Symphony Of War

I stood along the railing looking the fact that I was really here, in this moment. The wind brushing along my face and mane provided a melancholy setting; quite literally I stood there doing nothing, lost in thought about many things. I've prepared for this moment for three years and I'm still not confident it was not enough time.

The wooden boards underneath my hooves were cold and stiff; the monstrous shadow I cast in the water was shimmering with the waves. The Sun began setting below the waters leaving a trail of liquid gold along the horizon, in the distance I could see land, just in time too, there seems to be a storm settling in the distance and heading our direction and I notice I am boring myself again.

“What’s up?” called a voice behind me.

“Huh?” was all I was able to blurt out. Reality is hard to take in once you come back to it.

I turned to see one of my closest friends approach me in a sort of calmer way than usual.

“I said, what’s up, how are you doing?” Lyra stood there calmly, which confused me slightly. Of all ponies she was the most excited to be here.

“I'm fine, just a little nervous I guess.” I did my best to keep a calm composure but the cold wind was not helping. The landmass ahead was getting larger.

“You need to chill a little.” She said. “Every conversation we’ve had starts with ‘I'm nervous’. ‘I'm afraid’. ‘It’s been so long’. What if this and what if that is starting to annoy me you know?”

“You whining is the last thing I need right now”, I said. “Honestly if you can put up with Bonbon then you can at least handle putting up with my complaints.”

“Fine,” Said the mint colored mare. “Just saying it’s starting to worry me a little is all.”

Lyra was a simple pony. Not stupid, she just doesn’t have a complex train of thought. I consider it a great honor she decided to tag along, leaving the many important things she holds near and dear to her heart back home, just to accomplish the same thing I intended to.

“So Lyra,” I began. “You think it will all be worth it?

Of course it will.” she said, “otherwise is wouldn’t have spent the last three years aiming for this moment.”

She was right, all these years for this one moment, it better be worth it. The clouds are over us now, darker than the night sky itself it sent a clear message that it’s going to rain heavily. The boat at the same time was docking into the port, readying to unload everypony.

The first drops began to fall; every pony was beginning the walk off of the ramps into the area, each heading towards a large administration building. In the scramble I was surprised I wasn’t crushed to death in the swarm of ponies rushing into the building in search for shelter.

“Might as well get used to getting wet”, yelled Lyra. It was difficult to hear her with the loud sound of the rain. “This is considered the most tropical continent in the world, rains like crazy here.”

“You got that right!” called another pony somewhere in the fray.

After we finally were able to get inside of the building I found a small area to regain my senses. I didn’t realize how large the building really was until I entered it. It was a three story complex with a large forum full of wet ponies, mostly pegasi, desks lined up along the entrance where ponies dressed in camouflage were addressing to the newcomers, which were beginning to line up. Different sorts of voices and conversations were all over the place, some saying how bad the trip was or how they are excited to be here.

A large skylight revealed the blackened sky, behind the desks were assigned guides to lead the newcomers to specific destinations outside of the buildings, offices lined the areas around the main forum. This is about as close to a train station as it can get, except it wasn’t.

“Kind of blows your mind a little doesn’t it?” said Lyra. “How messy it looks down there yet how organized it really is.”

I tried to ignore my shivering. “Well I'm sure it is a daily thing here to receive hundreds and maybe thousands of ponies from this one location.” It doesn’t surprise me how they are able to keep this calm.

“Well how are we going to get in?” She whined, “It’s going to take forever.”

“Deal with it,” I said. “Complaining won’t make time go any faster.”

We stood there as the line advanced very slowly. How much time had past? An hour? Two hours? I lost track of time, it must be 9 p.m. by now for all I know. Still line after line stood horizontal to one another, like some kind of assembly line conveyer belt in a factory.

When I reached the desk after what seemed days, I proceeded to fill out the information sheet, the pony seated in front of me observing closely as I wrote.

“What a great accomplishment,” he said.

“What?” I said, casually bewildered by his comment.

“Oh noting,” he laughed. “Very rare to see your kind coming in fresh from the mainland is all.”

I did not take his words very kindly, “MY kind?” I began sternly. “Just who are you talking about here?”

Realizing I was staring him in the eye, his little smirk disappeared. “I meant special forces type of ponies.” He began profusely, looking for a way out of this conversation. “Anyway, about the piece of paper in front of you…”

I was able to finish the paperwork without knocking his horn off of his head. Then he put it into a filing cabinet, gave me a piece of paper and told me to wait by one of the hallway entrances.

I stood by the entrance to the hallway as I waited for Lyra to catch up, it shouldn’t take too long for her to finish; unicorns have the luxury of the use of magic to make life easier for them. At about half the time it took me to fill out the paperwork she was walking in my direction, looking quite upset.

“Are you ok?” I asked.

“Yeah I'm fine” she replied. “Some ponies though, He thinks I don’t have the ‘skill’ to be in the squad I’m in right now.”

“Well it is one of Equestria’s most elite, plus No pony ever dares attempt to try to get into it.”

“Yea I guess you’re right,” Said Lyra. “Anyway, where are we headed?”

I unfolded the sheet of paper that was given to me, “It says here that we got to wait until some pony…”

“Octavia Melody and Lyra Heartstrings!” called somepony.

I turned to see an orange colored mare with a purplish colored mane standing at one of the many possible exits.

“…calls us.” I finished.

We walked up to the mare dressed in an officer’s uniform. With a clearer look at her noticed she was a second lieutenant, the same rank as Lyra, and had a few distinctions like a scar on her lower cheek, and a few burn marks on her hind legs. Also she dyed part of her mane a whitish color.

“Are you two-?”

“Yea,” interrupted Lyra.

“Cut me off again and ill gut you like a fish.” She said it with a melancholy tone, not even expressing anger as if she's said it a million times.

“Anyway,” she began, “Are you two in that Special Forces squad…,” she took out a clipboard and examined it closely, her eyes soon widened, “Well it seems you two are the new ones assigned to the only squad in the CSF division huh? What an honor that must be.”

I didn’t know why it’s such a big deal if we’re in the Celestial Special Forces.

“Looks like you two are getting the special tour of this dump,” she continued. “Right this way,” she pointed. “There’s somepony who wants to meet you.”

She directed us down the hallway to the far exit of the administration building. The silence was starting to become uncomforting. After about 5 minutes we were outside, the rain had lightened up but it was still drizzling; the surrounding lights making the wet ground shimmer faintly. There was nopony waiting there however, which was odd.

“She’ll be here in a minute,” said the officer. “It’s just been a busy night is all, there’s a large division of pegasi about to be dispatched along with fresh recruits from Equestria.”

I'm a little surprised Lyra has kept her mouth shut all this time, she’s never this quiet.

“Anyway,” said our guide. “Just wait here; this is the only place she’ll look for you.”

“Um excuse me,” I said. “But who is ‘she’?”

The orange mare smiled, “Oh you’ll see, knowing where you’re from I'm sure it won’t be hard to recognize her.”

She turned around and walked back into the building. Lyra sighed in relief, “Is it me or does she look a little bit like Scootaloo?”

“Sort of,” I said. “Just a different mane style is all.”

Lyra yawned. “I just hope we get through his tour quickly, it’s going to be tomorrow soon and I want to go to bed.”

My, a bed sounds like a godsend right now, it’s a shame this tour can’t wait until tomorrow.

Lyra and I were standing on a concrete floor in front of a large set of stairs leading in all sorts of directions, sort of like a harbor would have one except the harbor was about ten times as large, never the less it was large enough for hundreds of ponies to leave and enter the area as they pleased.

“Hello there,” called a soft voice near us.

We turned around and saw a medium sized yellow colored mare in front of us

“No way!” exclaimed Lyra.

Fluttershy smiled, “Remember me?”