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Story 4

Chapter 2: Cobalt’s Story

By: SleeplessScribe

When I awoke, I was surprised by how well I felt. Nothing felt sore, nothing stung, and nothing burned, and I was really expecting to experience some kind of aftereffects from my various injuries. Then again, it had been at least three weeks since the day of the monster incident. I couldn’t tell exactly what time it was, but it couldn’t have been after nine o’ clock, as the sun was still pretty low in the sky, and the fact that it was still in the east told me I hadn’t slept through the whole morning.

Fortunately for me, the gates into Meadowbrook were wide open, and I was strangely optimistic. I guess it was because of the sappy, yet touching goodbye I went through just before leaving Ponyville, but it felt good to be happy. Though I did have to remind myself not to get my hopes up just in case things went downhill. Two guards stood at the gate, one on each side. They were in some kind of box that was little more than three walls and a ceiling with a rectangular hole in the side that faced away from the city. There were two sentry towers on either side as well, but I couldn’t tell if they were currently occupied.

Both guards were pegasi clad in shiny bronze chest plates and helmets that I couldn’t name. Normally I was good with the names of armor and weapons, but these things were just weird. They were like orbs that someone had cut a section out of, they came a little low, being just above the eyes, and as that line came under the ears, the metal came back down beside their jaw. Basically they were spheres with one quarter of them cut out for the face. It was a little odd that there was nothing to protect their necks, though, and at the end of each leg was a bronze boot with a loop in the front ones, which I assumed were for holding weapons.

The one on the left made me feel freaking tiny; he was all muscle, and his dark red coat only made him look more intimidating, while his friend on the right was the exact opposite with her small frame and rather thin legs and torso. She was some kind of blue that I didn’t care to remember the specific name of, and too much of my attention was on the big guy to even get a good look.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to just walk in quietly, but I didn’t expect what I was met with. The big guy held a hoof out at my, his pearly whites a stark contrast to the dark fur. “I know you’re not about to walk in there without saying hello! Name’s Heavyweight, but everyone around here just calls me Ol’ Red. My friend over there is Twister, but she ain’t much of a talker. I’ve never seen your face before, so allow me to welcome you to Meadowbrook!”

After a quick shaking of his hoof, I gave him a nervous grin, not really sure how to respond. “Thanks for the welcome, name’s Gilda.”

Ol’ Red patted me on the shoulder, chuckling. “Nice to meet you, Gilda. Now, I need to give you this.” He handed me a rolled up map from a bin beside him that I hadn’t noticed. “That there’s a map of the city. What you’ll want to do is go to that center building there. However, I’d advise you to look for the guard captain first. He can show you around, and I know for sure he can ease that stress. I won’t ask what’s troubling you, but look for the pegasus in gold armor and a long ponytail, he’ll get your mind off of it faster than you can even say ‘hello’!”

His laughter was still pretty audible even after I was inside the city. Walking on stone used to be a bother for me, but after my first experience with it, I made an effort to try and get used to it just in case I ever had to in the future, and now Meadowbrook’s roads didn’t give me any trouble at all. The city was very beautiful; grass and trees thrived where stones didn’t lay out a path, and all the buildings, at least the ones that looked like houses, were made with a combination of very light and very dark woods, with the light making up all of the walls, and the dark making up the roofs and the trimmings. There were a few brick and stone buildings scattered about, but they all looked like business or services as opposed to dwellings.

Taking a peep at my map, I saw that the city was divided into four parts. Each part looked like a slice of pie that had the tip bitten off of it, and they formed a grey, sideways X on the map with a large circle in the center. The part of the city that was actually in the mountain wasn’t mapped, but I figured I’d find out what those building were eventually. As I made my way to the center down the main road, I stopped and put my map away, gazing at the gorgeous town square.

Market stalls of all kinds lined the edge of it, and the whole area was surrounded by flowerbeds. There were benches placed around the circle, and near almost every bench was a large tree. Finally, in the very center stood an amazing fountain that featured statues of, who I assumed to be, the two royal sisters of Equestria with water flowing out of their horns.

Well, this city had me hooked in the scenery department, that’s for sure. Another great thing was that, while there were some rather rude and nasty ones mixed in, most of the looks I got were warm and happy. I was met with many a “hello” and “good morning”, and none of the vendors at the stalls threw their merchandise at me and yelled at me to get lost.

Unfortunately, something much less positive caught my attention. There was a jewelry vendor near the left of the major road, and a unicorn sporting a hat that covered their horn made their way over to him. Now, had this unicorn not used magic to slip three necklaces into a small bag behind them, I would have never guess it even was a unicorn. That being said, had I been the same griffin I was a few months ago, I wouldn’t have cared, either. The thief then left and slowly trotted down the road.

If this city was going to be the start of my new life, I had to start with changing myself. Like I said, normally I would’ve just let the thief go about their business, but I was not the same Gilda that had been such a jerk to all the ponies in Ponyville. While I still had my doubts about this place, the least I could do was play my part in helping to keep the city clean.

As a creature that’s half eagle and half lion, I was gifted with incredible strength and amazing speed, but I was also a born predator that could sneak up on prey without making a sound. I followed the thief quickly, but tried not to sacrifice speed for silence as I closed the gap. However, before I could react, the unicorn turned around and took off the minute she saw me. That gave me two options for attracting attention, and instead of going with the more aggressive sounding one, I let loose with a shrill, bird-like screech that got everyone’s attention but frightened them a lot less than I think a loud roar would have.

The thief heard it too, picking up her pace as I took off after her. She was quick, but once I was off the ground some and my wings took over for my arms and legs, closing the gap was a piece of cake. I chased this mare down into an alley between two buildings with the only way out being to turn around and try to get by me. However, she was left with no chance as she was cut off.

The pegasus’ semi-deep voice echoed through the alley despite his rather low tone. “Stop right there, criminal scum! Nopony breaks the law on my watch!” Before the unicorn even had time to stop, his forelegs were around her, and a few moments later she was on the ground in cuffs. You know, since ponies just have hooves, couldn’t they just slip out of those circular cuffs?

Raising his hoof to his mouth, he let out a whistle. Apparently he had a friend not too far behind, as another guard flew over and took the thief from him. With that taken care of, I was able to get a good look at him. His coat was a light brown, kind of like my lion fur, but less brownish grey and more pure brown, his mane and tail were a sandy blonde, and the long mane was tied into a pony tail. He sported gold armor with what looked like a silver claw on the breastplate as well as a broken X near the top; broken as in one piece of the X was separated from the rest. Oddly enough, he wasn’t wearing a helmet, and a blue shield with a crescent moon surround by rays of the sun on his flank.

He got up in my face, his lips pursed and glaring. I opened my mouth to speak, but his words silenced me again. “You have beautiful eyes.” With that, I’m pretty sure my face became as red as his eyes. I was given quite the good look at them since they were right in front of mine, and they kind of looked like Dash’s in terms of color.

“E-Excuse me?”

He drew back, a loud laugh now echoing through the alley as he held out his hoof. “Thank you so much for the help, ma’am. Name’s Cobalt Edge, and as the captain of the Meadowbrook Guard, I’d like to welcome you to our fair city! Kinda sucks that the first thing you witnessed was an attempted robbery, but hey, at least I got to use my ‘Stop right there, criminal scum!’ line! That always makes things better.”

Well, Ol’ Red was right; my mind certainly wasn’t on my troubles as soon as I met him. Seriously though, this guy was the guard captain? He was a complete dork, and didn’t look but maybe a year older than me! However, I still found myself slightly intimidated when he stopped laughing and stared at me with a straight face. “You. Name. Now. Be happy about it, too.”

I looked from side to side for a moment before finally looking at him, swallowing a lump in my throat. “Um… hi, I’m Gilda.” I’ll admit, it was kind of embarrassing for such a pony to be making me feel this way, it was most definitely not at all like me.

He straightened himself up, puffing out his chest a little bit as he cleared his throat. “I thought I said be happy about it. Let’s try this again: I’m Cobalt Edge, and it’s very nice to meet you, Miss…?”

Alright, I could tell he was serious, but it still didn’t make me take him any more seriously. “Hi, I’m Gilda, and it’s very nice to meet you, Cobalt.”

The corners of his mouth turned up into a smile as he clapped his front hooves together. “Atta girl, Gilda! That was much better! You go, girl!” After seeing my roll my eyes, the hooves stopped clapping and pointed straight at me. “Hey now, none of that, you got me? I’m standing here trying to get you to cheer up, and all you’re doing is blowing me off.”

There was a long silence as both of our faces turned bright pink. Cobalt let out a nervous chuckle, rubbing the back of his head. “Um… I think I’m going to avoid using that phrase from now on. Anyway, the point is that I’m trying to cheer you up. It’s pretty clear to me that you’ve got quite a few problems you’re trying to get over. So, here’s my proposal: You talk to me about your issues, and I give you a tour of the city. Sound good?”

I stared at the hoof I was presented with, raising my brow at the colt. “I don’t need a shrink, nor do I want one.”

I set my hand on his hoof to push it down, but he used it to pull me close to him. His tone somewhat frightened me; the stark contrast to the silly, whimsical tone and mannerisms made me feel like I wasn’t even talking to the same pony. “Look, Gilda. I can read you like those maps in your bag, you show quite a few signs of personal trouble. As guard captain, I make it my personal duty to ensure the happiness of the citizens of this city, and even though you don’t have papers yet, you’re still included in that group. You need to do a few things that I’d be a great help with, anyway, so you might as well let me show you around. If it’s a matter of trust, then give me some time to earn it.”

Jerking my hand away from him, I turned away. Scoffing at him was the most I wanted to do, seeing as how he was still being nice. “You do realized that you just asked to try and earn a griffin’s trust, right?”

My jaw dropped at the next thing that came out of his mouth, and even though I wanted to turn back and look at him, I couldn’t. “ Lassen Sie mich nicht? You think I just learned your language out of nowhere, Gilda? Look, I’m not asking you to tell me everything about you so I can learn your weakness and lead you into a death trap. I want to help, and not because it’s my job. I want to help because that’s just who I am, and that’s why I do my best to keep from being as serious as I am right now.”

After a long sigh, I turned to him with my head lowered. “Fine. I just hope nobody gets the wrong idea.”

His laughter made me wonder if he knew I was serious. I mean, didn’t you pretty much have to be married to be in such a position? He put one foreleg around my shoulders, looking at me with one open eye. “Gilda, you’re not bad, you’re already cracking jokes! Nopony’s going to care, silly! Heck, I’m not even dating anyone.”

I followed him out of the alley, and he finally calmed down to the point where he stopped laughing. My thoughts on him were torn between thinking he was awesome in a… fun way, and thinking he was just a goofball that nobody took seriously. “Wouldn’t that be more of a reason for other’s to get the wrong impression?”

The pony raised his hoof to his chin, tapping it a few times as he looked up. “Some might, but the question is: do I care? Certainly not. Gilda, as I said before, I can read you like those maps in your bag, and I feel it best for you to receive the best welcome this city can offer, the most detailed tour you can get, and the quickest citizenship that the city can allow. That being said, shall I begin showing you around?”

It was all I could do to keep from rolling my eyes. “Sure, but you’d better be ready to answer some of my own questions.” After a nod from him, we returned to what he referred to as the “market square”. “First off, I need to know: how did someone as goofy as you get to be in the position you’re in?”

His mouth began to straighten out as he took my hand again, leading me to one of the benches beneath a tree. “It’s going to take too much breath for me to tell that story and walk at the same time. Are you ready for a long tale?” Now it was my turn to nod, and he cleared his throat when he saw. “Alright, let’s go back to the founding of this city.”

He looked to the fountain, clearing his throat one more time. “Meadowbrook was one of the first small cities to be established in Canterlot. It’s older than my great uncle Swift, and he’s old. Now, how it happened might make you cringe a bit, but you deserve to know everything. A large tribe of griffins used to own the Crystal Mountains. Meadowbrook used to be a pegasus only city, and through trade and their sharing of the sky, they managed to maintain peace with this tribe. It was only after earth ponies and unicorns began to make their homes hear that unrest began to stir, and it was actually a unicorn that started a great war. The pegasi refused to take part in it, but the war awoke some… strange creatures. Ever since the war began, attacks from monsters beyond the borders of Equestria became a regular, and the very first stallion in my family, Halberd Edge, took it upon himself to establish a city guard to defend the ponies from these beasts.”

I took advantage of his brief pause. “Do you mean like chimeras and manticores and the like?”

Cobalt slowly shook his head. “I’m not sure you’ve heard of them, but I mean things like wolvers, Hell Hounds, gremlins, and things almost nopony in Equestria has heard of. This was also long before the Mostro Knights were established, and even to this day, we’re too far from Canterlot to receive help from them. Eventually, the fighting awoke Vahlok, a great dragon that slumbers in a cave above the city. The ancient beast witness the bloodshed for mere moments before descending on the snowy land and bringing both sides to an agreement. The griffins that once inhabited the mountains were led by Vahlok to a much more suitable land to the east of Equestria, where food, water, and favorable climates were much more abundant. He also took pity on Meadowbrook, and, with a caring heart, took it upon himself to become the guardian of our city, and he still is today. You may have noticed that, despite being so far up north, the city seems very warm and green, and that’s all Vahlok’s doing.”

Tilting my head a little, I looked up at the mountain the city was built into. “That still doesn’t explain how you got where you are.”

He raised his brows, looking as if he had forgotten that. “Oh, right. Vahlok himself named Halberd as the head guard of Meadowbrook, and from there, Halberd established an official law enforcement and protection organization. Ever since, the Edge family has been the head of Meadowbrook’s guard. I call nepotism on it, honestly, but I can’t argue. Protecting others is not only my duty, but my destiny.”

The captain turned a little, giving me a better look at the shield on his flank. “You want this story too?” I was a little curious, so I gave him another nod and he cleared his throat yet again. “I was a bit of a late bloomer, as I was about fifteen when I got it. My father, Scimitar, had three kids, and I was the youngest, and the only boy. He finally decided to break the trend of naming sons after weapons when he gave us all names that were shades of blue starting with ‘C’. There was the oldest sister, Cyan, the middle sister, Cerulean, and then me, Cobalt. Anyway, Scimitar always pushed me to be different, and I always wanted to be different, hence the long hair and my less-than-serious attitude. Well, four years ago, my dad was responding to another monster attack, and against his orders, I followed him. The monster we found was freakish; it was a huge centaur swinging around a scythe like he was death himself, and the only thing currently standing between him and the citizens was my father. It was a long and drawn out fight, and it seemed like every strike Scimitar landed only managed to make the thing more pissed off. By the time I had gotten there, my dad was worn out and barely able to hold his own. With my father on the ground trying to regain his breath, and the large scythe ready to swing down on him, there was only one thing I could think to do.”

My eyes widened when he lifted his wing so he could remove part of his armor. Across his chest was a scar stretching just barely past where the “collar” of his breastplate began to the center of his chest. I gazed at it for just a moment before the armor was returned to its regular place. “I probably would have died had it not been for a griffin who just happened to be in the right place at the right time. As the blade came down, he grabbed hold of me and pulled me back just enough to keep the scythe from slicing me in two. Luckily, the time that we bought was enough for my father to continue the fight, and after the griffin had gotten me to safety and performed first aid to the best of his abilities, he rushed to help my dad.”

Cobalt turned away from me, staring at the sky. Grabbing him by the shoulder, I began to shake him slowly. “So by protecting your dad, you got your mark?”

He nodded slowly, not turning back to me. “I learned that I was destined to be a protector. Not only of Meadowbrook, but I devoted myself to protecting those in need no matter where I went, regardless of race, gender,” it was as he said these last words that he faced me again, “or species.” There was a decent pause between that and his next line, and his gaze returned to the fountain. “As time went on, the combined forces of my dad and the griffin still proved insufficient, and finally Vahlok stepped in. With my family being so closely connected to him, we knew that, while he protected our city, he only interfered when he deemed necessary. Unfortunately, while he was able to rid Meadowbrook of the centaur, he wasn’t fast enough to end my father’s career. The beast took something from him that, regardless of my age, immediately pushed me into his position and forced me to take on the responsibility of leading an entire guard army.”

After seeing the look in my eyes, his focused remained on me. However, he closed his eyes as he spoke. “His wings. The centaur hand him on the ground and smashed the bones, splitting the muscle and forcing him to have the majority of both wings removed. Ever since then, he attempted to prepare me in every way possible for the role I would have to assume. I already knew how to fight, so his focus was on diplomacy. I learned how to read expressions and body language, which is how I figured that you were going through quite a bit of your own problems. He taught me when it was appropriate to raise your voice in meetings, and how to go about doing so. I learned all about the physical signs of a liar, and things of that nature. I hope I’ve said enough to at least convince you that giving me a chance at trust wouldn’t hurt.”

I tried to keep my cool as I leaned back, scratching my head in an attempt to seem like I had something better to focus on. “Quite a story you got there. I’m not one for history lessons, but I guess it was kind of necessary. Sure, if you’re willing to tell me all of this without even knowing a thing about me, I guess I could chance it.”

The captain gave me a nod, the smile slowly returning. “Gilda, being happy works for me. My seemingly carefree and upbeat nature does not interfere with my work. If anything, it makes others like me more, and it really helps get me through the stress of being Captain of the Meadowbrook Guard and nineteen years old.” He held his hoof out to me again, a less goofy, and more… relieved smile on his face. “Hello there, ma’am. My name’s Cobalt Edge, and I’d like to give you a tour of this fair city, if I may.”

After a moment of staring at the hoof, I looked at him and took it in my hand. “You may.”