A Soldier in Silver Chapter 7

On the way back to Canterlot he told the colts that they were going to take the balloon to Ponyville. Both younger ponies greeted this news with excitement. They were as eager as school aged foals on a field trip. They practically tackled the balloon operator when they arrived at the terminal.

The flight itself lasted a little more than an hour. Destrier learned that travelling in this manner was relaxing as Eaglewing soared off to measure the distances between the balloon and the village and so wasn’t there to chatter so much, and that Charger already knew which pony to look for once they arrived in Ponyville, an old school friend.

“What’s his name?” the red pony asked.

“That would be her name, sir,” Charger corrected. “Her name is Wildflower.”

“She was your best friend, I take it?”

“Yes sir. I had colt friends too, but for some reason I got on with Wildflower best of all; we were always together. Then my parents decided that they wanted me and my sister to have more unicorn friends, so they moved us to Canterlot.”

“So she wasn’t a unicorn, then?”

“No sir, she’s an Earth Pony.”

Destrier knew the reason why. The filly wasn’t a unicorn. There were still unicorns that felt that they should only mate with their kind, whether it is a playmate or life-mate. This wasn’t a belief that Destrier himself held. However, Minty was a unicorn and so was Lancer. Maybe they feared their son’s growing attachment to his friend could lead to something more than just being a playmate. It would serve them right for throwing their son away like he was trash.

“By all means, we should look her up,” Destrier said giving Charger a quick smile as the balloon touched down. “If you know her direction, that is.”

“I don’t know where she is anymore, but I don’t think she left Ponyville,” Charger answered as he leapt out of the balloon. His smile broadened as he took in the sights of what he considered home. “I could ask a couple of ponies if they know her and where she would be.”

 "This might be as easy as finding a needle in a haystack," Destrier grumbled, mostly to himself. From the way it sounded, Charger had been fairly young when his family had moved from Ponyville to Canterlot, and one never knew if this Wildflower's family had done the same, perhaps following the settlers to Dodge.

"I remember that Wildflower's mom had a florist shop in the town square," Charger said as Eaglewing appeared, the Pegasus landing with little impact near the gray unicorn. Immediately he began to speak.

"I didn't see any florist shops, but I wasn't looking for them either. There was a cart near the fountain not far from here. There was a really cute mare selling flowers. By the way did you notice all the mares? I did! Fillies and mares by the dozen! I think I'm going to like it here!"

Destrier sighed and walked on ahead of the duo who was chatting cheerfully about the sheer amount of females in the village. It wasn't as though Destrier himself wasn't interested in females, he was. He just was waiting for the right mare to come along, one that wasn't interested in his lineage or the level of magic he possessed, for his family line was very old and prestigious, and he was a pretty powerful magic user. It wouldn't hurt if they weren't put off by his looks, either. Not many mares were interested in a stallion with one eye and huge scars down his face.

They rounded a bend in the road and could see the fountain just up the street. The sweet smell of sugar hung in the air as they passed a confection shop. It was here where Destrier, lost in thought for a moment, nearly trampled over a pony.  She was small, pink with a darker pink mane and tail. Destrier began to apologize as the mare glanced up at him and let out a gasp. He should have been used to this reaction, he'd seen it enough.

"I don't know you!" she exclaimed, leaning in closer to get a better look at him. "I know everyone in Ponyville. That means you're new!"

"Uh..yes," Destrier said warily. Eaglewing and Charger now flanked him, the former looking at the pink mare with curiosity, the latter with amusement. "We've only just arrived. We're looking for Wild—" he never got to finish as the mare cut him off.

"We simply have to have a party in your honor!"

"What? No. We don’t have the time…"

"Sure you can! It'll be fun! We can have cake, ice cream and play party games. Does two o’clock sound good to you? Because it sounds good to me."

"No we can't. We don’t even have a place to stay yet," Destrier snapped, not used to anypony telling him he had to do something when he'd just told them he couldn't. He was a Commander in the Equestrian Royal Guard. He was used to saying no and that being final.  No ifs, ands or buts about it.

“Oh, there are plenty of places to stay in Ponyville, like Silvermist's Bed and Breakfast, the Whitetail Lodge, Risen Sun Hotel,” the pink mare said dismissively. “We can have the party and then after you can go and get rooms."

"A Party sounds like fun." Charger leaned forward, giving the mare a bright smile. The younger soldier knew by the annoyed look on Commander Knightsbridge’s face that the older pony was running out of patience already. It would be better for all involved if Charger took the initiative and steered the conversation away from a likely argument."Thanks for the information. My name's Charger and I used to live in Ponyville when I was a little colt. This is Eaglewing and that's Comman… uh, Destrier. I was wondering if Lilac Bouquet still has her flower shop up the road."

"My name's Pinkie Pie. It's nice to meet you, Charger and friends. Sorry, but Lilac and Starbuck moved to Appleloosa."

"Oh…" Charger looked disappointed.

"They moved about a year ago after Nightmare Moon came back, I threw them a going away party. I don't like going away parties very much, everypony is so sad to see our friends go. Parties should be enjoyable, don’t you think?"

"I see…they all moved?"

 "Only Wildflower lives here in Ponyville now. She runs Whitetail Lodge with her friends. The Grand Opening Party was so much fun."

"She does? Can you tell us where Whitetail Lodge is?"

"Of course I can, silly! It's on the edge of Whitetail Wood. That way."  Pinkie gestured towards the northeast of where they were currently standing.  

Charger was so happy he hugged her and then promised Pinkie that the three of them would allow her to throw them a "Welcome to Ponyville" party later. Destrier gave a snort; it was doubtful that he was going to a party thrown by someone that gave him a headache just from the merest conversation.   

The trio set off for Whitetail Lodge, Eaglewing rhapsodized near continuously about how cute Pinkie Pie was. Ironically, for someone that talked a lot, he had said absolutely nothing to her, just stared. Destrier wondered if the colt knew how to talk to females at all. It didn’t seem so.

To make matters worse, the closer they got to the Lodge, Charger became more and more anxious. He had no idea what he was going to say to Wildflower after all these years. Would she remember him? Would she even want to talk to him because he never got in touch with her like he had promised?

It took a very short time to reach the Lodge itself, as Charger fidgeted nervously and Eaglewing babbled on and on, Destrier was left to do all the talking to whomever appeared as he knocked on the door. He could hear female voices from within, and stood patiently waiting as the door opened by an earth pony mare with dark eyes — the eyes of a memory.