm always going to be," I gave her a smile.
She looked at me more, and at least she knew I wasn't scared of her now.
"...O-okay... Thank you, BBBFF... And I'll have yours if you need it too, okay?"
"Okay. Happy to know I can count on you too, Twiley," I grinned.
The letter was from Twiley, though you wouldn't have guessed from the horn writing that it was done by a filly. I wonder how her entrance exam went. I heard some of the guards say they saw a dragon rise out of the castle then vanish, what kind of crazy wizards are they letting into that school? I hope Twiley wasn't there when it happened.
I had wanted to be there for her, I really did. But my training schedule clashed with the timing and it was every bit as strict as one would expect it to be. Just getting out of it wasn't an option.
I opened it up, my jaw dropped. The whole page was only one sentence and a photograph held in place by a paperclip.
It was a photo of Twiley, grinning ear to ear next to the Princess. On her flanks was a large star surrounded by smaller ones. But that wasn't made my jaw drop.
There was a card Twiley was magically holding. Written in elegant high-equestrian with crayons were the words 'New Personal Student!'
BBBFF! Guess what?!
My thoughts were as followed:
Twiley! You got your cutie mark! Congrats little sister!
Wait...What?!
Faint making a goat noise.
Upon awakening, get the first break I could, and gallop off to give my little sister the biggest hug possible.
So here I was, my first day at the Guard Academy. I'd been accepted and was on my way to becoming a Royal Guard officer. Uncle Cool Sun would be delighted, but I wasn't doing this to impress family, I wanted to protect ponies the same way I had protected and looked after Twiley.
It was a long road though. The Academy system had two ways to become an officer. You either joined out of College to get Officer training, or, you went through your high school level education with some officer training, then gave you college-level education with the rest. From Twelve to Sixteen, you were getting high-school level educations.
The reasons for a high-school level academy are fold: One, it means those with military-suited talents can get extensive training to maximise potential, two, it's a prestigious education, and three, there's a guaranteed job at the end for a minimum of four years unless you really screw up - and that job comes with a college-grade education to finish in the first two years.
The induction ceremony was overseen by NCOs and Junior Officers, instructing us trainee officers to sit in groups around tables set up in the main hall of the Royal Guard Officers Academy, in Best Point, Manehattan. The whole year's intake, from all six of the high-school grade academies, was brought to Manehattan for the first year, as this was the only post-graduate officer training facility in all Equestria. We were as much training aides for them as students getting an education. After that, five years in an academy closer to home.
Regular high schools might have had to rely on prefects and teachers to keep the new intake quiet, but there's just something about a platoon of uniformed Guards that can cause even a bunch of excited-slash-nervous colts and fillies outnumbering them about five to one to sit down, shut up, and do as they've been told.
At least until we got into our own small groups, where we were told we could talk. Our first encounter with 'Guard Logic' - Shut up, start talking.
I was seated with four other colts, all Earth Ponies. One had a cream colored coat with a brown mane, with three horseshoes as his cutie mark. he introduced himself as Caramel and was from Ponyville. He showed us a picture of a pretty blue pegasus filly and was about to tell us her name when-
"Don't, just don't," said the blue earth pony with a dark blue mane and two musical notes as the cutie mark.
"Why? She's a nice filly," Caramel said.
"Don't you know what HAPPENS to Guards who talk about their marefriends? They're the ones who always get blown up or eaten by the monster first!"
"I thought it was the guards who ponies knew the most about that didn't get eaten," Caramel said, unsure.
"It's a little less likely to get eaten by monsters when ponies know your name, mine's Note Worthy. Wanna be friends? The more ponies who know us, the less likely we're gonna be eaten."
"Guys, that's all just a myth, there's no proof that's how it works," Said a brown colt with a faded hay colored mane that needed a good combing and a banjo cutie mark.
"No no no, seriously, it does, I know ponies who research this sort of thin."
"You guys make it sound like guards get eaten by monsters everyday. My uncle is in the guard, he never mentions stuff like that," I jumped in
"Of course they wouldn't," Note Worthy said.
"Why are you even in the guard then?" Caramel asked.
"Musical Corps," came the rather obvious answer.
"So is your family Guards a lot? I'm Banjo, by the way," the brown colt said.
"Shining Armor, and no, just my uncle in the guard. You?" I said as we shook hooves.
"Naw. Family was sure surprised when I did though, they didn't expect me to get a Musical Corps scholarship!"
"My family has ponies in the guard..." said the last pony I was sharing this table with, a beige stallion with a dark almost black mane, his cutie mark was a cherry.
We all seemed a little surprised he'd spoken up, and let him continue.
"...Though we have plenty of other members in the cherry business. Call me Cherry Fizzy, or Cherry Coke, I can go by either."
"Nice to meet you Cherry Coke," I said happily, after all, I didn't know who I was going to be bunking with, so I might as well be on good terms with everypony.
However, it seemed we were all a little lost for words.
"So... nice to meet you all. Uh, any of you play Oubliettes and Ogres?" I decided the more intellectual of my hobbies might have been better to start with than hoofball. These were all future officers after all...
"You're into engineering? Can I see some of your designs?" Caramel said, confusing all of us.
"So you're into O&O? Well, whatever floats your boat..." Banjo rose an eyebrow but shrugged,
"Sorry, not my idea of fun really, not into that sort of thing..." Half-Note politely shook his head, while blushing a little.
"Uh . .. I have no idea what you're talking about," Cherry Coke coughed and blushed.
What did they think I meant? Wait, into... like it was some kind of... eep...
"Oh no no, it's nothing like that, it's just a game, you play with dice and-" I said quickly to stop misconceptions, but Cherry Coke covered my mouth.
"Can I speak to you privately for a second?"
The others looked at us funny, the last few officer recruits were being sent to tables and the induction was to begin soon. In other words we didn't have much for 'privately' but Cherry Coke managed.
"Look Shining, if you want anypony to take you seriously, you better get into more stallionly things, like hoofball or polo, and get into them fast unless you want to be seen as a weirdo," He whispered.
"It wasn't that weird in my last school..."
"This isn't your last school though. This is a Royal Guard Academy, you're going to be an officer, and unless you want to be seen as a clown they'll brush under the rug before you get an actual rank, you need to fit in."
"How do you know? This is your first time here too isn't it?"
"I told you, I have family in the Guard."
"So do I, and my uncle never found anything wrong with my hobby," I said defensively.
"But he's not playing it. I had... a relative who introduced me to O&O, and he never got a promotion in his life through anything but time in grade. Trust me, if word gets around you play that game, ponies aren't going to think you're officer material."
"If I wasn't officer material I wouldn't be here."
"And you'll stay material unless you keep your stuff in the closet! I love the game too, level 19 thief/assassin, but there are just some things you don't discuss in front of others. They say a stallion got investigated and his career ruined just last year, all because they mistook his game chatting for an actual scheme to attack the Princess! So please get into hoofball or polo and learn to love it!"
A throat cleared behind us. It was a Major with a spotted cat for a cutie mark.
"Actually, Recruit Coke, I think you'll find that O&O is widely played amongst both enlisted and commissioned troopers. And his career wasn't ruined, just his game. Never discuss your plan to attack the big bad with somepony who has Chronic Backstabbing Disorder on his character's sheet, especially when Princess Celestia is the DM," the Major grinned
"Um... What? I mean, what, sir?" Cherry added, pretending to have no idea what the Major meant.
"That said though, it's not a bad idea to play more casual pastimes, O&O does need a lot of time and kind of closes out others from casually joining if you want a well run campaign... And there's a Hoofball and a Polo team, but no standalone O&O club, got to share space with the wargames club and the card games mob... Oops, eyes front, recruits..."
"ATTEN-SHUN!" Bellowed a Corporal near the speaker's podium, drawing our attention to where Major-General Lassard, the Commandant of the Academy, was waiting to speak.
"...Er, Corporal Bellows, I haven't actually found my speech yet, you'd better reverse that..."
"Oh, beg your pardon, sir, !NUHS-NETTA"
I was our family's doorway. I'd been standing here maybe a little long. I was ready to leave, really, I was. I had told my family how much I loved them last night, really I did, we told each other how everything would be okay and everypony needs to leave the nest sometime. My parents were fine with that now, and so I was. No, really, we were!
We had hugged each other goodbye, Mom had given me a great goodbye kiss, Dad had given me a few encouraging words and a hug of his own. They gave me some last minute advice on how to take care of myself they might have forgotten to give me during my foalhood.
But something was holding me back.
"Twiley, please drop the force field."
And I mean that literally.
"NO!"
I canceled it out with a forcefield of my own. Instantly a wall of tightly packed stuffed animals and books blocked my path instead.
"See? Smarty Pants want you to stay!"
"Twiley, I'm going to miss the train..."
"I don't care. You should just stay here with me."
"Now you listening here young lady-" Dad began.
Twiley growled at him, making him back off.
"-You listen to your mother."
I don't know if dad was afraid of Twilight's magic, or just disappointing his daughter. I think both were equally terrifying to him.
Mom glared at him as he pushed her to the front line. Mom looked at Twiley.
"Now Twilight, dear, your big brother has some important things to do at the Academy. And he's not going to be gone forever. He'll visit us, he'll be back before you know it."
"Then he should just stay here!"
Mom sighed.
"Twilight Sparkle. You stop this nonsense. You're being selfish," She said more sternly.
"No, you're being selfish! You're letting him go! And BBBFF, you said we were gonna be pals forever! You can't leave me!" She looked pleadingly at me. Scared.
The wall was reinforced by a book fort that I suddenly found myself the prisoner of.
"See big brother? You don't need to go anywhere! You can just stay here and be the guard for my castle! I'm gonna be a princess someday, so you can just be my royal guard instead!" Twiley grinned at me.
I knelt down as much as I could inside the book fort.
"But I'm not a royal guard yet. And I'm not going to ever be one if I'm just kept here. I need to go and learn how to be a royal guard. There are some things you can't learn from books Twiley."
Uh-oh.
"That's a lie! Mom and dad say it's bad to tell lies, right?" She glanced at them.
"He's not lying, sweetheart."
"But, but... "Twiley's eyes widened.
I tried to figure out how to word this to her, Twiley was smart, she acted so adult sometimes, but as the saying goes, ‘it's the foals who act the most adult who are the most childish.'
"What if I kept you from going to the library because it was far away, and it meant I wouldn't see you for a while? Would it be fair for me to keep you here because I didn't want you to go? Would it be selfish for mom and dad to help you go to the library if I wasn't letting you?"
"But-I DON'T WANT YOU TO GO AWAY!" She said looking startled.
"I know, Twiley, but you want to get into Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns don't you?"
"Yes, I know I will!" She brightened.
"And, you know you'll be living in the castle if you're accepted right?"
She looked unsure.
"Uh . . . yes?" She hadn't thought about it much.
"Then maybe we'll meet each other at the castle, that's where lots of Guards are right? And when we're both finished, let's both meet back here. Promise? Because I'd never ever, stop you from going to the castle Twiley, not because I don't love you, but because I know you have your heart set on it. And you know I have my heart set on this right?"
"R-right," She sniffled a little.
"And if I stay here, I won't accomplish my dreams, just like you wouldn't if I forced you to stay here."
Twiley meekly nodded.
"So please Princess Twiley, will you let your royal guard become a proper Guard for your highness?"
"Y-yes." Twilight whimpered. The book fort opened and the plush army parted ways.
"That's a brave filly," I hugged her. Mom and Dad did the same
"Bye Twiley, I promise we'll see each other again."
"A-alright B-BBFF!" She waved along with Smarty Pants.
"I won't say makes us proud, because I know you will!" Dad smiled.
"Get going before I decided to keep you here myself," Mom said.
I grinned, waved, blew a kiss to the family I loved so much, two for my little sister, and followed Mom's advice.
"Well guys, this is it," I said, taking one last look at the room the four of us used for our Oubliettes and Ogres game.
This was our last session as a group. Tomorrow I was on a train to Manehattan, and then for a year I'd be in the city so nice they're not bothering with a motto. A year before I was back for long.
Even then, with the Academy being in Canterlot, it was a boarding school. We were under no illusions that I'd be no use to the campaign only able to show up on an occasional weekend a year from now, nor that I'd probably be spending more time with new friends.
"You know I'm going to go nuts trying to find a player as good as you, and rework my storyline with you gone," Graffer said in a friendly tone and straight face.
"You could always play him yourself," I grinned.
"No. Way. Running a world for you guys is hard enough without having to run you too," my fellow unicorn said frowning.
"Was worth a shot," I shrugged.
Graffer's life was this game, the red eight sided dice on his flank marked it as his special talent after all.
"You know, my pegasus had a crush on your paladin, she'll be sure to write a farewell poem for me," Poindexter said, adjusting his glasses.
"I know it'll be nice," I said.
"Seriously, we'll miss having you around Shining, but don't worry, I'm sure my robot-player can fill in for now."
"You're joking!" Said 8-Bit, the gray pegasus spread his wings in alarm.
His cutie mark might have been a Space Invader, but that didn't stop from enjoying other games.
You know. I never realized how much he and Thunderlane look alike. Thunderchild insists he and Thunderlane aren't related, but 8-Bit on the other hoof doesn't have a similar name and looks a lot like Thunderlane, this makes my head hurt.
"The last time we used that thing when Shining was ill, it burned down the orphanage, stole our magic items when it was on watch, used my character as a shield when it set off that 'wall of blow darts' trap, started two fights with the trolls we were supposed to be negotiating with, blew the party's gold on an enchanted sword only SA's character could use, and it refused to chip in for the pizza and ate all the cheesy puffs!"
"I've worked out the bugs I swear!"
"Of-course-those-were-all-natural-20s. You're-being-a-killer-DM. That-fruit-seller-was-clearly-armed-and-dangerous."
"It's still not the WORST player I've ever had," said our orange and white unicorn with his curly green mane.
"Shining, seriously, you've been a good friend. You didn't show up just for the game, you showed up for us, and you showed up outside of the game! It wasn't just about the game. I just want to say thank you for that. It means a lot to me. I'm happy you loved my world of course, but I'm even happy that I can have you as a friend. Heh, and just think, you'll be able to wear that cool armor in real life and no one will bat an eyelid."
"Hey Shining," Said 8-Bit.
"Yes?"
"When my family moved to Canterlot from Cloudsdale, my little sister had to leave her friends behind. She cried when she told them goodbye. But when, years later, I brought them up, she didn't even remember their names."
We had tried to introduce Twiley to 8-Bit's sister to socialize her a little, but Twiley couldn't have cared less about her would-be playmate and kept her muzzle buried in her book the entire time she was there.
"My point is, Shining, please don't forget about us. Ponies change, the world changes, ponies drift apart and make new friends. But please, don't forget us."
"Don't worry about it, I won't! I could never forget you guys. No matter how hard I tried!" I teased.
"And as if I could ever forget about any of you! The uniform you'll wear there makes you look like a bellcolt by the way," 8-Bit shot back
"HA! You'll change your tune once you see me in my barding! You'll just WISH you'd look as good in it!"
"I'll stick to dangers and monster on games screens thank you."
"Shining, just don't go doing something crazy. There are no resurrect spells in real life. Just be careful, don't try to be a real hero if it means being an idiot."
"Trust me Graffer, I'm a defenser, not an attacker, mine is shield magic remember? I'm joining to help ponies, not beat monsters up."
"Heh, you're the same in or out of game. Go get 'em, paladin," We bro-hoofed.
"Oh Shining Armor, before you go-"
"For the last time, Poindexter, I don't think my little sister needs a robot-friend."
"No no no, this is completely different. Here ya go!" He pulled out a big book from under the table, making the whole thing shake as he put it down. I frowned and looked at the title.
"The Equestrian Royal Guard Regulations, Volumes One to Five Unabridged? Gee, thanks," I said flatly, wondering if I should tell him I'd been issued all six separately already, and that this version still referred to Hooviets...
"A good friend always thinks about their friend's future!" Poindexter said proudly.
"Sure.... Anyway, see you around, guys," I bid my O&O group goodbye for the last time.
At least my ceiling hadn't changed. Graffer, 8-Bit, Poindexter... er, 'Gizmo' (he had changed his name), when was the last time I saw them? When was the last time I had even thought of them? When was the last time I thought about being a paladin in Graffer's fantasy world? Probably when I met Graffer and suggested I might have known a new player for him...
"I know Captive is four years younger than us, but we were his age when we started playing!"
I could almost imagine Graffer crying like a baby at the sight of me geeking out over hoofball memorabilia, knowing he'd lost me to my other hobby like he'd feared. I didn't have much time to get a decent O&O game set up in years, tried and failed to get one set up in the third year at the Academy but... Bloody Ace just kept rolling twenties and foiling every scheme the DM came up with by accident! I know Graffer would approve of that last bit at least. Maybe we should compare notes? In fact, I wonder if Audience kept in touch with him either?
Sheesh, I hadn't even read the 4th and 5th edition Oubliettes and Ogres guidebooks, let alone bought them. It really had been a long time.
Gizmo, last I checked, was in Ponyville, but 8-Bit and Graffer were still in Canterlot. I had to make a point to see them next chance I got.
...So I take it these dreams have been my life filling in backwards?
(Interviewer's Notes (Unicorn): Uh...what makes you say that?)
Because you said I was in the middle filling in both ways, and I keep dreaming about my past. I'm not Twilight, but I'm smarter than I look...I like to think so at least.
(Interviewer's Notes (Unicorn): I'm not entirely sure, considering you're still very usual as far as... entities like you are. But that might be a good guess.)
Alright, and thank you.
(Interviewer's Notes (Unicorn): For what?)
For not making me live that night over again, thank you. The night Uncle Cool Sun died. The night my mistakes cost somepony I loved their life, my little sister the uncle she loved like I did, my parents a brother, and now I know stopped an good mare from meeting her husband, and stopped an innocent filly from ever being born, and any family she might have had.
The night I lost control. The night I used my magic for the exact opposite of what it was meant for and everything I believed it to be. The night I ended the life of another thinking creature for the first time. Thank you.
(Interviewer's Notes (Unicorn): Don't fixate on how things might have gone Shining, that road leads to a dark place.)
...The abandoned hospital in Liberty City?
(Interviewer's Notes (Unicorn): Shining... )
Don't worry, I'm joking. I know what you mean, trust me, I don't know if you have any control over what I dream about or not, but thank you. After everything I've endured . . . I'd probably just endure it anyway. But thank you. I just want to protect Cadence, be with my family, and be a good leader to my guardmates. Thank you. Thanks for letting me dream about some good times instead of going backwards totally linear!
(Interviewer's Notes (Unicorn): Now the timeline isn't being manipulated willy-nilly by Makarov more parts of your past could be more solid, so you'll probably have dreams all over the place in future...)
Ah, so there could be some less fun memories... like pranks in the academy I might have forgotten. Oh well, Mom and dad are right, you can look back on those embarrassing times and laugh.
Graffer, Cherry Coke, Spike, Twiley, thank you so much for making sure I have happy memories to look back on...
...Except for that blasted trick with the mane dye, Cherry!