The Rise of The Hammer

Hammer was unsure of what to do with himself. It wasn’t every day that you were not only in the presence of royalty, but eating and mingling with the guards and Princess herself. The guards were actually quite enjoyable company, regardless of their gruff exterior. Most of them did that just to be professional. Celestia herself was making jokes and mingling with her possible recruits, also. Hammer found this quite amazing. He still had a hard week ahead of him though, and tried not to get too friendly with the competition.

He was able to get some juicy tidbits from Princess Luna, about the contest and what it entailed. Each day would have two different challenges, followed by a day of rest in between. Celestia didn’t want to run her recruits ragged before boot camp. The first two events were largely mental based, to gauge each recruit’s thinking and problem solving capabilities. An exceptional guard needed to be light on his feet and quick on his wits, in the event of an attack, forewarned or not.

Specifically, there was a knowledge aptitude test first of all, much like the young ponies in school took, except modified to apply to older, more mature ponies. That test involved several pieces, which took two hours apiece to complete. The second challenge would be held after lunch that day.  This involved physical puzzles that needed to be solved within an allotted time. Things like a rubik’s cube, block puzzles, and other such things. The four puzzles needed to be completed within 4 hours, giving roughly an hour each. Most older ponies could solve these puzzles within a couple hours, so you really had to be intelligent to solve them in an hour.

As Hammer munched thoughtfully at a garden salad, he had noticed fully the grandeur of the architecture here. High-flying buttresses supported the main ceiling, while arches and pillars held up the outlying parts of the massive Grand Dining Room. It was shaped much like a contest platform, with the two outlying ceilings remarkably lower than the center. Chandeliers dotted the ceilings, while there were more tables on the outer fringes of the main dining hall. Hammer guessed the central table could be split into smaller tables and moved or put away to make room for a ballroom floor. Even if he lost the contest, he could make a fortune working here in Canterlot. He remembered thinking this to himself on the carriage ride in.

The Princess and guards got their attention and took leave of the contestants. It was getting fairly late, and the princess had duties to attend to, even before the contest started. It was getting close to the shift change for the guards too. Apparently, the guards that were here are Night Patrol. The contestants were escorted to an empty barracks, where they would be spending the week, even if they were winners or no. After all, they were living a week in the castle, so the contestants might as well enjoy themselves. They were each assigned a VIP pass, signed by the Sun Princess and the Captain of The Guard. Magically enchanted to keep a running tally of costs, this could enable the participants to at least take souvenirs home for friends and family. They could also visit the kitchens and public areas of the castle. Food, drink, and lodging did not apply to their VIP cards.

Hammer was invited to join some of the other stallions for a stroll about the castle kitchens, but he politely refused. He could not get close to anyone, else it would skew his judgments and disable him to perform at his full potential. He decided to settle into a bunk and write back home. He chose a bunk towards the front of the barracks. He liked being in view of the sunlight. He lit a lamp that was sitting on one of the tables skewed about the barracks. Random bits of stuff were on it. A pack of playing cards, some scrap paper, some quills and Ink, pretty much stuff you’d find at a campsite or someplace similar. He took a rather large piece of scrap paper and began writing. He told the apples all about his first day in canterlot, and how he had met the princesses and captain personally. He also noted that there were few other contestants and that he had a long week ahead of him, and would try to write at least every other day. He was starting to get tired, so he gently blew out the lamp, sealed the letter, and left it in the outbox outside of the barracks’ door. Tomorrow was gonna be a hell of a day.

Contest day 1: How many ponies does it take to solve a math test?

The day dawned bright and early. Hammer awoke with the sun, and judging by the low light streaming into the room, it was about 6am. Hammer still had a few hours before the exams started, so he decided to take a walk through the public gardens, and then to the kitchen for some breakfast. As he strolled through the city towards the gardens, canterlot was surprisingly quiet. An occasional hoofstep or cart wheel could be heard, but there were very few other ponies out and about. As Hammer wandered into the misty gardens, dew coated his fur and slickened it, and the loveliest smells in the city assaulted his nostrils. Roses, Daffodils, Lilies, and grass assaulted his sense of smell. The twittering of an occasional bird or the skittering noises of squirrels and chipmunks hunting for breakfast also were about.

Hammer entered the kitchens through the side door, which was usually only used by delivery personnel and chefs. The smell of toast, eggs, muffins, and fresh fruit salads came to him now. He perused the offerings, and selected for himself a pair of apple muffins and a berry salad. He took a seat at one of the smaller tables tucked into the dining room, and munched absentmindedly. It was only about 8:30 now. Other contestants began meandering into the dining room for breakfast and head count. Breakfast promptly ended at 10am, and the exams would start shortly after, at 10:30. The exams would be ended at 2pm, then lunch, followed by the puzzle exams, running from between 3pm to 7pm. 7pm would close the events for the day, and then the contestants were back to the barracks by lights out and lockdown at 10pm. As Hammer finished up, they were taking head count and everyone was ordering breakfast. He was done early, so he decided to just hang out until it was time to dismiss.

As the contestants filed into the exam hall, there were several desks placed about the room, simply adorned by three sheets of paper. Inside the desks, Hammer assumed, were quills, inkwells, and more paper scraps. He wasn’t ever very good at school, so he was quite worried that he would be eliminated right away. As he glanced through the papers, he realized it was really quite simple. Addition, subtraction and multiplication. School kid stuff, though with much higher numbers. There were also some diagrams, but they didn’t appear horribly complicated either. He took a seat, and began.

Before he knew it, the timer went off for the exams. He had finished none too early either. He barely had time to scratch out his last answer before returning it to the front desk. They would receive the results in tomorrow morning’s mail, along with any letters from home. The thought of getting a letter back from the apples thrilled him. As the crowd made their way to the gardens to wait for the order to go get lunch, Hammer napped nearby, listening to the chatter of birds and ponies.

After a short lunch, the contestants wandered back to the previous room, which was now holding various puzzles on each desk. Enchanted timers were also on the desks, set to go off at hour intervals. The puzzles were also made to disappear after an hour. However, the enchantment was broken if it was solved. Hammer once again took a seat, and after listening to the standard monologue he so often found teacher’s reciting, he began on his puzzles.