It had been that usual day as the Royal Guard yesterday. Waking up, doing his job, and sleeping. Very normal for a standard guard. But today was very weird. Not worse, but somehow...different.
The smell of the warm sun awoke him instantly, an hour before the tooting horns woke him up. Groaning slowly, he sat up. He flapped his wings for a bit and licked his lips, testing how he was today. He would give a 4 out of 5 for today. Not too bad.
He carefully pushed himself off the bed and flew down to the floor. The room looked normal as well. He looked around. The giant wardrobe was still in place, the tattered scroll from his graduation wrapped in a red bow was fine, and most importantly, the desks were neat and tidied. This wasn't usual for his room since he had a sloppy roommate, but he got used to it.
His roommate! He turned around to find the sheets patted down neatly and the pillow softened and straight, but no roommate. He thought of all the things that could go wrong. Slick(His roommate's actual name, surprisingly) may have gotten sick, he could've died... He counted the possibilities endlessly, worrying more and more.
Then he stopped. He actually wasn't ENTIRELY in bond with Slick...seeing that Slick was a boastful unicorn who was never promoted (he claimed that Shining Armor had begged for him to stay and teach all privates properly in a undercover way) and was somehow popular in the guard community. Slick was sloppy and disgusting with all kinds of dirty things tucked inside his pillow (Celestia knows what). He shrugged the urgent matter off and opened the wardrobe.
2 sets of glistening golden armor were set on a mannequin plus a set of black-colored armor tucked in the back revealed itself to him. He smiled brightly and was completely cleared of the current situation as he took off the pieces of armor and fit them on him. Grinning happily, he opened the door and headed to the lounge for the privates. As he trotted towards the door, he heard a cough.
"And what would your name be?" A voice said. He turned around to see a unicorn the same rank as his. Of course, he looked way too familiar so he rolled his eyes.
Flare ignored Slick and continued to turn the doorknob to the lounge. He heard a loud snicker before he entered the room. Blushing ever so slightly, he turned around a gave Slick a dangerous stare. Slick stopped and smirked.
"Think you can beat me, Mr. Flare Rider?" He pointed to his badge, which Flare hadn't noticed. He received a cold chill down his spine and forced his eyes away. In turn, Slick snapped back at him.
"THAT WAS A COMMAND, BALDHEAD!" He yelled, and pulled him close towards his face. "Listen here, tramp." He whispered angrily and jabbed him in the ribs. "You pay attention to me now." Slick grappled Flare's chin and pointed it down to his badge. Flare, frightened as ever, reluctantly stared at his badge.
The badge shimmered a gold color, representing he had been promoted to Elite Private. Flare gasped. Slick released his grip on Flare's chin, kicked him in the body, and chuckled to himself as he walked into the lounge. A bunch of doors to other guard's rooms had been opened with heads popping out, each snickering or gasping in surprise like Flare. Flare shut his mouth and gloomily walked into the lounge, where a few guards were already there sipping cups of iced chocolate with the new elite.
"You ok?" A griffin approached him slowly as the other guards gathered round a corner of the lounge, listening to Slick's 'modified' version of the story.
"I'm fine." Flare and Dexter sat down on the opposite corner trying to ignore the commotion there. "You're sure?" The perplexed griffin said again, and he nodded back.
Flare painfully rubbed his hit spots. Dexter looked at him again, concerned. "Yeah, I know you're not fine." Flare smiled at him weakly and replied. "Don't worry, it's just a humongous mistake that Shining Armor made. No biggie." They chuckled at his joke.
"Well anyways, how're you doing?" He asked. He twirled his claw around with his other claw holding his cup of iced chocolate.
"Well, I heard that they changed the hot chocolate to iced chocolate..." He eyed the cup in Dexter's claw as he talked. Dexter shrugged helplessly and gave him an not-my-fault look. Flare snickered in his mind but put on a straight face.
"So anyways, what's your field today?"
"I've gotta do Field A today. Training first recruits for this week."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
The stutter and small conversations continued until the tooting of the horns rang. The 2 friends followed the group of guards in front of them, led by the all-high-and-mighty Slick. Flare kept his head low while the guards marched out into different sections, chatting and talking on the way. He looked at his schedule written on his hoof (courtesy to the lousy trainer they had, they were out of schedules when he was trying to get his) and stopped in mid-trot.
Field B: Guarding Main Entrance
Dexter, who was behind him, bumped into him. "Sorry." He said quickly, helped Flare up, and flapped his wings as he disappeared into the Training Field.
It was a bummed-out day the rest of the time. He was mercilessly teased wherever he went, he had to stop 7 ponies from coming into the castle, resulting in a fine count of bruises and aches. Lunch was coming so he headed to the Cafeteria Hall for some good food to cheer up his mood.
As Flare walked into the cafeteria, he noticed the place was more crowded. The 10 tables that surrounded the front desk and all-you-can-eat buffet was occupied by many mares and stallions. He recognized Dexter and his other friend who were sitting down on a table, chatting and eating their lunches. Thinking of the school cafeteria, he walked up towards the line where unfortunately, Slick was 2 ponies in front of him, boasting and rambling on about the 'amazing' story he had 'discovered'.
"And I was like, AWAY, BASTARD!" Flare could hear Slick lying right through his teeth. Flare shuffled along the line, trying his best to ignore the annoying voice rambling on like a knife poking him continuously. A humongous line of chuckles and impressed gasps slid through his ears.
"Hey." Flare turned around as a mare spoke to him. She looked very boyish, black coat, green mane. He swore he'd seen her before somewhere, but couldn't remember. He smiled at her weakly as an response. The mare smiled back, but this time, was a cheeky grin. A warm blush greeted Flare and he quickly noticed that the line was moving. Slowly, he trotted backwards and successfully slipped and landed on his back.
A small groan escalated from his throat but he quickly covered it with his hoof while he tried to pull himself back up onto his legs. The mare stuck out a hoof and pulled him up. As they shuffled along the line, a big conversation started. Questions popped out as they moved along, and finally, they both sat down at the table with Dexter and Night Chaser, two close friends.
"Hey." Night Chaser smiled at the mare. Flare looked down at his lunch tray, unwilling to confront Night Chaser. The mare smiled back at him but turned to Flare. Night grumbled under his breath and whispered to Dexter angrily. "That girl is nuts, dude." While Dexter nodded in agreement, the mare was talking to Flare excitedly.
"Favorite sport?" The mare seemed to have a massive amount of interest in Flare, asking questions at the speed of a bullet. As more questions shot at him, he became more and more happier to answer the questions. At the end of her question craze, he knew a lot. Her name was a surprise, though.
"I'm Agile Bolt. Kinda boyish, but I'm ok with it." She had said cheerfully. Flare had nodded in agreement.
Flare looked at his plate. He was pretty hungry after 20 minutes of nonstop chatting so he examined the food platter. Some hay fries, oats, and a drink of chocolate milk (Of course, the chocolate was iced). He poked around for a bit and quietly ate while Dexter chatted with Agile in a hurry to beat Flare with all the progress he had made from his new 'marefriend'. Flare grumbled a bit but continued eating his food, listening to the conversation.
"Are you a furry pony or something?" Agile Bolt had started the conversation with this line, frustrating Dexter immediately. He smiled annoyingly and started the conversation again with a simple question.
"What's your name?"
Agile swiftly answered the question as Flare was gobbling up the last crumbs of his lunch. He flashed a glance at Agile, who was boringly staring at her hoof while Dexter babbled on. He could tell Dexter was boring her out. He turned his glance to Night Chaser, who was eying Agile curiously with flirty eyes. Flare could feel a burning sensation of jealously overcoming him.
"Uh, what's up?" He blurted out suddenly as Dexter had just finished. Dexter shot him an angry look, but Flare just smiled weakly back at him and focused his attention on Agile. She responded immediately like before.
"Nothing much. Dexter here just finished telling me stories about his life in the Griffin Kingdom. It's pretty fun and interesting." Flare wondered how she could've remembered all the details. She smiled at Flare cheerfully once again and rubbed Dexter's head with her hoof, rustling his fur. He smiled back, this time clearly satisfied with the turnout of his story.
"You know, we all should get together again..." Night Chaser smirked at her in a quiet and flirty way. She looked at him weirdly though but then caught on without hint of any weird stuff going on. "Yeah, totally! We should do our fields together!" She showed a big smile and laughed.
Flare and Dexter nodded in agreement, but in Flare's mind, he was furious at Night Chaser. How dare he interfere! He stomped his hooves just imagining it. Agile looked at Flare as he stomped his hooves under the table.
"Uhm, are you ok?"
"Wha-oh! Yeah, uh, totally fine." He gave a slight blush. Looking at his tray, he stood up. "I'll be right back." He smiled at everypony on the table and trotted towards the Dirty Cutlery trolley filled with slopped plates and bits of food resting inside a hole. He carefully placed his plate in the 'Dirty Plates' hole and set the blue tray onto the stack of blue trays beside the hole. He glanced back at his table, burning with jealousy. Night Chaser was now in his spot, talking to Agile quickly so he wouldn't waste a single second. Flare could here lots of parts of the conversation clearly.
"And maybe we could have a cup of coffee." Night added, hoping to spark some interest. Agile turned from happy to worried. She knew what was coming up, and she didn't like it. Even though she was a friendly pegasus, she hated somepony who rushed things and went way to fast. Despite the horrible situation, she nodded weakly and continued to listen.
Flare slowly walked back, unable to lift his head from the uncomfortable thoughts he was feeling. As he sat back down with his head low, Agile looked at him with a concerned and worried smile on her face. Night noticed her glance, and shuffled forward on his seat.
"You okay?" He asked, trying to add in the cool voice he had once used when he wanted to coo his little brother. Flare glanced up slightly and put his head back down once he noticed that Night was actually flirting Agile. He sighed, raised his head a bit, and started a particularly loud conversation with Dexter. Dexter smiled coolly and continued with the idle conversation, not realizing Night Chaser was stealing Agile away from him. He tapped his beak thoughtfully as the next question tested him.
"Hurm." He continued tapping his beak until he came up with an idea. "I guess you could say-"
A large noise interrupted his thoughts. Or rather, a cry. Dexter turned to Night Chaser, who was sobbing loudly. Agile was walking away from the table, heart filled with guilt and sadness. Flare looked around the room. Thank Celestia they didn't notice. Flare thought as he rubbed his chin with his hoof.
"I..I almost...I..." Night Chaser sobbed even more, each tear spilling onto his thighs with a soft 'splosh'. Dexter patted his back with his rock-hard claw. In return, he screamed.
"Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwchhhh!" He yelled, tearing off the claw frantically. All the guards turned to them, finding the situation. A embarrassed pegasus, digging his face into his hooves. A surprised and angry griffin, glaring at a unicorn. A unicorn, jaw right open. Slick, who also seemed to notice, started the catastrophe with an earth-shattering guffaw. The guards, who were surprised by Slick at first, caught onto the fact and starting chuckling and roaring nonstop.
Flare, whose face was now red as a ripe cherry tomato, stood up and galloped towards the exit. Dexter and Night Chaser quickly followed, flinging the doors open as the guards roared at them continuously. The trio increased their speed to a canter, and Dexter and Flare rose in the air and flapped their wings as Night Chaser followed behind them tiredly. Flare looked behind him quickly to find a mob of galloping and exhausted stallion guards chasing after them, anxious to laugh some more. He could see Slick at the lead, directing them with a smile in his face. Man, they must love him right now. He thought. Flare focused again and turned his head back towards his route.
After a while of running away from the guards, they slowed down, exhausted from the chase. Night Chaser slowly peeked behind him. Nopony there. Dexter panted and dug a claw into a beam. Flare thoughtfully looked around them.
They were in the garden park beside the Privates Quarters. A few benches were set up in front of a wonderful garden with primroses and sunflowers settled nicely. He had never noticed how nice it looked, prior to all the duties and training that were outgoing. Oh well. He sighed.
Dexter, however, was raging furiously at Night Chaser, grabbing his coat angrily. He sweared at him silently. Night Chaser gulped, swallowing a humongous lump of nervousness in his throat.
"Uh..y-y-y-you know, we can't...I mean can work this out together...r-r-right?" He smiled weakly at Dexter, who smashed his face in response. Flare glanced back at them but didn't do anything. He calmly sat on the bench, waiting for his lungs to fill up with fresh air.
After a while of pounding, Dexter eventually gave up at Night and flew up into the sky, anxiously waiting for a cloud to float by. He saw one, pulled it over and sat on it, pleased with his progress.
The three friends sat there. Still and quiet. Flare could hear somepony trotting up to them. He stood up and faced the direction, ready to apologize to the captain. He opened his eyes and stared straight ahead to see Captain Shining Armor with a blank look on his face. Dexter and Night Chaser followed behind and each one stood beside Flare embarrassingly. Shining Armor began to speak.
"Hello, privates."
"Good afternoon, sir."
"Would you mind meeting me in my office?"
"Yes sir."
"After your fields are over, report to me."
"Yes sir."
"As you were." Shining Armor walked away after the short conversation, leaving the trio speechless. Flare was especially gloomy. He was ridiculed in the morning and at lunch, and now he had 'achieved' a one-way ticket to his captain's office? He sighed angrily and flapped his wings. Dexter and Night Chaser exchanged depressed looks and silently waddled away to their posts, leaving Flare Rider alone.
Alone.
Flare thought of that word meaningfully. He wondered where Agile Bolt was now. Never mind, he thought. He would look for her after his doom talk with the captain. Just like his friends, he quietly slipped away to his post.
Agile sat on the roof of the Privates Quarters, listening to every word that they spoke. Her heart sunk wearily. Her head was heavy and her eyes were about to tear up from all the guilty actions she had done. She paused her tears and sucked them up. This wasn't how she acted before. She remembered that time. That horrible pony she was.
A few years ago...
Agile Bolt, class popular, was flying home. She had seen one of the puny colts who couldn't fly, so she decided to try her luck.
"Hey, baghead!" She smiled cruelly as she flapped down beside him. The colt lifted his head sadly and looked at her.
"What?"
"Hey, are you okay?" The colt looked at her immediately with interest, smiling a little.
"Why...uh...ask?"
"Because you look like DOG POO, stinkball." She stuck out her tongue hatefully and flew back up into the sky happily, knowing that she had satisfied herself with her mean and venomous hunger. The colt drooped his head dejectedly and continued walking, almost sobbing angrily.
Agile Bolt shuddered of her flashbacks. She hated her cruel self, always becoming the bully instead of the friend. She knew better than to do that.
Agile stood up and flapped her wings once again. This time, she was going to do it properly. She flew to her post and stayed there firmly for the rest of the day, forgetting all of her angry or guilty thoughts and enjoying the day.
At that moment, the 3 friends were walking together, dejectedly heading towards the Captain's Quarters. The captain had his office right beside the long spiraling staircase leading up to the castle and to his room, presenting a simple-looking view. Dexter carefully curled up his talons and knocked on the door.
"Hello?"
"You requested us sir." Night Chaser said. He could hear a bit of a chuckle and then a response.
"Yes, of course. Come in, you 3." Night pushed the door open and they all gazed around. It was amazing to look at. There was a marble floor, a desk, an antique bookcase, and even a small fountain. The outside looked slightly less elegant and grand. Dexter shrugged in his mind and they all followed the source of the voice to another room, identical to the one they had just seen.
"Sit down, please." Shining Armor gestured to the seats in front of the desk and quickly pulled up his seat to sit down on. A brief moment of awkward silence registered between the guards. Dexter awkwardly tapped the desk with a curled talon, waiting for his next orders. Night Chaser looked around the room to keep him from waiting. Flare, however, was nervously shivering but staring ahead at his captain with a blank face.
"Let us start this conversation, shall we?" Shining Armor said flatly. The 3 guards nodded back silently. He continued to talk.
"First. I am truly disappointed you didn't attend your fields after lunch." He tapped the desk with his right hoof angrily. Flare imagined a raging Shining Armor, slapping his face with an iron hoof.
"However, I have overseen this little situation of yours about what happened at that time. You should thank me some time, really." He smiled proudly. A huge boulder was lifted off Dexter and Night Chaser's shoulders, while there was still one on Flare's. He remained blank.
"Since you have missed out on quite some time, I will set up a deal." He said. Dexter did a small hoofbump with Night Chaser. Flare still remained blank. "I will give you all a new and revised schedule with added activities and maybe a few surprises." He winked, eyes glistening with mystery.
"But, since you all have worked harder than any other guard I have ever seen in my whole entire experience, I shall grant your permission to access the Elite Private lounge and promote you to an official guard, either the Solar side or the Lunar side, by the end of this month." He stretched his thin smile into a wide one, reaching into his drawer and taking out 3 schedules. Flare sighed, and a small rock was lifted off his shoulders. The 3 guards quickly nabbed the schedules, issued a quick salute-goodbye to the captain and slipped out of the room.
"Um..nice." Night Chaser said. The 3 friends suddenly smiled and all laughed. They were just saved by their captain, despite the horrible events that had happened in just a few hours. Another small rock was lifted off Flare's shoulders. He restarted the conversation due to the irony and dumbstruck-ness he had received from that single chat with the captain.
"Let's go to the lounge or something."
"Which one?"
"Huh?" Night Chaser interrupted Dexter and Flare's conversation suddenly. "What do you mean, which one?"
"Puke pickle, the captain said we had access to the Elite Lounge too!" Dexter punched Night Chaser in the guts with a curled claw (as he didn't want to fatally stab anypony). He groaned and clutched his stomach with his hooves, rubbing it's swollen spot that was now beginning to take place. Flare gave Dexter a annoyed and angry stare and helped Night Chaser hang on. Dexter sighed at him, apologized to Night briefly, and carried him on his back. Flare smiled playfully as Dexter bounced up and down, trying to make the ride as bumpy as possible for Night. He yelled and cried out, but Flare could see that he was smiling and laughing too.
"Let's just go to the normal lounge for now. At least Slick won't be there." Flare meant those words, but he hoped so well that Slick wouldn't be there. Of course he wouldn't! Flare shook the thought out of his head and they entered the room from that morning. Dexter looked around, head turning sharply and swiftly, until he sat down in a comforting-looking spot. The ponies gathered around, each sitting on a comfy red armchair. Dexter carefully set Night Chaser onto the longer armchair (a sofa) and returned to his seat.
"So, where do you guys think I should take Agile?" Night Chaser certainly wasn't bothered by the fact that he was recently just punched. Dexter snorted in his face and replied immediately. "You mean, where I should take Agile." He said. Night Chaser smiled weakly and replied a quiet mumble of words. Dexter grabbed him angrily. "Dude, speak up."
Flare, however, was frozen. He straightened up at the phrase of 'Agile Bolt', his heart now burning furiously again with jealousy. He imagined a heart dripped in a green venom paste, which he believed to be jealousy. However, a CERTAIN griffin interrupted his thoughts.
"Dude, you hear that? He said that WE would take her together!" He guffawed in laughter, spewing out sloshes of saliva whilst setting a claw on Flare's shoulders (a certain claw that he forgot to curl up). Flare smiled weakly and ripped the claw off, feeling a burning sensation erupt on his shoulders.
"Hi!" A very familiar voice interrupted all of their thoughts. They all looked back and Agile Bolt was happily staring at them like all thoughts were gone. She smiled excitedly and sat down right between Dexter and Night Chaser. Unfortunately, Flare was having his nonstop-blush-syndrome again. A fiery heat appeared on his cheeks instantly. Agile didn't notice that, and was too busy chattering away.
"I just had the most exciting chat with Shining Armor! I got a new schedule and he told me that I could ACTUALLY be promoted to an official guard by the end of this month if I complete my schedule!" Flare's ears perked up. She, as well? He had suspicion that Shining Armor was planning on something to happen.
"So, I was thinking that we should go to some sort of...show." Night Chaser squeezed next to her, squishing her between Dexter and him. Flare looked at Night Chaser blankly, who smirked in response and mouthed a quick 'watch-this' to him.
"What do ya think?" He smiled widely. Agile's mind went blank. She was engulfed in a wave of guilt and angry emotions. At the same time, her heart was beating wildly as she tried to console the feelings. She didn't want to be a bad friend, but this? She closed her eyes tight and spoke immediately.
"O-ok."
Author's Note
I'm not even gonna say an excuse. I'm just gonna say that if you like it, please put a comment, like, or favorite. If you don't, downvote it, comment, dislike everything, whatever. Oh and also make sure to tell me why it sucked @$$.
Flare fumbled with his armor as he tried to put it back into the wardrobe. His head was spinning and his vision was fuzzy, making it a horrid day. He had just been engulfed in a wave of jealousy slapping his face. Despite the good situations of the day, he was bummed out and very tired after such a rewarding and angry day. He clumsily put the pieces on the wrong parts of the mannequin and stumbled towards the bathroom for a nice cold shower to clear his mind. However, he could hear somepony coming in.
"Hey lousy." Slick's voice bruised Flare's mind immediately. He could hear a faint rustling, a stuffing of items, and a smirk. "I'm moving to the next bunk! Finally, I get to bunk up with a sweet mare. See ya at your funeral!" He waved a hoof at Flare, sticking out his tongue. Then, he popped out of the room with a large duffel bag stuffed with items. He didn't even bother cleaning up.
Flare went to his bed and started to fold the sheets and put them in the perfect spot for his next roommate. He swore that he was going to immediately take a shower after tidying the stupid bed. He furiously swung the pillows around the room, smashing them into items angrily. He flung a pillow at the door just as it started to open.
"Hi-" The voice was instantly muffled by a pillow smashing into her mouth.
"What the hay?" A mare removed the pillow from her mouth. Flare's heart was beating, his face blushing again. More blush syndromes. He smiled at Agile Bolt as widely as he could and said the first thing that came to mind.
"Uh, bananas?" He had hoped for a better word, but of course, he was as lousy in his mind as in his actions. He grinned sheepishly and placed the pillow on the lower bunk. Agile rolled her eyes with a cheeky grin on her face.
"Duh, of course you're bananas!" She tried to punch Flare but at the last second, he pulled away and she ended up losing her balance and falling into his hooves. As she was falling, Flare grabbed her hooves and pushed her up onto her legs again. She smiled foolishly and dusted herself off. Flare took a hold of the awkward situation, as his head wasn't quite so dizzy anymore.
"Uh...are you moving in here?" He said, rather excitedly. She nodded and set a sports bag onto the bottom bunk.
"Sad it's on the bottom bunk though. I rather it be top." She smiled evilly and unzipped her bag, digging out all sorts of stuff. Flare dodged the items flinging out of the bag and silently slipped into the bathroom.
"Dibs on the shower!" He yelled. Agile rolled her eyes once again. Flare laughed happily, turning the knob to 'COLD'. She could hear him ramble on to himself, smiling and chuckling at the same time. Agile felt tired and exhausted, but she too cracked an angelic laugh and joined in on the conversation. She had a feeling it would be an exciting night for her.
"I still don't get how YOU get her even though she accepted MY date invitation to the Wonderbolts Derby!" He argued. Flare shrugged in reply, a blank face registering on his face. He knew if he gave in to a chuckle or a smirk his face would be smashed in a few seconds by Dexter, so he shut his mouth. Dexter looked at Night Chaser furiously. Flare closed his eyes.
They had started the day off with a bang. Slick had disappeared and Flare told his friends about the good news. They both immediately argued and sulked with jealous looks on their faces. Night Chaser had sobbed mentally and argued all the way with Flare (or as he thought), gaining a response from Dexter instead.
In the morning, Dexter had asked Agile Bolt out to the Canterlot Garden Party, but surprisingly, she had apologized since she wasn't a big fan of fancy places. Dexter moped and whined to Night Chaser, but the 2 just kept on fighting. Flare stayed out of their way, and they were talking in the lounge right before they needed to report to their fields.
Today, each of their fields were extra special. Dexter had to go and teach the pegasi recruits and Night Chaser was to supervise the unicorn recruits for spells. Flare, however, was feeling extremely honored. He had been chosen to supervise the learners of the 'Recruit' rank and to become their new captain/adviser. He was also chosen to do daily checks on everypony, but for now, that didn't matter. He didn't know about Agile though.
Agile approached from the entrance of the room suddenly.
"Hey!" She smiled and they turned their heads around swiftly. She was wearing a glistening dark blue set of armor, looking more official than the 'Private' dress code. She grinned proudly as her heart beat wildly.
"Whoa. Niceee." Dexter said. He pointed a talon at her chest, indicating a big eyeball at the center. She laughed. "Yeah, this stuff is pretty cool huh!"
Night Chaser nodded, fixed into silent mode. He was about to speak, but Flare cut him off eagerly.
"So what's up with it anyways? Why did you get it so early?" He asked. He inspected the armor, and she trotted a bit more closer.
"Well, the captain was telling me something about an early promotion. He told me if I could steady the job for a while, I can permanently have it." She squealed excitedly, heart pumping furiously. The 3 guards smiled at her. Dexter tried to adjust his smile to make it wider, but he stopped after failing many times.
"How was your sleep?" Night Chaser said suddenly. Agile looked slightly nervous, but she replied instantly.
"It was pretty nice. I was SO relieved I had to switch bunks. This really mean mare was my roommate, she was really horrible." She breathed a sigh of relief to show her enthusiasm.
"I hope it was comfortable." He said. He had the same weird and flirty tone in his voice, making Flare feel raged and uncomfortable. Dexter was feeling particularly furious too. Agile smiled a little more weakly now, and begged for somepony to change the topic.
"Soooo..." Dexter blurted out a little too loudly. He heard a tooting of a bundle of horns. "Perfect timing." Agile giggled, bounced in her armor, and flew out of the room. Night Chaser and Dexter immediately followed her, Dexter's wings flapping anxiously as he tried to follow her. Night Chaser used a simple teleport spell and trotted from there, only to be beaten by Dexter furiously flapping to catch up. Agile seemed to float in the air for a second every time, but she quickly flapped her wings again. The pattern seemed to go on for ages, until Flare couldn't see his friends anymore. He finally caught awareness that they were out of his sight, and he quickly stretched his back before taking off.
This was going to be a good day.
"Attention!" Flare yelled. The stallions in front of him lined up in a row immediately, raising their hooves towards their heads like they were shooting themselves with an invisible gun. Flare cleared his throat quietly and pushed ahead the next order. In just a few minutes, the stallions were all marching in one pattern in a perfect unison. He knew it was important for them to keep on going, so he stood there awkwardly as he observed the group. A muscular stallion trotted up to him abruptly.
"Sir, I'd like to go to the washroom. Please." He added the 'please' at the last second with a small hint of pleading in his voice. He poked his head forward towards Flare's face, reminding Flare of Slick. Flare smiled in his mind. Why not have some fun?
"ATTENTION SOLDIERS!" Flare bellowed. The muscular stallion blinked in surprise and remained in an awkward position, freezing on the spot. Flare backed away from him, but gestured for him to stay in his position while he talked with the guards.
"What's your name, soldier?" Flare asked the muscular stallion directly. He roared the words back proudly.
"Brawny Boulder, sir!" He saluted quickly before placing his hoof back down. Flare surprisingly grabbed the hoof and repositioned it back to a normal salute. The rest of the guards giggled quietly.
"Brawny Boulder."
"Y-y-yes sir."
"What is 2 plus 2?"
"Five, sir."
Guffaws and roars of laughter were heard from the soldiers. Flare raised his hoof for silence.
"Five?"
"Uh...y-y-y-yes sir." Brawny stuttered over the words, not feeling so confident after all. Flare snickered in his mind but resembled a blank face. He continued with his playful scolding.
"Are you positive?" He leaned in Brawny's face, scarier than ever. He gulped in reply and fumbled with his words once again.
"Y-y-y-e-e-s. Uh, I meant, yes sir." He fumbled with his hooves nervously and looked back into Flare's eyes. They looked fiery and outraged.
Without warning, Flare clapped his hooves together in front of Brawny's face to see him react. Brawny screamed and shrieked before regaining his normal position. The rest of the guard roared again. Flare raised his hoof once again and spoke his final words.
"You may go to the potty." He waved a hoof as the red-faced Brawny Boulder slipped away from the fields where quite a few stallions were snickering at him. He cantered away to the washrooms quickly. Flare smiled satisfyingly and turned back to his soldiers. They smiled at him, certainly pleased with their morning entertainment, and waited for his next orders.
"You may go and do your fields now. Report back to fields after lunch." He pointed towards one of the benches near them with stacks of schedules on top. He dismissed them with a quick salute and turned his body, heading towards Shining Armor's office.
Meanwhile, Agile was finding her job very strange. The lunar guards never talked, so since she was always very shy to new friends, she acted the same. She was strict, silent, and focused, but at the same time she felt trapped in a jail. She wanted to yell, or even whisper. She was trapped in her own world, her ideas smashing against the boundary of her mind.
She groaned silently as she shuffled along the line for her training. It had been hours before she had even spoken 1 word. The training were usually silent ones, never communicating with another. The instructor spoke very few words and mostly pointed to diagrams on boards, hand out worksheets, and more.
"Name?" Agile lightened up at the sound of a word and spoke back (finally).
"Agile. Agile Bolt."
"Oh, really?"
"Uh...uhm, yes ma'am."
"Oh, kay. You're in the wrong side."
Agile waited silently for her to continue.
"Soldier, I said you're in the wrong side."
"I know ma'am."
"Then?"
"Can you tell me where I'm supposed to go?" Agile was getting slightly furious at the bat pony commander in front of her. The commander rolled her eyes and tapped her clipboard impatiently.
"Captain Shining Armor's office. He assigned you for only a few periods here and then you're supposed to go there. Now, get out of here." She pointed to the exit rudely and Agile angrily flew out of the room suddenly, her heart bursting with mixed feelings.
"Tish, tosh." She grumbled under her breath as she raced on the spiral stairs. She rose into the air and just as she was about to fall, quickly caught herself with her wings and starting flying forward with furious flapping wings. She let out a small cheer as she flapped down the small spiral stairs, wind smashing into her face just the way she liked it.
Agile continued to race down until the first door appeared on the side, indicating it was the second floor. She passed it, still focused on her flapping. She had taken advice from her father like before. Strong flaps, focus on your enemy. She imagined the air being the enemy and pounced on it, jumping with her wings furled firmly. Then again, at the last second she pounced upward again, still having the ability to keep her pace.
After what seemed like ages, Agile finally reached the exit and she flew out with her hooves straight. Unfortunately, she immediately crashed right into somepony.
"Are you ok?" A very soothing voice responded instantly from somepony. The pony quickly got up and stretched out a hoof to her. Agile caught a small glimpse of a dark blue armor before passing out. Her world melted away with a mare's voice echoing in her head.
"Uh...hi." A yellow hoof waved in front of Agile's foggy eyes as she was waking up. She felt like she was just hit by a humongous club. Instead, she saw the same bright-yellow hoof adjust her pillow behind her back and greet her. Agile rubbed her eyes with her hooves briefly and cleared her vision.
It looked like the Canterlot Medical Room. She smiled weakly at the mare in front of her. She was wearing a simple nurse's outfit and black squared glasses. She smiled back smartly, tapped her glasses, and spoke.
"Hello, Mrs. Agile Bolt. Welcome to the Canterlot Medical Room! Feel free to ask questions or grab some drinks and food." She smiled pleasantly and trotted out of her sight. Agile studied the room a bit more.
The room was a big one, with white walls and large shaped windows. Beside each window was 2 beds and a small drawer with a vase of flowers on top. She looked around the room, finding out that there were barely anypony in the beds anyways. At the front of the room next to the door was a small receptionist desk and a chair in front and behind it.
It was a nice room, she thought. She decided she could do better, but she shut her mouth anyways.
After looking at the room silently, she got bored. She started with the most simplest question.
"Uh, 'scuse me?"
"Mhmm?"
"Who punched me?"
"Oh. Right." The nurse turned her head quickly from her checklist on the receptionist desk and looked at Agile curiously. She nodded, grabbed her clipboard, and trotted over to her bed.
"Technically, nopony punched you. You were flying at 754 flaps an hour, so normally, when you approached the exit there was somepony trying to go up the spiral staircase. Captain Shining Armor asked that you stay here for the day, though he wasn't very bothered at all. He said he appreciated the rush and it was his fault, so he'll meet you tomorrow first thing in the morning. You are excused for your fields tomorrow, too." She babbled on about some things he said, but she ignored that part. Agile couldn't believe that Shining Armor had blamed himself on what her foolishness had brought upon her! She interrupted the nurse's humongous conversation.
"Uh, can I go now?" She lifted a wing, which was bandaged a bit. The nurse looked at Agile in concern.
"Well, miss, I don't think so. You've been hurt quite a bit. You've got several bruises, a slightly injured wing, and we'll just have to leave you here for another hour or so." She pointed to the bandages on Agile, proving her point. Agile groaned inside her head, but nodded with a fake smile plastered on her face. She kept on nodding until the nurse trotted back to her desk, her smile vanishing instantly.
She was pretty exhausted after foolishly smashing into somepony, and now she had to pay for it. Oh, hay. She grumbled angrily at herself, slumped her body against her pillow, and thought more about the day. She had just noticed the nursepony never actually gave her the name of the pony that she smashed in to! She coughed loudly to grab her attention.
"Mmm?" The nursepony merely responded back, wiping her glasses before looking at Agile. Agile threw out a phony smile again, and tried her best to turn her voice into a positive and cheerful one.
"I'm sorry, but I..." Agile paused for a moment, trying to remember what her excuse was.
"Yes miss, what?" The nursepony lifted her eyebrows patiently waiting for Agile to burst out the question.
"Oh! I, um, didn't catch the name of the pony I bumped in to." Agile smiled weakly and the nursepony smiled back.
"Yes miss." The nursepony didn't do anything though, much to Agile's surprise. She quickly trotted back to her desk, grabbed the checklist, and trotted back again. She removed the board from her mouth and mumbled slightly as she read it.
"Hurm, I think her name was Rain-something. Would you like me to send her in here?" The nursepony smiled and her horn glowed faintly, as if she was ready to cast a spell. Agile nodded in surprise, and just as the nursepony was about to cast the spell, she interrupted her.
"What was your name again?"
"Nurse Aurora Chatlove." She said quickly, pointing to her white badge on her white nurse uniform. Agile finally grinned instead of faking it. That did suit her, she thought.
The nurse was too busy concentrating to read Agile's mind again. She winced as her horn glowed more strongly. Agile suspected that she was using some sort of difficult teleportation spell or something, but surprisingly Aurora had summoned a banana, which she began to peel. Agile smiled, adjusted her pillow, and sat back down comfortably in her bed.
It was going to be a long day before she would get to see her friends again.
Night Chaser groaned at the guards as they failed all their spells.
"Nonononono!" He grumbled, snatched the spellbook from a guard's hoof, and flipped the pages. A look of disgust appeared on his face as he searched through it.
"These spells were all confirmed! How could you NOT get this right?" He was in a state of anger, gritting his teeth as he flipped the pages and occasionally stopped for the ol' check up. The unicorns shuddered nervously, ready for his explosion. Just before Night Chaser was about to blow up, a very familiar voice interrupted him.
"Everything ok here?" Night Chaser stopped flipping through his book and turned his head slightly. He saw Flare Rider holding a checklist in his mouth, gold armor glimmering more proudly than ever. Flare adjusted his helm for a moment, shined his badge, and repeated the question a bit more formally this time.
"Instructor Night Chaser, I request you to answer." Flare smiled for a moment and saw Night adjusting himself, then speaking back.
"Yes, yes, yes." He mumbled as he dusted some specks of dirt of his body. The unicorns giggled in a silent tone, exchanging teenage giggle looks. Flare grinned playfully and turned to the unicorns, much to Night Chaser's surprise.
"Privates, I suspect you're having a good time?" Flare said. The unicorns took a moment to think, but they all responded after a few seconds of deciding.
"Yes sir." They saluted briefly, receiving another salute back from Flare. He moved on to the next field, and just before he went, he whispered in Night Chaser's ear.
"Good luck, comrade." He saluted crisply after whispering to Night Chaser. Night confusingly looked around for a second and saluted back proudly. They both did a small hoofbump before returning back to their main goals.
"What're you staring at, soldiers? GET TO WORK." Night Chaser barked. He continued flipping through the book again, reading it a bit more. The soldiers dejectedly returned back to their training, casting harmful spells on a stuffed dummy. Night Chaser suddenly heard an explosion. He saw a unicorn guard embarrassingly blushing as he picked up the remained cloth and fabric of the dummy.
"Oh for Celestia's sake..."
Yes, today was already becoming a fantastic day.
"Come on, 20 more laps ya lazy ponies!" Dexter smacked his claws together furiously, trying to encourage his pegasi soldiers. A quick 'yes, sir!' was puffed from one of the pegasi, who was furiously flapping his wings as he circled around the course.
Dexter was wearing a big, broad suit of armor. He had the usual helmet with the pointy blue mohawk (that's what Dexter called it), but there was something unusual. The normal spear everypony carried was replaced by a sharpened sword that was buckled to his body-part of the armor. He smiled proudly and carried it all around all day, ordering more pegasi guards with pride.
A muscular pegasus suddenly tapped Dexter impatiently.
"Ahem. Sir." The pegasus coughed loudly, grabbing lots of the other guard's attention. They stopped flying midair to see the buzz.
Dexter snapped back to the pegasus, a little overwhelmed by his bravery. He pasted a strict-but-friendly smile on his face, and spoke 2 words.
"Yes, private..." Dexter trailed off on purpose, trying to let the muscular pegasus answer his name. The pegasus replied immediately.
"Private Cloud Twister. Now, sir, I'd like to ask you a question." Cloud Twister snapped back at Dexter. A few guards chuckled from the course. Dexter growled at the pegasi, and curled his talons. This was about to get ugly.
"Who do ya think you are, PRIVATE." Dexter snarled, grabbing the poor not-so-confident-now pegasus by the chin with razor-sharp claws. The pegasus gulped, a humongous lump entering his throat. He stuttered out some words.
"U-u-h-h, I-I...uh..." Cloud Twister nervously looked to the guards, who were now guffawing at him as he got scolded. Dexter pushed a talon upwards, digging into Cloud Twister's chin slightly. He shrieked mentally, but winced as Dexter pushed Cloud Twister further and further until he was about to smash into the wall.
"Beware of your words, puny soldier. 50 extra laps. NOW!" Dexter growled and pointed to the course where all the other guards were laughing at him. Cloud Twister dejectedly mumbled a 'Yes-sir' and flew off to the course.
Dexter focused his attention on the laughing guards.
"C'mon, sissies. 19 more to go, and you're in for some grub at the mess hall! You guys got it good." He gave a confident smile to the guards, who winked and saluted back, and he smiled proudly again. After that, he turned his head back towards the view and surprisingly saw Flare Rider right in front of him.
"I hope it wasn't too tough." Flare smirked and pointed to Cloud Twister, who was embarrassingly flapping around the course with a bundle of giggle crowds on him. Dexter chuckled back.
"Ya don't say."
Flare grinned, and got to his checklist.
"Right, how is it up for your teaching right now?"
"Not much. Just keep an eye on Cloud Twister."
"Alright." Flare scribbled a brief note on his clipboard, and smiled broadly. "I'll have to go now, I'll see you later at the bunks or the cafeteria." He waved a hoof at Dexter as he flew away to the next place he was supposed to check: The Canterlot Medical Room.
He had been to the medical room once, but he could admit that it wasn't a very splendid place to be in. The last time he'd been there was when Slick 'accidentally' twisted his hoof. It was quite painful, but luckily, there was a nice nurse there to help him cope with the stupidity of Slick. He recalled her name was Aurora, and she was extremely chatty.
He smiled at his memories as he trotted up the spiral staircase next to Shining Armor's office. He could hear a shuffling of files and papers, and a relaxing sigh.
As Flare trotted up the staircase, he noticed it was particularly...different. He wondered why. Then, out of nowhere, came a Lunar Guard instructor. She had a turquoise coat and was flying down the staircase very happily. She whistled as she flew, but when she saw Flare she instantly stopped and saluted.
"Oh, hello there." She took her hoof off her head and smiled warmly. Flare grinned back.
"Excuse me, but do you know where the Medical Room is? I must've messed up something, because I can't really recognize this staircase." He scratched his head with his hoof and smiled sheepishly. The instructor shot a surprised look at Flare.
"Well, I think you're in the wrong staircase. That is, if you're going to stop at the cafeteria." She chuckled. Flare nodded embarrassingly, waved a hoof at her, and trotted back to the other set of stairs.
After a slightly dizzy trip in the staircase, he finally got off to the second floor, which had a small golden plaque on the door that said:
The Canterlot Medical Room [Solar Side]
He opened the door with a quick nudge of his left hoof, and was surprised to see that there was only 1 pony, sitting on one of the medical beds. He walked in proudly, adjusted his badge, and spoke.
Well, actually, he was interrupted by Nurse Aurora Chatlove who suddenly tackled him with great speed.
"Oh, hello mister Flare! How was your day? It's a pleasure to see you here!" She shook Flare's hoof proudly. Flare smiled weakly and pulled off her hoof.
"Well, uh, I was just trying to check if everything was ok." He tapped his clipboard, waiting for an answer from the chatty nurse. Instead, he got one from the mare on the medical bed.
"Hi Flare!" Agile called. She waved a bandaged hoof at him before setting it down again in pain. Flare turned his head and trotted towards Agile anxiously.
"Wow, are you ok?" He said with a concerned tone. She shrugged, and pointed to some bandages.
"Kinda."
"Riiight."
They both laughed.
"Ok Mrs. Agile Bolt, you got a visitor!" Aurora smiled and a Lunar Guard appeared in the room immediately after her speech. Agile and Flare both turned their heads, and the Lunar Guard approached them with a balanced pace.
”Hello, friend." A CERTAIN cyan-colored pegasus called out with a sarcastic tone. Rainbow Dash's mane still seeped through the helm coolly, causing a 'brainwave' over Agile.
Or so she thought.
"Get out of here." Agile blocked her own eyes with her hoof as Flare confusingly looked at both of them. Rainbow Dash threw a glance over her shoulder to the nurse, who was not paying attention the conversation at all.
"AHEM." Rainbow announced rather loudly. "We meet again." She stuck out a hoof pleasantly to Flare, who politely declined the offer. She mumbled under her breath angrily, but looked at Agile as she took of her hoof.
"What do you want?" Agile grumbled. Rainbow smiled greedily at the thoughts and replied.
"Heh, for starters, I want respect." Rainbow Dash stared at Agile boringly, trying to get her to salute her or something. Agile remained silent. Rainbow sighed.
Memories hurt a lot. Rainbow didn't like herself in the past. She had stayed in an earth pony schoolhouse for a few years before moving to the skies. At the earth pony schoolhouse, she had met Agile. Agile and her were perfect buddies those times.
Until Rainbow betrayed her.
"Hey, come on lousypants! You're gonna miss it!" Rainbow yelled as her new partner frantically raced to the other side of the court to catch the ball. A popular pegasus tapped her shoulder.
"Uh, Rainbow Dash?" The pegasus' eyes lit up as Rainbow threw her a glance. The pegasus smiled gratefully and continued with her question.
"Would you like to be my partner?" She said. She beamed with hope as a cyan hoof was set on her shoulder. Unfortunately, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows.
"Sorry kid, I wish I could. I'm stuck with this lazy pants." Rainbow pointed to Agile Bolt who was dusting herself off from the dirt she had just received. The pegasus looked at Rainbow pleadingly and begged again.
"Please?"
"Kid, I would if I could. I'm just stuck with my stupid, crazy, idiotic and horrible nutjob partner."
"Excuse me?" A very shocked voice tore a hole through their conversation. Agile looked at Rainbow demandingly as the pegasus shot a look at Agile. Agile stared at the pegasus back, who then scoffed and completely changed.
"Ugh, so YOU'RE the nutjob Rainbow was talking about!" The mare grinned evilly and rolled her eyes as she set a firm hoof on Rainbow's shoulder.
"I think RAINBOW deserves a WAY better partner than some sort of crazed peanut. Come on, let's go." The mare grabbed Rainbow by the shoulder firmly and steered her away. Rainbow took one glance at Agile, who was looking back at Rainbow with mixed feelings.
Revenge and hurt.
Rainbow was about to zoom back when she heard someone in front of her apart from that annoying mare.
"Hey, wanna join us?" A cute stallion flew up to her in a flirty way, diverting her attention from Agile to the stallion. Rainbow nodded eagerly as her possible coltfriend put a hoof on her shoulder.
"Let's fly!"
