Prologue - 18 June, 1006 A.N.M.
18 June, 1006 A.N.M. (After Nightmare Moon)
My name is Revenant Wings. Earlier today, I graduated from the school of training for the Royal Guard after two years of schooling in laws, fighting, and general education. It was tough work, but I have never felt more accomplished in my life. I graduated near the top of my class and was deemed both physically and mentally fit for work as a royal guard.
The achievement means a lot to me, especially after what happened to me back then. I was accepted into the Royal Guard under most extraordinary circumstances. Born to a family of salesponies in a small town just north of Canterlot, I was stricken with a fairly strange disease which prevented me from using my wings. I could fly, but every time I did it was painful, and even attempts to hover a few feet in the air caused me to black out from exhaustion. The doctors in my hometown were unsure if I could ever actually fly, which is a terrible thing for a pegasus. You get called a bunch of names. The ones named after birds like ‘chicken’ or ‘dodo’ are kind of funny to me, but then they call you worse things. Things like ‘lame’ or ‘earth pony’ or just simply make fun of you for being weak; pegasi don’t have as strong of bones as earth ponies do, so we can’t just take over jobs down below on the earth. I remember when I could actually get a job I didn’t because I couldn’t stand the thought of a boss who would hire me because of my wings then become embarrassed when he found out I couldn’t use them.
Our hometown is close to a series of hills. The hills were so rich with gems that are used for things like jewelry or ornaments or even magical artifacts that a mine was built to get them out. I had a friend whose family used to live in those mines, and he would tell me of the dark and cavernous areas within the hills that occasionally hid wild animals originally undisturbed. Bats and rats were most common, but there were things like snakes and bears that made their dens in the hills, and I often saw members of the town guard be called up to the mountain with spears or unicorns with their magic to help protect the miners. Working the equipment wasn’t as dangerous as having to watch out for the predators that would prey on ponies that accidentally disturbed their slumber or hiding places.
Once, though, some of the miners unearthed a den of creatures I’ve heard called Diamond Dogs. They’re canine-like beings that stand on two legs and are so large that even when hunched over like they normally are they stand twice as tall as us ponies do. I had heard of Diamond Dogs before, about that time they kidnapped a unicorn searching for gems in the hills near Ponyville, and I heard that the miners constantly lived in fear of finding one in the dark caverns; if one was alone they could be abducted without another pony able to find them.
It was due to bad luck that the drill uncovered a den of the beasts in the mountain. Angered with the fact that the miners were drilling into their holes, the Diamond Dogs attacked the miners and killed many of them. When they fled back to town, the Diamond Dogs decided to make things simpler for themselves and started attacking the residents. Problem was our town was so poorly staffed in terms of guard they were quickly becoming overpowered, and Diamond Dogs are considered a serious threat at any time and are to be dealt with immediately.
I don’t know what drove me to try and fly to Canterlot. I might have told myself that it was necessary to try and fly to the town that was across a small plain and up the side of a mountain. I could have run to a nearby town, but none of them would be powerful enough to take on the Diamond Dogs. I supposed the royal guard was the best chance for our survival and took flight.
I won’t lie. It was hard to fly. I nearly blacked out multiple times and it felt like I was being shocked continuously by a thundercloud, but I got myself to the base of Canterlot Castle. Low and behold, I found myself at the hooves of two members of the royal guard. I barely managed to spit out my warning of Diamond Dogs invading my town before I collapsed at their feet.
When I came to, I was lying in a bed in a hospital in Canterlot and was face-to-face with Princess Celestia, the ruler of all Equestria. I wondered why I was speaking to her when she told me that she had heard of my valor and of my warning by the two guards and wanted to congratulate me for flying even on my bad wings. Thanks to me, she said, the guards were able to rally together and went off to face the Diamond Dogs, capturing most of them and even killing a few, and that most of the town was saved. My family and friends were okay and in good health, and they were sending me their wishes that I should get better soon.
But Princess Celestia had not only come with news of the saving of the town. She said that if I so desired I could join the royal guard. My courage and determination under such circumstances as I had been through marked me out from the rest of a recent pool of applicants (I recall her muttering something about poor souls and how they had strength but no heart) and would willingly give me a position. I would be enrolled in a special academy and would do classwork for two years in general education with some classes for work as a Royal Guard, after which I would be put into field duty as an officer under a fellow guardsman.
I’ll admit the pay as much as the position attracted me to the job. Even while training I would be housed in a set of dorms with others my same age and status and receive a steady paycheck so long as my grades were high enough. In addition, doctors would be available to keep an eye on my wing, from which whatever disease that had inhabited them had left. That meant more than the job offer; the simple fact that I could fly again was a joyous occasion, so much so that I told Celestia that yes, I would join.
I learned a lot at the Academy, but I am ready to face the times ahead as a guard pony. In one month, I will be working as an officer doing field duty and basic training under Captain Shining Armor himself. Hopefully with my training as a guard, my wing will strengthen again and I will be able to fly as a normal pegasus again.
R.W.
Chapter 1 - 19 July, 1006 A.N.M.
19 July, 1006 A.N.M.
I endeavor to keep this journal going as a mark of my progress throughout my training. I haven’t had much time to write until now. I am to report to the cafeteria for dinner in a few minutes so I hope I can explain all of what happened to me until then.
This first week has been basic training exercises. It has been difficult work; even with the broken wing, Commander Shining Armor has been a kind yet difficult trainer. ‘Alright, you greens,’ he called us on our first day before the sun had even risen, ‘this first month will take a lot out of many of you. Some might even reconsider your entry into the Royal Guard. But I need every single one of you to be on the top of your game. I don’t want what happened with the Changelings to happen again and I need every single one of you to be able to respond quickly and smartly to every single situation.’
Commander Armor began walking up and down the rows of us recruits. ‘Take a look to your left and your right. These are the recruits you’ll be working with. There will be others once you get into the guard, but I want every one of you by the end of the month to be on good working terms with one another. You need to be able to be paired with any pony in this group and be able to work as a team. It doesn’t matter the situation, it doesn’t matter who you’re working with, you need to be able to work together. If you have conflicting personality traits, throw them out the window and focus on the tasks at hand. Work as a team and this month will be a hell of a lot easier. Fail to do so, and things will be significantly harder.’
Our first task involved us going in pairs around the border of the city of Canterlot, a nearly five-mile jaunt. ‘Here are the rules for your first exercise: you must find another recruit not taking into account their speed and agility and make a lap of the city. You are going to be timed on this exercise, so I suspect that including finding a partner you be back here in thirty minutes. Ready? Go!’
I wasn’t searching for long. I found myself paired with a sparkling white pegasus with a long blonde mane and a red heart that shined like a gemstone as his cutie mark; the only way I could tell it was a male was because of his more square snout. His eyes were a very confident blue and he seemed quite pleased to have found someone, heading towards me with a confident stride. He nodded to me and to the start of our lap and I nodded back before we both took off around the city, one of the first groups to leave.
‘What’s your name?’ he asked. Talking for him was not an issue while running; he spoke as though fully alert and awake.
‘Revenant Wings,’ I told him through a yawn. It was taking all of my energy to try and keep up with this stallion especially after having got up no more than fifteen minutes ago.
‘Revenant Wings, eh? Mine’s Garnet Heart.’ The stallion reined himself in and ran evenly alongside me. ‘Where do you come from?’
‘Just a little mining town north of here,’ I told him as we bolted around a sharp corner, slowing down my gallop and noticing Garnet’s reining himself again. ‘Nothing special. What about you?’
‘Baltimare,’ he said. ‘I thought about joining the police force there, but the Royal Guard came around and asked for my recruitment. The pay was better so I joined. How did you get in?’
‘Chance,’ I told him. ‘I alerted the guard of a Diamond Dog attack on my hometown.’
‘You flew from there?’ Garnet asked as we shot into a park closest to the mountain. He sounded interested. ‘Must have been a long distance.’
‘Well, we could see Canterlot from our hometown. It was painful because of a disease, but otherwise I managed.’
‘What sort of disease?’
‘I don’t know. I guess I just had large enough an adrenaline rush to be able to overcome it.’
‘Can you fly now?’
‘I have to have it checked by a doctor every few weeks, but I’m fine now.’ I stretched the wing out to prove it.
‘Mmm…’ Garnet said thoughtfully. ‘You think we could fly to the finish line?’
‘Why do you ask that?’
‘We’re both pegasi and it’ll probably be faster while flying. Commander Armor didn’t say anything about flying the course, just that we needed to make the lap.’
Garnet had a point. I nodded and spread both my wings. Garnet did the same and watched as I jumped and took a few cursory flaps to pull myself into the air. Once I was in the air and stable, Garnet spread his pure white wings and took a few flaps until he was alongside me, soaring over the park until we were higher than the trees.
‘You alright there, Revenant?’ he called, gliding alongside me. ‘You’re flapping a bit much.’
‘It’s the wing,’ I called back. ‘It’s still not fully recovered.’
‘We could go back to galloping if you need to.’
‘No!’ I called back as we glided back into Canterlot’s urban center. I pulled my wings in and dived, Garnet following suit as we pulled ourselves out and shot along the streets. It was easier with my wings slightly tucked back and using the speed from the descent to pull myself along. I only required a few flaps in order to keep myself off the ground.
‘You’re doing good for someone with a broken wing!’ Garnet called happily.
‘You’re not doing too bad yourself,’ I called back. ‘Come on, we should only have a mile left.’
‘You’re right. I’m still not sure if we’ll make it, though.’
‘Well, we’ll at least arrive a little earlier than we would have.’
Garnet nodded and zoomed alongside me, both of us taking a banked turn around a fountain to continue our route. Ponies were coming out of their houses now as the sun cast golden lights through Canterlot, making Garnet’s wings shine brightly in the morning sun and causing me to notice the dirt on my wings that reminded me I had yet to shower today.
Things were going fine until suddenly a pain went through my wing. I had flapped a few times to give myself extra speed until a feeling of electric shock went through the wing. One moment I was in the air, the next I was hitting the ground with a hard enough thump that I bounced back into the air before hitting again and rolling a few meters before coming to a complete stop. Garnet pulled his wings out more to slow down and eased himself alongside me.
‘Revenant!’ he called as he ran up alongside me. ‘What happened?’
‘My wing,’ I groaned. ‘It cramped up. I don’t think I can fly anymore.’
‘What about your legs? Your body? You hit pretty hard. Can you still move?’
I tried picking myself off the floor, feeling a slight pain in my chest. ‘Argh… I don’t think I can go on. Go on and head to the finish without me and call for a medic.’
‘I’m not leaving you behind,’ Garnet said firmly. ‘Commander Armor said we needed to be able to work as a team in order to complete these tasks. I’m not leaving you behind like that. Come on. Even if you can walk, we’re still making progress.’
I tried to stand up on four legs, but it was shaky and I nearly fell if it wasn’t for Garnet ducking himself under my usable wing and propping me up next to him. ‘Come on,’ he said gently, soothingly. ‘Just take it easy… one step at a time…’
I took a step forward, then another, then another. After a while, I wasn’t concentrating on the pain anymore; just on Garnet’s voice slowly leading me onwards and telling me to take another step. His speech was slow and methodical yet gentle and encouraging. So long as I was moving, he kept up the string of speaking that I had drowned out long ago except for the tone. I tripped once or twice and only then did Garnet’s voice stop momentarily until I was propped back up again and his speech continued.
I don’t think I would have made it back to the finish line without Garnet, even if we were twenty minutes late. Despite receiving the ranting I thought we would from Commander Armor, the unicorn looked ecstatic and started shouting to the other recruits. ‘Do you see this here? Teamwork, that’s what it is! These two are twenty minutes late but had the determination to continue, not to mention when one teammate was down the other carried him with because he didn’t want to leave him behind. That’s the sort of thing I want to see out there. What’re your names?’
‘Garnet Heart,’ Garnet responded.
‘Revenant Wings,’ I said weakly.
Commander Armor nodded thoughtfully. ‘You’re the one with the problematic wing, aren’t you? I saw you take flight and dive back down. I heard the fall, too. What happened? Did your wing cramp up?’
‘That’s exactly what happened, Commander Armor,’ Garnet said. I was thankful it was him speaking and not me; I felt weak after that fall. ‘I asked him if it was okay to fly, and he said he wanted to continue. We were going fine until he stopped mid-flap and hit the ground.’
Commander Armor nodded again. ‘I’ll get the medics to come down and take a look at it. You two are off the rest of the day. Garnet, you keep looking after Revenant; I don’t want you working alone in the next task. Revenant, you listen to what the medic says and make sure you’re ready for more training tomorrow. Keep up the teamwork and hopefully you’ll both do just as well tomorrow.’
Garnet stayed with me until the medics arrived, then went with me to a clinic within the Royal Guard training grounds. He told the story of my fall again to the doctor, who injected me with some steroid shot for the wing and gave me some pain medication that doubled as sleeping pills. He waited until the shot had taken effect and I could move my wing again before sending me off to the dining hall for lunch, Garnet walking with me but not saying anything.
Commander Armor was waiting in the lunch hall where I gave him the report from the doctor. He looked over the report. ‘Again, I’m giving you and Garnet the rest of the day off for the time to rest. Wait until after dinner to take the medication. I’ll have a medic send down some similar pills without the sleeping medication to take before then. Head to the dorms; you and Garnet are sharing a room from now on.’
I nodded and me and Garnet got our lunch from the cafeteria. We sat down at an empty table.
‘I’m sorry for what happened,’ Garnet said finally.
‘You don’t need to be sorry,’ I told him. ‘You didn’t do anything.’
‘It was my fault for suggesting we fly.’ He sounded hurt. Not because of me, though; because of himself. ‘I should have just nixed the idea when you told me about your bad wing.’
‘I still went along with it,’ I reminded him.
‘Yes, but you wouldn’t have gone along with it if I hadn’t have cut it off sooner.’
I felt bad for him. ‘Don’t beat yourself up about it,’ I said, trying to sound more upbeat. ‘I got the shot, we’re off for the rest of the day, that’s past us now. Besides,’ I added, ‘I still owe you since you helped me get back here safe.’
‘Alright, alright,’ Garnet said, taking a deep breath. ‘I’ll just… put it past me.’
When he did, he was a much more friendly and likeable fellow. We have a lot of the same interests, such as the Daring Do series of books and our parents being salesponies. He’s a few months older than I am, and he sort of has a big brother thing about him, the cool type that shows you all those neat places to explore or is willing to share things he wouldn’t with anyone else. I kind of wished I had somepony like him around back home; he would have made life a lot more interesting back then.
Even his looks were friendly. His coat is a spotless white that gives off an aura that reminds me of how some of the famous ponies are portrayed in artwork, particularly Celestia. He’s got an intelligent and friendly blue gaze and is quite often fairly level-headed and smart; he supposedly got the highest marks at the schools back in Baltimare. His blonde mane is long and shiny and one would almost mistake him as a female at first glance if it wasn’t for his squarer snout or his deeper yet gentle and softer voice. Not that he’s soft-spoken; he can be quite boisterous when he wants. His gait is confident and he stands straight but is not intimidating even though he’s a bit taller than I am.
The one thing about him that bugged me was his cutie mark. It was a deep red mark – quite close to black unless you looked at it in the right light – in the shape of a heart and had the glimmer of a gemstone; hence the garnet. Now, being from a gem-mining town I knew what a garnet was, and while it was similar there was something about the mark that gave me the opinion that it almost looked of dried blood. Like if you had received a cut and it started bleeding and eventually the blood clots to give you a scab; instead of being smooth like a polished gemstone, his cutie mark had a rough appearance of dried blood.
I haven’t told Garnet that. I hope he never reads this and finds that out; I’m afraid it would hurt him if he did. And I’ve grown to like him since we first met earlier today.
After we got back to the dorm, we took a moment to examine our living space. It wasn’t very big, but there was a main living area, a bathroom at one end, and two bunk beds. It was all sparsely furnished; the bedroom had the two beds, two dressers, and two lamps all in earthen tones. The main room had a carpet, a few chairs, a love seat, and a small wooden coffee table, in addition to a cabinet that was filled with towels and washclothes. The bathroom had a toilet, a bathtub with showerhead, and a sink with overhead medicine cabinet. A few lights adorned each room and lit them in neutral beige colors.
There was a note on the table from Commander Armor. ‘This is where you’ll be staying during your first station as a guard. You will be sleeping here when exercises and your duties are over. Three meals a day are provided in the cafeteria. Wake up call for exercises will be at 5:30am and lights out will be at 10pm.’
‘So this is where we’re staying, huh?’ Garnet Heart said. ‘Feels just like home.’
‘Exactly like it,’ I replied sarcastically. ‘The rooms are quite dull.’
‘Yeah, but it seems like we get a nice view of Canterlot from the bedroom.’
Garnet Heart motioned me over to the window. Off to the left was Canterlot Castle, shining brilliantly with its colors of purple, gold, and white. To the right was Canterlot’s main center, filled with buildings of all different shapes and colors and materials. Off in the back were the mountains, soaring high above our field of view and creating a backdrop of purple that faded into white.
‘It is pretty,’ I told him.
‘I always thought of becoming a photographer,’ Garnet Heart told me as he walked over to where a pile of suitcases had been dropped off at the end of one of the beds. It took me a moment to notice mine were at the end of the other as Garnet pulled out a small camera. ‘I like taking photos of things that interest me. Let’s start with this, shall we?’ Garnet opened the window and put his hooves up to the window ledge. He took a moment to steady his camera and gave it a small click before bringing it back in. ‘I’ll show you it when it gets developed.’
I shrugged and unpacked my luggage into the dressers. A knock came at the door and I opened it to see a young mare in a nurse’s cap holding a bag. ‘I’m looking for an Officer Revenant Wings.’
‘That would be me.’
‘I’m from the station’s medical clinic. Commander Armor sent down a small order of pain medication. It says to take one every six hours.’
‘Thank you, ma’am,’ I said and took the bag from her.
The mare gave me a polite salute. ‘Commander Armor would also like to notify you dinner is at six pm. His orders were to head down to the cafeteria at five forty-five for roll call. That’s all.’ The nurse gave one more salute, which I returned, and she left.
I went back to the room to see Garnet Heart unpacking his suitcase. ‘Who was that?’
‘Nurse from the clinic. She came by to give me that pain medication Commander Armor was talking about.’
‘Well, that’s good. At least you should be on the mend soon.’
I nodded and finished unpacking my luggage before lying down on the bed and giving my wings a tentative stretch. They definitely were better off than they had been after my fall, but the one still gave small jolts of pain when I had stretched it too far.
‘Are you alright?’ Garnet asked. ‘You look like you’re still having trouble with that wing.’
I must have winced. ‘It’s still recovering. The cortisone shot is still taking effect. Meanwhile, I’ll just head to the bathroom and take the other pill.’
I took the medicine bag to the bathroom and pulled out the small orange container with what might have been eighteen to twenty pills. I took one out, noting the time, and poured a small glass of water from the sink. I noticed Garnet approaching me in the doorway as I placed the pill in my mouth.
‘I know a few techniques for massaging wing joints,’ Garnet said as I swallowed a gulp of water with the pill. ‘I took a class on simple medical combat techniques to keep teammates patched up until they got to a real doc. There were a few things on massaging pegasus wings to reduce pain. Do you… do you need me to do some of those?’
This was the first time I didn’t like the gentle, soft tone of his voice. I took a few more sips of water to wash down the pill and shook my head. ‘We hardly know each other for a few hours. Maybe if it gets really bad I’ll have you do some of those, but it’s a little soon to have you touching my wings.’
Pegasi wings are rather sensitive, much in the way a unicorn’s horn is. Treating pain in the wings is often a delicate procedure considering just enough will heal it and a little more than that will hurt it again. I had no doubt in my mind that Garnet Heart would have been able to prevent himself from causing me more pain, but I had only known him for a few hours and was not yet willing to get that close, especially considering it was another stallion I was speaking to.
Garnet shrugged as though he was trying to be indifferent, but his eyes betrayed a hurt feeling. ‘The offer’s open if you need it,’ he said, again trying to sound indifferent. He walked off to the room and left me feeling bad for him again.
I organized my bath stuff before returning to the room. Garnet Heart was lying down on his bed contentedly and I crawled into my bed. ‘Is the picture developed?’
‘Not yet,’ Garnet said. ‘It takes a few hours after the print.’
‘How long have you been photographing things?’
‘Since I was really young. I entered a few contests back in Baltimare and even won a little prize money for things like still life’s and pictures of ponies. I was doing photographing for a newspaper when the guard came around to recruit me.’
‘What do you like taking pictures of?’
‘Nature, architecture, but mostly other ponies.’ Garnet’s voice started to gain a sort of inspired quality to it and his blue eyes seemed to get brighter and looked into the distance. ‘I liked photographing other ponies the most. It was fun to take pictures when they weren’t noticing. Simple conversations in restaurants or in parks were my favorites.’ He sighed happily as he recollected the memories. ‘You tell other ponies you’re taking a picture of them, they either shy away or they try too hard. You take a picture of somepony when they’re not looking and their faces are sweeter, their poses more natural. Of course, some ponies can actually look beautiful when they’re looking at the camera, but not always.’ Garnet Heart turned towards me with a large grin. ‘I was told I was always beautiful in photographs even when the photographer originally thought I was trying too hard.’
I turned towards him. ‘You ever have ponies think you’re a mare?’
Garnet gave a light-hearted chuckle. ‘What made you think that?’
‘Mostly the long, blonde mane. Most stallions would cut it short. You’re also not as bulky as some of the other recruits.’
Garnet nodded. ‘I suppose so.’
I sighed and got back up. ‘I should take a shower. I feel like I haven’t washed in days.’
‘If you take cold showers, try a warm one; the warm water will do good for the wing.’
I nodded and pulled a towel and washcloth out of the cabinet before heading into the bathroom, closing the door but not locking it behind me.
The water was nice and warm and felt good against my coat, and I listened to the pounding of water against the tub and my body. I raised my injured wing slowly until it was just under the showerhead, letting the warmth flow over it and feeling it slowly relax. Every once in a while, I heard a slight click from just outside the bathroom; Garnet Heart must have been taking pictures of the dorms and the surrounding area. I don’t blame him; Canerlot is a beautiful city and the surrounding scenery is something to be seen at least once in your life up close and personal. Even two years after I first arrived here after the Diamond Dog attack it has not been lost on me.
When I finished my shower, I found Garnet just outside the door of our dorm at a window looking out over Canterlot Castle taking pictures. ‘I’m going to make a journal entry and lie down for a little while before dinner.’
Garnet turned around and smiled warmly at me. ‘I’ll wake you up when it’s time to head down. You take the pills?’
‘We talked about you massaging my wings while I took them, remember?’
‘Oh, right. Anyway, don’t worry about a thing. I’m just gonna take a few more pictures and I’ll wake you up when it’s time to go.’
That was about twenty minutes ago. Garnet has since entered the bathroom and hasn’t quite come out yet. I close for now hoping that things for my wing will be better soon. At least I have Garnet here with me if anything goes wrong.
R.W.