Beyond the Crystal Empire
Flash Sentry watched the caravan assemble quietly from his seat on a bench nearby. He could see from a distance that his sparring partner was barking orders throughout the busy street. Flash closed his eyes and recalled the previous day’s events.
”Bring me an answer to my office by sundown, or i’ll choose for you,” Captain Shining Armor had said ominously. Flash had returned to his bunk and opened the letter he had received from the Captain. Almost immediately, he had back to Shining’s office, eager to prepare for the journey the next morning.
Flash opened his eyes, gazing upon Celestia’s sun curving gently over the horizon to the north. He let out a brief exasperation of pain, prompting Flash to readjust his satchel strap into a much more comfortable position across his wings. Sentry’s ears twitched in the soft wind, the sound of ponies going about their early morning routines surrounded him. Flash fiddled with his satchel for a moment, pulling the latch up to retrieve a brown book with a picture of a familiar cutie mark on the front cover.
He held his father’s journal in his hooves, idly contemplating the decades old relic. Cautiously, he turned to the front page of the book. Blinking, his eyes scanning over the yellow page. The words written on the page had faded with time, and with it, any hope of ever reading the page without a strong restoration spell. Flash mentally noted to himself that he needed to visit Yellow Pages at some point.
“Flash, what are you doing here?” The sound of a familiar voice shook Flash from the journal. He shut it closed and looked up.
“Aren’t you needed in the castle?” Iron Streak eyed Flash suspiciously, looking him up and down carefully as he approached. “And where’s your armor?” Flash Sentry sighed from his position on the crystal bench. He placed the journal back into his satchel and replied.
“I’m going with the exploration team.” Iron Streak laughed and placed his hoof on Flash’s shoulder. Flash looked uncomfortably at Iron’s hoof on his shoulder. Iron responded with yet another question.
“You’re joking with me. The Captain didn’t give you a letter, did he?”
“He did in fact, Iron Streak.” Flash stood, Iron’s hoof slipping off of him in the process. Flash flipped his satchel open once more with his right wing and took out a small envelope. A golden seal shaped like a heart kept the letter sealed at the front. Flash offered the envelope to Iron Streak, who calmly took it from Flash’s hoof. Iron Streak pursed his lips as he began to look over the letter.
“I got it from the Captain a few minutes after our spar yesterday.” Iron looked up at Flash in a sudden bout of disbelief. He resumed his examination of the envelope after realizing how stoic Flash’s expression had turned. Without another word, Iron Streak pulled the letter from the already opened envelope and began reading.
“Corporal Flash Sentry is to accompany the caravan as an advisor.” Iron Streak visibly blanched and looked up at Flash Sentry, completely flabbergasted. “Why would the Captain make you an advisor?” Flash gave Iron Streak his own laugh.
“Well, he gave me a choice. I could go on this trip with the rest of the selected ponies as an advisor… Or I could take a promotion that had been planned for a while.” Iron Streak gawked at Flash.
“Why the heck would you not take the promotion?”
“I’ve always wanted to go an adventure, you know.” Iron Streak facehoofed.
“Flash, we don’t even know if there’s anything beyond that bridge, besides the cold, that is.”
“I know there’s something, there has to be. I can just feel it.” Iron Streak groaned at the last sentence.
“Is this what that’s about? Your gut instinct?”
“It just feels right, Iron.”
“You can’t just give up lifetime opportunities just because ‘it feels right!’” Flash Sentry was determined to stand his ground on his decision. He gave Iron Streak the sternest look he could make.
“Listen, Iron. I know we’ve been friends—”
“Bunk buddies.”
“—Bunk buddies for a year, but let me tell you something.”
“I’ve waited my entire life for a moment like this, and I would rather go on a journey that could create amazing memories for a lifetime, stories to tell children, new knowledge to spread, and who knows what else.” Flash Sentry took a step forward. “I may be a guard, Iron Streak, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be—”
“I’m going to stop you right there because there is no need to go even more sentimental on me.” He placed the letter back into the envelope and returned it to Flash. Iron rubbed his head with a hoof and groaned.
“Still can’t believe you’d rather go across that stupid bridge rather than take a promotion. Ugh, this whole situation makes my head hurt.”
“I don’t think doing paperwork would be my kind of thing.”
“Still better than going out into the cold for nothing…”
Flash ignored the easily irritable pony and directed his attention to the caravan. If he was going to travel with a group of ponies, he wanted to know at least what kind of ponies they were. The group setting up the caravan consisted of mostly crystal ponies, although Flash could see very clearly that there was at least some diversity.
A pair of two pegasi fluttered above a cart that was meant to haul a majority of the mission’s supplies, two earth ponies were idly conversing as they inspected some bags filled with an assortment of goods such as dry firewood and rations, and a lone unicorn sat on the cart’s edge looking over a scroll, silent as ever.
Flash stopped and counted the ponies once again. “One mare?” He asked Iron Streak, who replied with a roll of his eyes.
“None of the mares accepted their letter they were offered except for the unicorn.” Flash stared blankly at him.
“Are you trying to tell me only one mare accepted the offer? I can name at least six mares who would absolutely love to go on an adventure like that.”
“Nopony wants to deal with the cold, Flash. That and the fact that the Captain only wanted a small group to take the caravan.” Flash simply sighed and ran his hoof through his spiky mane. “Princess Cadence made it pretty clear in her letter—”
“Hold on, that letter was from Princess Cadence?”
“Well, yeah. What, did you think Shining Armor put that heart on your envelope?”
“This is the Crystal Empire… So I assumed he would’ve used a heart.”
“Whatever,” Iron Streak waved him off and walked past Flash to sit down on the bench.
“It’s still the same thing.” Flash shrugged him off.
“So I suppose we should go meet the party?” Iron Streak groaned and smacked a hoof into his face. He looked up at Flash with a frown.
“I’ve already talked to them, so maybe you should probably go speak with them.” Flash smiled, seemingly unfazed by how blunt Iron Streak was being.
“I better go get this over with then.”
“Yeah, you go do that Flash.” Flash turned around and started to walk toward the pair of earth ponies. Iron Streak huffed to himself.
“There’s nothing out there but snow, why can’t he see that?”
