A Soldier in Silver Chapter 9

As Honeycrisp escorted the males to their lodgings two more mares appeared from a side room; Destrier recognized the brown unicorn with the strawberry red mane and tail that had been with Honey at the Gala years ago, and a palomino Pegasus. Both looked at the newcomers with interest and smiled at the stallions as Honey stopped to introduce them. The unicorn smiled broadly, said her name was Cocoaberry and shook hooves, and the Pegasus giggled saying that she was called Sunglow. Honey told them that her name was actually Honeycrisp, which given her apple cutie mark, the name was fitting. Not that he was staring at her flank… no not at all.

 Given that Eaglewing was completely without the ability to speak at the moment, Destrier again made the introductions to the trio of lovely mares, each representing the three races of Equestria. Once finished, Honeycrisp resumed her task of showing the stallions to their respective quarters.  

The rooms of this modest inn were not as luxurious as one would find in an expensive hotel suite in Canterlot, but they were more than comfortable for a trio of soldiers whose duties had sometimes required them to sleep on the ground out in a field. The beds were large enough for a pony of Destrier’s size to sleep with ease. There was a writing desk in each room and enough space for the former guards to put their belongings. All for just fifty bits a week, meals included.

Eaglewing bounded into his room, finally finding his voice to excuse himself from the company of the Commander and Honeycrisp. He needed to rest for Pinkie’s party later that evening.

“Pinkie Pie is throwing you a party?” Honeycrisp asked the scarlet unicorn with a smile. “You might want to rest up as well, Commander. You’re in for a long night.”

“I’m not going.”

“You didn’t promise her you would attend, did you?”

“I made no promises. My companions did.”

“You didn’t swear on it? Something like ’Cross your heart, hope the fly, cupcake- in- the- eye’ type of swear?”

“No…” Destrier said, a confused look crossing his face. He had to ask why. There was no way around it.

“Oh, that’s good. Pinkie gets a bit upset if someone breaks a ‘Pinkie’ Swear. She can be downright scary when she’s upset.”

Destrier raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. He'd faced down dragons before; what could a little pink earth pony do to a well trained former guard pony, even if she was one of the Elements of Harmony?

“You should put in an appearance, you know. Just go in, say hello to Pinkie and her friends, eat some cake and drink some punch. Meet some of the other residents of Ponyville. Thank Pinkie for the party, but tell her you are so very tired from travelling and need to get some sleep. It shouldn’t take more than a half hour to forty five minutes at the most.”

“Will you be there?”

”I wasn’t invited. ”

“I’m inviting you now. Please? I don’t know anyone else in Ponyville outside of Eaglewing and Charger. Forty five minutes with complete strangers would seem like an eternity, especially since most will avoid talking to me because I’m disfigured; that scares some ponies.”

Honeycrisp knew that he didn’t want sympathy, Destrier was simply stating fact. Even when her friends here had been introduced to both stallions, they had directed most of their comments to Eaglewing, despite the fact that the colt was all but mute. They glanced at and then quickly away from the scarred unicorn and barely said a thing to him outside of a few pleasantries.

It was weird to the little paint pony, because Destrier didn’t look horrible to her. The scar lines were thin, pink and well healed, and whatever damage there was to his eye was hidden behind that closed eyelid. There was no torn and hanging skin, no open wounds weeping blood and gore, and no exposed bone. He just didn’t look like a hideous monster in her opinion. If anything, the scars made him more intriguing to her.

“Okay, I’ll go with you. I think I can spare forty five minutes from my busy schedule for a Pinkie party,” she said with a wink before turning to go. “Since I am going with you, I think it would be a good idea if we both get some rest before going. See you later, soldier.”

“See you, Honey…crisp.”

In all the party was fun. Pinkie Pie had arrived to escort the newcomers to her party, cheerfully chattering all the way, bouncing along effortlessly like she had spring-loaded hooves. The party was located at the local bakery and sweet shop called Sugar Cube Corner. Eaglewing flew behind her, nodding in agreement to whatever she was saying. Charger and Wildflower followed, still engrossed in conversation about their childhood together. Destrier and Honeycrisp were last, the paint pony talking about her relatives that lived there in Ponyville.

Destrier found that he'd had such a good time that he hadn't even noticed if anyone stared at him or not, since he was engaged in conversation with many of Honeycrisp’s friends and family. He even felt honored to meet the other five wielders of the Elements of Harmony.

 Charger was reunited with more old friends and Eaglewing was a hit with the youngest partygoers. The colts and fillies seem to flock to him, finding the Pegasus a source of amusing stories, silly faces and fun games. This didn’t surprise Destrier at all, for it seemed that Eaglewing was very much a young colt himself.

How long the party went on, Destrier didn’t know. He and Honeycrisp left earlier than most of the others, though not as early as they had originally planned.  Honey smiled as the larger pony trotted along side her in a good mood, happy with how things had turned out this evening. He walked her to her little house that was on the property of the Lodge and was completely caught off guard when Honeycrisp kissed him lightly on his scarred cheek, thanking him for taking her on a fun “date” before she went inside.

The next day, the scarlet unicorn was up as early as he normally would have been if he had still been in the Guard.  Old habits were very hard to break after all. After breakfast in the dining room of the Inn, he found Honeycrisp outside “fixin’ to do her daily chores,” as she said in her soft twang. She had to get a load of apples from her cousins at Sweet Apple Acres, pick up some kitchen supplies for Cocoaberry, buy some more linen, groceries and other assorted items for the lodge and make the bank deposit. Destrier volunteered to help her, saying that he would be more than happy to do so. Although she appreciated his willingness to help, she protested because he was a guest and shouldn’t have to do so.

Their conversation was interrupted when a loud skidding and tearing noise sounded above them. The pair looked up at a large storm cloud grey Pegasus with a tornado cutie mark as he shook the remnants of the damaged roof tiles from his hooves.

“Stormchaser!!!” shouted Honeycrisp angrily. “Why can’t you land with finesse? You are going to have to pay to fix my roof — again!”

The pony smiled, leapt down from the roof and landed lightly in front of her.

“Honeycrisp, my favorite variety of apple, so sweet and tasty,” the Pegasus said in flirtatious tones. He leaned in and picked up Honeycrisp’s right hoof to place a kiss on it, oblivious to the murderous look he had gotten from her large scarlet companion. “Why aren’t you my mare, lovely?

“I dun know, could it be because you’re a complete jerk that keeps wreaking my place of business, maybe?” Honey snapped, snatching her hoof away from him. “You better have a good reason for tearing up the lodge.”

“You might want to get things done as soon as possible today, oh Crispy one. Looks like there’s bad weather on the way. Not just rain, either.”

He would have said more, but the weather team leader appeared and called him back up into the clouds. He gave Honey a cheeky smile as he leapt skyward, vanishing as swiftly as he had appeared.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” Honeycrisp said to Destrier. “Stormchaser’s a jerk sometimes, but he’s always right about the weather; we better get a move on.”

    

By the time she was finished, she had two large carts and heavy saddlebags. As strong an earth pony as she was, Honeycrisp couldn’t haul all of her things back to the lodge on her own, and gratefully accepted his help.  Destrier took one of the carts, the one with all the apples and one of the larger saddlebags.

They ran into Wildflower and Charger coming out of the Whitetail woods, the pair loaded down with colorful fall foliage and flowers that she would use to make decorations for the lodge. 

The four talked happily as they neared the building, but the conversation abruptly stopped when a piercing scream came from within the inn itself. Destrier used his magic to disengage himself from the cart and followed Charger into the Inn, followed by the mares.

“Where’s the money?” a strange voice demanded hoarsely. “Give it to me!”

Charger halted quickly, when a knife embedded itself in the wall beside him. Destrier snarled a low curse as he took in the scene. A strange pony stood in the middle of the room, a unicorn with a mangy electric blue coat and matted greasy brown mane and tail. His teeth seemed to have been filed into sharp fangs like those of a carnivore. Around the pony floated an assortment of knives. There were more sticking out of various pieces of furniture in the room and worst of all one large knife was buried to the handle in the chest of Eaglewing, who stood protectively in front of Sunglow and Cocoaberry.

Eaglewing had several small wounds. But none were as bad as the knife in his chest; it was way too close to his heart. Blood flowed about the wound, forming a puddle at his feet. Though severely wounded, the young guard pony stood his ground on shaky legs, his eyes never leaving the unicorn stranger.

Again the blue unicorn sent a knife flying towards Eaglewing, but this time it was rebounded harmlessly away; Destrier had called upon his shield magic, a spell that all unicorn guard soldiers learned upon entering the Academy. Using this magic he pushed the blue unicorn away from the injured. He had succeeded in getting the twitchy thief away from his victims, but then what? Eaglewing’s injury was priority. Without a healing and soon, the colt could die. Destrier would have to hone all that he had into the healing; he could not waste his magic upon disarming and imprisoning the attacker.

Charger seemed to know the conflict going on within his commander.

“I’ll take care of it, sir,” said the grey unicorn.

Destrier’s eye widened in horror thinking that Charger would burn the Lodge to ashes in an effort to contain the bandit, just as he'd done before. How else could a fire generator stop a thief? He started to tell him no when the knife thrower sent another sharp missile in their direction. Charger pawed the ground and took a fighting stance. Before Destrier could stop him, Charger's horn sparked, his eyes went white and he sent an electric bolt crashing into the criminal. The blue pony jerked hard and flailed wildly, finally collapsing in a heap upon the floor. 

Destrier stepped over him and moved to Eaglewing. He was shaking harder than ever, fighting to remain upright. Destrier could also see that the young stallion was very scared. It was going to be hard to keep him calm. If Eaglewing suddenly panicked once the blade was removed, he would bleed to death in minutes, and at the best of times Eaglewing was already very flighty. Destrier wasn’t sure the Pegasus guard was going to make it; he had lost so much blood already.  

“I’m dying, aren’t I, sir?” Eaglewing asked as Destrier approached.

“Yes you are, colt.”

A Soldier in Silver Chapter 8

                                                           ~Six years prior~

At least it was a cool night. That was about all Destrier could find appealing about working security for the Grand Galloping Gala. Other than that, it was boring. He shifted from hoof to hoof waiting for someone to relieve him from his post, so that he could walk the perimeter of the castle. His battalion had volunteered to work the party. Commander Winterborne had chosen his best troops for the task personally, twenty in all. Then he assigned some of the group to appear in civilian attire and mingle with the guests, while others would wear their full armor. Destrier had been chosen to appear in his armor. He didn’t mind.

Silverbolt appeared on schedule, nodding to the scarlet pony as he took the position near the front gate of the castle that Destrier vacated. Destrier wouldn’t have to return to the gate this night. He was now on patrol along the interior of the grounds.

He had been on watch for about twenty five minutes when the doors from the ballroom opened and a mare stepped outside. She didn’t notice the guard in the shadows, letting out a sigh and standing still for a few moments, with her head thrown back and eyes closed. It was like she was trying to calm herself down, taking deep breaths. He wondered if she was upset about something.

Then she opened her eyes and let out a soft gasp. She ran to the edge of the balcony and threw her forelegs over the rail, placing a foot on the lower rung. Destrier was never so shocked in his life. She was going to try to take her own life? He couldn’t allow that!

“Don’t do it!” he commanded sharply, startling the mare. Her foot slipped off the lower rail and she looked at him with wide eyes. Seeing that he had scared her, he spoke more gently. “He’s not worth it. They aren’t worth it. Not one. Don’t let them make you jump.”

“Jump?” she said, looking at him with confused expression, her forelegs still draped over the top rail. Then she smiled and laughed. “Oh no, darlin’ there ain’t a one of them there stuck up, drown-if-they-are-caught-in-a-sudden-downpour ponies that I would be willin’ to jump for.”  

“But…You looked upset and then you ran to the edge…” he said feeling stupid.

“I’m tired. My feet hurt. Makes me out of sorts. I’m on my break, so I thought I should get some fresh air; it’s awful stuffy in there. Then I saw a shooting star. I guess I’m still a foal at heart; I rushed to make a wish. Silly, ain’t it? Look, there’s another one!”

Reassured, Destrier spent nearly an hour talking to the mare and watching the meteor shower. He usually wasn’t quite so open normally, but there was something about her that put him at ease. He found that liked her. She was really cute, what with her black and white mane, gold and white painted coat and deep brown eyes. He could have spent all night just talking to her, but that was not to be.

“Honey!” called a brown mare with a deep strawberry red mane that was leaning out the door, “Breaks over, I really could use some help.”

“Be right in, Cocoa,” Honey said, giving Destrier an apologetic look. “Duty calls. Cocoa will be fixin’ to kick my tail if I stay out any longer. It was nice talking to you…”

“Destrier.”

“Destrier...I like that. It suits you. Have a good night.”

“You too, Honey.”

She smiled and went inside. The glass doors closing behind her as she rejoined her friend in serving the patrons who attended the Gala. He watched for just a moment longer and then went on his way, hoping to look her up in town on his next leave day. He would learn that she wasn’t from Canterlot after spending all of the day looking, and had already gone. He had no idea where she was from. He was going to try Ponyville next week. 

It was three days later when a small flea-bitten circus came to Canterlot.

                                                         ~Current day~

It was definitely Honey. Her mane was longer than he remembered, but it was her. From her pretty brown eyes to the swath of white on her right foreleg, it was her. Destrier stared down at her, shocked to see her again. She was looking up at him with curiosity, and slightly tilted her head to the left as she gazed at him but he was pretty certain that she didn’t recognize him.

He knew that he looked different, what with his disfigurement and the fact that he wasn’t in the highly polished golden armor that the Royal Guard wore on special occasions like the Grand Galloping Gala.

Maybe it was better this way.

“How can I help you Gentlecolts today?” she asked, her soft twang inflecting her words. Of course she would have noticed Charger and Eaglewing standing behind him. Yet neither of them spoke up. How typical this was becoming. He was going to have to do everything.

“Uh… yes. We’ve travelled all the way from Canterlot and were wondering if there were any rooms to let.” Destrier inquired, “Also, there’s an old friend of my companion Charger here that is said to work here; a pony by the name of Wildflower.”  

He had turned slightly when he spoke as to indicate the gray unicorn behind him, gesturing with his hoof for the colt to step forward. In doing so he completely missed out on the look of surprised recognition Honey-better known to all in Ponyville as Honeycrisp- gave him.

While the little paint mare hadn’t remembered Destrier by appearance, she did remember his voice. In her opinion, there hadn’t been any stallions that could make her skin feel tingly all over just by talking to her. Just one did- the tall handsome scarlet unicorn in the bright gold armor. Destrier had “the voice”, rough and gravelly when barking out a command, yet deep and husky when he spoke in more soothing tones. She could listen to him read the History of Equestria from start to finish and thoroughly enjoy it, as she had told Cocoaberry time and again.

When talking about her encounter with the Guardian at the Gala, Honeycrisp always mentioned his voice and the effect it had on her. When asked why she wasn’t married to that guard pony, Honeycrisp’s answer was simple: After learning of the circus tragedy in Canterlot she had gone back and enquired after her scarlet guard, and had been told that he had died fighting the Chimera that had gone berserk.  Saddened by losing a new friend, Honeycrisp never went back to Canterlot again.

Now, there had been a crimson coated Pegasus Guard named Firefall that had been killed by the creature. Foolishly he baited the maddened beast, showing off to his comrades as he dipped and dodged about the Chimera’s two heads and lethal claws while completely ignoring the third head, a serpent that acted as the creature’s tail. The snake head caught him on the left foreleg above the knee, the sharp fangs driving in deep into his flesh, its paralyzing venom acted almost immediately. Firefall fell limply to the ground in front of the creature, which in its fury tore him to pieces. 

It was he that the exhausted Pegasus Guard had been thinking of when Honeycrisp made her query about a red coated Guardian pony and got the terrible answer.

Honeycrisp was so glad her guardian was still alive, she almost hugged him. Almost, until she noticed the expression on all three of the stallions faces when Wildflower came out into the foyer, looking curiously at the males. Honeycrisp rolled her eyes and stepped back so that Wildflower could get a better look at the young gray unicorn.

Destrier hadn’t quite seen an earth pony as stunning as Wildflower. The cornflower blue mare with the long braided lilac mane caught him by surprise. He heard a swift intake of breath next to him, and knew that Charger’s parents might have been right for taking their son away from Ponyville. Had the colt been able to watch her blossom into this beautiful pony, he doubted Charger would have left her side to join the Royal Guard at all.

Wildflower leaned slightly to her left, glancing at Charger’s flank. Then she smiled widely and gave the colt a hug. “Charger, it is you!” she said, deep green eyes tearing up. “I remember when you got your cutie mark, you were so proud of the lightning! I missed you so much!”

“I think that they may need at little alone time so that they can catch up.” Honeycrisp said briskly. “Would you like to see your rooms?”

                                                               

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.