A Group of Stellar Friends

Chapter-2 training

It was a long flight to Canterlot, but the moment she got there she was more than ready for her first day of training. The only thing was, when she got to the guard training grounds she was met with an array of strange looking ponies. Most of them were bat ponies but none them looked like they had wing membranes like hers, and a lot of the other ponies seemed to look exhausted and even more strange than her. One in particular was staring at her as she landed, and walked over to her as soon as she had gotten settled.

“hey, you must be the bat pony I've been hearing so much about,”

The mare said, well, she looked a lot like a pony but her spire horn and translucent wings said otherwise.

“my name is Daisy by the way, what's yours?”

She said politely, holding a hoof out to Stellar to shake.

“my name is Stellar, and it's really nice to meet you Daisy,”

She shook the mare's hoof and smiled, there was something about her that seemed so welcoming and it made her wonder why she looked the way she did.

“can I ask you something? And I promise it's not as rude as it sounds but um….what are you exactly?”

Stellar said, in a kind yet inquisitive tone.

“oh, I'm a changeling pony, it's a long story but I'm sure there will be time to tell you the whole thing later on,”

Daisy smiled a pleasant smile, and a warm feeling filled the air.

“now, if you don't mind me asking, why do you look more bat than pony? I've never seen anyone who looked like you before and I'm curious about what made you like this,”

“well,”

Stellar said,

“I'm actually one of the few bat ponies with a more bat like gene, it skips two generations so I guess I was just lucky to turn out like this,”

She shifted her large wings a little bit and felt like Daisy was examining her with surgical precision.

“cool, I wish I had wings like that,”

Daisy said, and she looked back at her wings and buzzed them before sighing with a bit of wonder in her eyes. Just before they flicked open once more, and she turned back to Stellar with another question.

“what made you want to join Luna's guard? You could probably be a better wonderbolt with those powerful wings,”

Stellar giggled nervously and looked away from Daisy's excited, pink, compound eyes for a moment.

“oh no, I have horrible stage fright, and to answer your question I just figured I'd be more useful as a guard than a pony admired for her flight and wings,”

At this, Stellar opened one of her wings and turned to the side to show Daisy her cutie mark. It was an image of a bright blue wing and two front hooves tucked under it, will two clouds around them.

“Oooooo,”

Daisy said with a small smile, before it turned to a look of confusion,

“um what does it mean?”

She said, clearly trying to sound as nice as possible.

“I'm good at in flight attacks, or just flying really,”

Stellar shrugged a bit when she said the second part,

“I worked hard to get it but I'm not sure if I'm really that good yet, I train every morning though,”

Stellar smiled with pride, and Daisy smiled back at her.

“I have a feeling we're going to be good friends here,”

After she said that they both smiled, but soon after they did the chatter behind them quieted down. And as they both looked up at the star studded night sky, they saw princess Luna depending from the high tower of the castle with two bat pony guards in purple Armour.

In an instant they all stiffened and formed a line as she approached them, and Stellar felt her heartbeat race.

Oh pony feathers, don't look at me first, don't look at me first, don't look at me first!

She shouted to herself in her head.

“hello and welcome to your first day of training, at the moment, we'd simply like to see your skills in what you are good at. One by one you will show us, and furthermore, something you believe nopony else can do. We will start with you, and go from there,”

Luna said, as she pointed to a mare at the other side of the long line of ponies, and when she stepped forward Stellar noticed something odd about her appearance too.

She looked like a super bulky, tall and brightly coloured bat pony mare, which wasn't the only unusual thing about her. Her entire underbelly looked like it was plated with scales, and her hooves looked like flames had been painted on them as well.

She looks even stranger than me, I wonder what she'll be good at,

Stellar thought, as she watched the mare salute to Luna and stand in place as she awaited further instructions.

“what is your name miss?”

Luna said, her regal tone firm and unreadable

“enferno ma’am, enferno with an ‘E’,”

As she said this she barely moved, she didn't even put her hoof down and her militant appearance was firm.

“very well, Enferno, you may begin with your talent,”

When Luna was finished she shot off like a bullet, flying directly to a tree that was growing below a rocky ledge.

And as she took a deep breath and Stellar could feel her body tense up as well, until Enferno had let go of her breath and set the entire tree on fire within seconds. Everyone gasped at once as the tree began to droop and almost fell, but not before Enferno kicked in away with her hind hooves and it flew away from the group. And as Enferno landed she saluted again, this time Luna had a genuine face of curiosity and interest as she stared at the yellow coated, fire breathing mare.

“that was quite the sight, I'd love to discuss your skills further after this session,”

Enferno nodded and put her hoof down, and one by one each pony demonstrated their skills to Luna and her guards.

Most of them wowed the crowd while some choked out of nervousness and failed to complete their skill properly. When it came to Daisy she trotted right up to Luna and turned in to her, then nightmare moon and one of her guards before saying something a guard would say in a masculine tone. This seemed to please her, as luna had smiled and gave her a gentle nod.

“having a changeling in the guard could prove to be very useful, thank you Daisy,”

Daisy went back to Stellar’s side and smiled at her.

“you there, you are the last one of the night, step forth and demonstrate your skill,”

Stellar felt like she was going to faint but built up the courage to walk up to her and salute.

“what is your name?”

Luna asked

“my name is Stellar ma’am,”

She said, and her voice cracked slightly

“please, show us your talent,”

Luna said in a calm tone, and she quietly complied as she stepped back and opened her large wings and took off.

When she felt she was high enough she stopped and held her wings out before letting gravity pull her back down to earth, and she tucked her wings in as she spiraled and swooped over everyone's heads. As she shot up again she kept a tight spiral all the way up to a very high cloud, and fiercely kicked it and hit every little puff of cloud that broke off of it. Before stopping and gliding down as gracefully as she could, landing near the princesses as everyone stared at her.

“young mare, aren't you exhausted after all that flying?”

she shook her head, and smiled as she folded her wings in

“I haven't been tired after a few little tricks like that in a while, ma’am,”

Luna looked astonished, and more than a little intrigued as her guards looked to be shocked.

“well, I will talk to you all tomorrow night, but for now you will be going to the barracks to-”

Before she could finish her sentence, a feminine cry off alarm cut her off. And before anyone could respond a light blue and beige Hippogriff crashed in front of her, and took a moment to get up and right herself.

Who the hay is that? And why did she arrive so late?

It confused Stellar but she didn't voice her confusion, but she did feel sorry for her when she had noticed the distaste on Luna's face.

“what is your name young mare?

Luna said, her voice had grown more cold as she spoke and the Hippogriff cowered slightly as she answered.

“Hocklift your highness,”

She said in a quiet tone, and Luna's expression only grew more bored.

“Hocklift, do to your lateness and lack of control when trying to get here you will have to discuss things with me. Everyone else go down to the barracks,”

Luna flicked a wing towards a guard, and he turned and started to lead everyone else into the castle.

Everyone but Stellar and Daisy, they had decided to stay behind as Luna talked to her about her disapproval before she flew off. When she was gone the two of them walked over to her and gently nudged her.

“we know it probably wasn't easy to adjust to  these hours, tell you what, we'll help you train to get better at flying and be here for you if you need us.”

She smirked, and all three of them trotted to catch up with the rest of the group.