"Therapy"
It was 0400, or it was about to be. Alex Rustwing hopped out of his bed and stared down his alarm clock, daring it to ring. Being an inanimate object incapable of being intimidated, it rang anyways. A swift hoof struck the clock in the precise location necessary to halt the noise after but a single ring had escaped it.
Alex made his way out of the SNCO’s quarters, his hooves striking the tile floor loudly much to the disdain of his fellow SNCOs and trotted out to the castle grounds. The Crystal Empire was beautiful before the sun rose, it pretty much always was. His eyes traced the wall and the magical barrier keeping the atmosphere temperate, in stark contrast to the frigid weather beyond.
“Tomorrow is going to be fun,” he said with a little smirk, knowing it would be his turn to lead PT. It was going to be a slay-fest.
He took off, galloping down to the wall to run its inner perimeter. He stopped every quarter mile for a different exercise until he had circled the entire defensive line. Shouting occasionally at the Crystal Guard ponies on post who were slacking, or otherwise not paying attention to the icy exterior of the city.
By the time he returned to his quarters, Alex had worked up a sweat. He was dripping a bit on the floor on his way to his room. Making a note to clean up after himself later, he checked his clock. 0530, perfect.
He quickly washed himself and donned his battle-scarred armor, the smith said his replacements wouldn’t be ready for another week and he refused to wear the Crystal Guard armor while he was not officially enlisted in the branch.
“That armor’s too light, reveals too many weak spots,” he grumbled to himself as he mopped up his mess down the hallway with what seemed like practiced speed. Captain Shining Armor rarely spent more than ten minutes inspecting the SNCO’s quarters during Field Day inspections due to Alex’s constant efforts to keep the place clean.
When the chow hall next to the barracks opened at 0600, Alex was waiting. There were an… Acceptable number of Crystal Guard ponies waiting for the chow hall to open. Alex felt the whole place was run far too relaxed for his taste, but the big decisions weren’t up to him.
Alex entered the throne room at precisely 0630, where a sleepy-looking Princess Cadence and Captain Shining Armor were taking their places. The changing of the guard was also taking place, everyone in the damned room looked like a sleep-deprived zombie. Alex paused for a moment to eye one of the guards by the door who had just taken his post, the young stallion visibly stiffened under the harsh gaze of his superior. After what must have felt like an eternity for the guard being inspected, Alex gave an approving nod. Everything was in order, as it should have been.
Alex trotted up to the pair of thrones and knelt. “Good morning your Highnesses, Staff Sergeant Rustwing reporting as ordered,” he spoke to the floor, clearly enough to be heard across the room.
“Rise Alex,” Cadence said with a tired sigh, finding his rigid mannerisms a bit too much to deal with this early in the morning.
As he did, he rendered a salute to Shining Armor. His hoof clanked lightly against his helmet during the crisp, sharp movement.
Shining tiredly waved a hoof, “at ease Staff Sergeant, are you ready for your next assignment?”
Alex nodded respectfully, “I am ready for any task sir,” he spoke with an almost unnerving attentiveness.
“Good,” Cadence said, a smile on her face. “Today I want you to head down to the shelter on Ruby street and hand out love rations to the Changeling refugees. They’re our allies now and I want you to help the refugees get back on their hooves, do you understand?” She leaned forward, scanning his emotions.
True to his nature, Alex’s face betrayed no emotion at the orders, he was a statue. “Yes, your highness. I understand,” he said with a slight nod.
“Then you may leave to execute your orders,” Shining Armor finished, dismissing Alex.
Alex bowed to Cadence, turned slightly and delivered a crisp salute to Shining. “Good day to you both,” he projected crisply. He turned and trotted out of the throne room quickly, wasting no time in moving to his objective.
“Well that went better than I expected,” Shining Armor said with a sigh of relief, looking at his wife with a smile.
“Of course it did,” Cadence said reassuringly. “I just wish he’d change that armor of his,” she arched an eyebrow as she made her comment. “He looks like he just walked out of a warzone, he’s going to scare somepony!”
“I just hope he’s ready for this ‘therapy’ of yours Cadence. What if he has some kind of episode down there?” Shining asked worriedly.
“Don’t worry, I’ve thought of everything,” Cadence chirped with a much more genuine smile.
/ / / / / / / / / / / /
Alex reached the distribution center shortly before 0730, Changelings were already starting to line up outside. He had to trot past them to get to the door, hearing the occasional hiss or click. He tried not to look at them, he could feel his pulse quickening as he turned his back on them. His instincts screamed at him not to expose his back to the enemy. “Calm down brain, they’re not the enemy anymore,” he whispered quietly through gritted teeth as he raised a hoof and knocked on the door.
Sard Rustwing answered the door, the Crystal Unicorn was a stark contrast to his relative. The Unicorn’s reddish brown coat had taken on the crystal sheen often seen on residents of the Crystal Empire after serving in the area for so long. He had taken to wearing the Crystal Guard’s armor as well, completing the shiny visage. He wore a massive smile and quickly ushered Alex inside.
“I’m so glad you could make it cousin!” He yelled as he pulled Alex into an embrace. “I was told I’d be getting help today but I didn’t expect YOU of all ponies!” He said with a hearty laugh as he released the Pegasus.
“I suppose you’re going to brief me on the procedures for running this place?” Alex asked as he glanced at the clock, thirty minutes until opening time.
“Yes, for starters I want you to take off your wingblades and get that scowl off your face, you’re gonna scare the Changelings,” Sard said as he trotted around the room, lighting it up with his magic and preparing the rations.
“I’m not scowling!” Alex cried out indignantly, feeling his feathers ruffle slightly as his expression tightened into a scowl.
“Shall I get a mirror for you? That looks a lot like a scowl to me,” Sard chided. “You’ll need to smile!” He sang as he finished his lap around the room. “Now get those wingblades off, you’re going to make them nervous!” He reprimanded his cousin.
“My wingblades will make THEM nervous? Everything about them make me nervous!” Alex called, his voice rising unintentionally.
“Well if you want, I can send a message to the Princess and tell her you’re refusing orders…” Sard mused quietly as he twirled a piece of parchment, wrapped and prepared already.
Alex had never disarmed himself so quickly before in his entire life, he even forced a fake smile!
“Eeeugh! Can you try to make the smile less… Uhhh, scary?” Sard asked, turning a hoof out.
Alex quickly shook his head, returning to a more neutral expression. “Can you just tell me the rest of what I have to do?” He groaned as he checked the clock, it was going to be a long day.
“Alright, each Changeling should have a ration card. They hand it over along with their ID, you punch a little hole in today’s date, hand over their day’s rations, and wish them a lovely day. Remember, LOVELY day,” he smiled and sang the word lovely. How the two of them were even remotely related was beyond Alex.
“Well then, lets get this place opened!” Alex said as he trotted over to the window with several rations in tow. Sard had stacked them onto a cart with his magic during the brief. Alex noticed there was no glass on the window, it was like a barless version of a bank teller’s booth.
Sard gripped the edge of the window gate with his magic and slid it up, revealing several dozen Changelings waiting in line. The first was mere inches from the window.
“GAH! GOOD MORNING!” Alex yelped as his hoofblades deployed, driving themselves into the floor.
The Changeling jumped back, clearly startled by the noise. “Woah! Ah! Good, ah, good morning!” He said with a nervous chuckle.
Sard quietly facehoofed letting out the softest groan in the process.
The Changeling levitated his ID and ration card over with his magic. Alex grabbed them with his wing to inspect them. His eyes shifted from the Changeling to his ID and back several times. They all look the same, not similar, the freaking same…
Sard nudged the nearly frozen Alex with the hole puncher. “Oi, you’re taking too long,” he whispered.
Shaking his stunned moment, Alex grabbed the hole punch and punched the day’s date out of the card. The little disc of paper drifted to the ground quietly where it would undoubtedly be joined by hundreds of others like it. Alex then grabbed a day’s rations for the Changeling and handed them over along with the ID and ration card.
“H-have a, lovely day,” Alex said, forcing a smile.
“Why didn’t you take your hoofblades off?” Sard hissed as the Changeling shuffled away, allowing another to walk up.
“Yooouuu didn’t telll me tooo,” Alex strained out through clenched teeth, his forced smile faltering a bit as the next Changeling approached for her rations.
/ / / / / / / / / / / /
Several hours later they had served the last Changeling, or so they had thought. They stepped away from the window to eat lunch themselves.
“Well, you weren’t TERRIBLE,” Sard admitted, looking up from his daffodil and daisy sandwich. “To be honest I expected you to have some kind of violent fit and start attacking them,” he chuckled softly.
“Yeah-we-” Alex started to respond before a desperate-sounding voice from the window called out.
“Excuse me?! Oh, please don’t be closed already,” the voice was soft and feminine.
Alex rose and trotted to the window to see two Changelings, one was about half the size of the other, the larger one wore an expression that even gave Alex pause.
“I’m sorry we’re late! We couldn’t find my little brother’s ration card,” she quickly explained as she levitated her ID and ration card along with the ID of her little brother. “I… I still can’t find it and there’s another week left in the month before we get our new cards. Applying for a replacement card takes around two days and it can take a week for the card to show up in the mail…” Tears were starting to stream from her eyes at this point. “So please, if you can spare anything el-” she was cut off by Alex raising a hoof.
“It is against protocol to hand out extra rations, or rations to a Changeling who fails to produce their ration card,” Alex said as he grabbed two day’s worth of rations. “That being said, don’t go spreading it around you lost your brother’s card,” Alex said with the first genuine smile he had displayed all day.
Tears flowed from the Changeling’s face with renewed vigor as she accepted the rations for herself and her little brother. A small sob escaped her as she smiled. “You’re the best!” She hopped up and pecked Alex on the cheek.
/ / / / / / / / / / / /
Alex awoke with a start and a loud snort.
He slowly sat up in his bed, looking around the dark room. He squinted his eyes and smacked his dry lips. He rubbed his eyes with his hooves and leaned toward his nightstand, trying to make out the time on his bedside clock. 0122…
Perfect, over two and a half hours of sleep left! Alex laid his head back down on the pillow with a soft chuckle. What an absurd dream. Who ever heard of love rations?
Author's Note
Just a silly idea I got while on post! Kinda figured it was a little too big for the Bottom Shelf.
-Jake