An Electrifying Journey
Chapter 43 - Departure
Hey guys! I am leaving soon, again. This saturday, to be specific. I will be away for my holidays for two weeks and hopefully I can continue writing afterwards.
As a bit of a treat for you guys, here is a 4500+ word chapter!
It took me a week as I have to check and re check and check the re check for errors. However, there will still be some errors here and there. And my proof reader might have left some notes behind. Anyways,
Hope you enjoy this!
Kurt's point of view.
Kurt sat on a haystack outside of the barn, consuming his hand-picked apple while staring out onto the vast orchard. A lot has been going through his mind since he arrived in this, pony wonderland and he gets more worried as each day passes. He has a lot of questions to ask. Why is he here? What happened back on Earth? What happened to his squadmates, who fought along side him during the entire invasion? Kurt could not find an answer... at least a logical one. The only person who could possibly know this would be Davis.
He wanted to look for Davis today, since he is taking the day off from the hard work, but, unfortunately, Applejack told him that he was to go to Canterlot... he was not sure where it was, but now he had no other human to turn to... maybe he could ask that unicorn, Twilight, but he felt better discussing this with a fellow human... this leads to another question, Where are all the humans? He met a lot on the day of his arrival but since then, he made no more contact with them except for Thomas and Davis. Now feeling very worried and nervous at the fact that he is the only human left in Ponyville, Kurt decided to travel to this so-called 'Canterlot'.
Kurt jumped off the haystack and walked into the barn to look for Applejack, who was taking this day off as well. The barn was quiet; it's even quieter than not having Applebloom and the 'Cutie Mark Crusaders' over for a sleepover. It makes sense, no one is out in the farm so there is no noise of legs or hoofs hitting tree trunks and Big Mac was out in town to help repair some stuff in the town hall... something about this 'Derpy' causing havoc that destroyed the roof of town hall... again (I have heard around town that she has a kid named 'Dinky', but that was just a rumor).
Kurt turned around a corner towards the kitchen and saw Applejack baking an apple pie, "might be tonight's dinner..." he thought to himself. The daily meals of apple pie, apple fritters, apple juice and perhaps anything made out of apples made Kurt sick... he wants to savour the taste of meat. His army food-rations are better than this. At least it has meat. He wanted to taste something else. All he has been eating was apples and Kurt felt sick eating it all day. No offense to this Apple family, but he was not a fan of apples, nor was he the fan of eating the same food everyday. But they didn't eat meat so he had to cope with it.
Applejack had her back facing him so she did not notice him there. "Applejack, do you have a minute?" Kurt called as he leaned on the wooden door frame and crossed his arms.
She turned around and saw the human standing there. "Oh hey Kurt, what's up?" She turned around and continued mixing the ingredients for the apple pie.
"I was just thinking..." Kurt hesitated, maybe it would devastate her if he left, they might have difficulty harvesting these apples and doing their chores, it might be better if he stayed.
"Thinking about what?" Applejack asked as she placed the mixed ingredients onto a metal tray. She placed the tray into the oven for baking. Kurt was having difficulty choosing so it was hard to come up with a decision.
Applejack switched on the oven and the mixture began to bake. She noticed the pro-longed silence and turned to Kurt, who now looked like he has trouble saying something. "Is there something wrong, Kurt?"
This snapped Kurt from his thoughts and he looked at the orange pony who was smiling at him. "Nevermind..." he turned around and was about to walk off until Applejack reassured "Hey ah can see that you have some'ing to say, spit it out, don't worry. If it's a secret, ah promise ah won't tell no pony!"
"No, it is not a secret. It's just..." he hesitated again but he decided it was best to just tell, "...it's just that I was wondering if you can help get me to Canterlot."
Applejack expressed signs of curiosity and worry, "Why so, sugarcube?" Kurt now felt better to express his feelings to her.
"I have a lot of unanswered questions as to why I am here and also, I feel out of place being the only human here." He said nervously, not wanting to make her sad or angry at the fact that he wants to leave. So he added, "You do not have to help send me off if you still want me here. It is not necessary..."
"Not necessary? Are ya kiddin'? Ah would be more than happy to help ya, 'sides, we Apples could handle ourselves without ya and ah understand how ya feel, being the odd one out and all; so ah can help buy ya a ticket to Canterlot." She turned her attention to the wall clock which was on the arch above Kurt's head. It read 4 in the afternoon. It was pretty late and useless to get a train to Canterlot at this time but, nevertheless, she was willing to help her human friend. It was for his good anyway. He could take a break from his work and spend some time outside the farm, and learn more about Equestria.
"It is 4 in the afternoon right now so, the next Canterlot Express train would leave at ah' think around, 6 in the evening so ya still got two hours to go. So you might want to pack yer belongings for your stay. I'd bet the princesses would be more than happy to provide ya a room to sleep in for the night." Applejack smiled as she left Kurt in the kitchen.
Speaking of the princesses, Kurt has not met any of them yet, in fact, he never heard of them before! He climbed up the stairs to his room and packed his stuff, leaving some clothes as he might be planning on coming back. Once he carried his so called 'saddlebag' he was on his way outside the barn, where he would bid farewell to Applejack. (Ethan was here)
Applejack saw Kurt exiting the barn and she approached him, her hoof occupied by a pouch filled bits he would need to pay for the tickets. She handed the pouch to him and taking the hint from his face, telling her he was confused, she explained, "Here are the bits ya need for the train ticket to Canterlot and a few extra for any emergency, if you want to come back for any reason. Other than that, ah guess it is goodbye." she smiled "Oh! You do know where is the train station don't ya?" she reassured.
"Yeah, I think so, thank you so much for the time here Applejack and thanks for helping me pay for the train ticket, I promise I will find a way to pay you back." he waved at the cowpony as he aprroached the gates.
"No need fer that Kurt! It's the least ah can do to thank yer! Have a wonderful ride to Canterlot!" Applejack waved and wondered why in Equestria did he decide to leave around two hours before his ride but she ignored the thought and watched as the human walked down the dirt path leading to town.
Kurt knew he left early and there was a reason for that. He walked down the dirt path, passing some of the large apple trees. He was not so dumb to just travel to another town that he had no knowledge about. He decided to visit Twilight to ask for some directions and instructions on where he could find Davis.
Five minutes later, he was outside the tree house library, where Twilight lived. He knocked on the wooden door and waited for a response. Soon after, the door opened and revealed a small purple dragon that was now looking up towards him. "Hey there Kurt, do you want to come in?" he asked.
"Yes please. I would like to meet Twilight." Spiked stood aside to make way for Kurt as he entered. He took a look around and saw books stacked neatly on the bookshelves and the purple unicorn was on her couch, reading a book.
She turned to look at who was the visitor and saw Kurt. "Hello Kurt, what brings you here?" She changed into a sitting position instead of laying down, to give space for him to sit. Taking the hint, he placed his saddlebag next to the couch and sat beside Twilight.
"Wow, it seems you are planning to go somewhere." Twilight commented, looking at the large bag.
"Actually, Twilight, I am planning to go somewhere."
She tilted her head slightly, "That explains it, but where are you off to? It seems you are packed for a long journey."
"You can say that. Actually, I am off to Canterlot to meet up with Davis and the rest of the humans but I came here for instructions and directions on where exactly in Canterlot I might be able to find them. To be honest, I am not sure where Canterot even is!"
"Oh, you were actually off to Canterlot? Well, it is easy to find them, just look for the castle and ask the guards to escort you to Davis and you will find him. However, I think it is easier if we notify Princess Celestia about your arrival." she advised.
A castle? Is Davis some sort of King in this land? And why should the Princess be concerned about him looking for Davis? Are they related? Only one way to find out...
"What castle? Is Davis a king or something?" Kurt asked, satisfying his needs on finding an explanation.
"The Canterlot castle is where the princesses rule from, which includes Davis. Why? Were youbnot aware of his position as Prince?"
He shook his head. He felt shock that a stranger to this land was a Prince, unless he was here for a while now. "No, unfortunately I was not aware of that."
"That explains it. Davis was elected prince no too long ago. However, his power is not as much as Princess Celestia's. He is just somewhat like an assistant."
"I see, so how and why are you going to have to notify this, 'Princess'?"
"Well, I could easily send a letter to her and then she will be notified as soon as she had read it. I have to notify her because the guards do not allow just anypony, or anybody, to enter the castle, plus, she could send a chariot to bring you over to make things easier for you." The unicorn smiled. She turned around and called out to Spike, "Spike! Can you help me send a letter to Princess Celestia?"
A little while later, the young assistant appread from the kitchen. "Why?" He questioned and walked to the table to grab a parchment and a quill. He stood there and waited for Twilight to speak.
"I want to notify her that Kurt is planning to make a visit there."
"Ok, sure." He nodded and waited once more for Twilight to tell him what to write to the Princess.
Kurt just watched the two and Twilight cleared her throat and began to recite what she wanted to tell this 'Princess'.
"Dear Princess Celestia,
I would like to notify you that Kurt, the human soldier I told you about in my letters, is planning to make a visit to your castle to join up with the rest of the humans. He would appreciate if you would allow him access to the castle as well as provide him with a place to stay and transport to the Castle as he would not know his way around there if he were to travel by train. I hope you would kindly accept this favour.
Your most faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle."
Kurt was nervous after hearing that she was asking the Princess for a favour. Even though he has not met this Princess, he knew that it would be considered rude to ask for favours. He saw Spike roll the paper and breathe out a green flame and it flew out of the window and took off to the sky. "Whoa... Did you just burn that paper?" Kurt blinked.
"Not exactly, it is the way Spike sends letters to the Princess. Why? Does it work differently in your world?" The purple unicorn wondered.
"Well, in my world, we either send letters through mail or online. People would choose online as it only takes seconds for the receiver to retrieve the message as compared to sending mail, which takes days or weeks to send overseas."
"I see. Normally, ponies would send letters but in my case, if I want to send to the Princess directly, I have to do it through Spike." She looked at Spike who was now climbing down the moving ladder after placing the books back to their respective shelves.
As soon as Kurt laid his eyes on him, he burped loudly and a large flame came out of his mouth and along with it, a letter. This surprised Kurt for a while until he understood that that is just how it goes around here.
Spike rolled up the parchment and scanned for while before clearing his throat and announcing what was written on it.
"My faithful student, Twilight sparkle,
I am more than happy to provide accomodations for Kurt's visit as well as a free transport to the Castle. An air chariot is on its way there now and will help bring Kurt over here. I will alert Davis and the rest of the humans of his arrival right away.
Yours faithfully,
Princess Celestia."
He handed the letter to Twilight and she scanned it one last time to check for anything that Spike left out.
"Okay. So there is a flying chariot on its way here now. I guess it would land outside the library in around 20 minutes tops." She rolled the letter up and placed it on the round table in front of her.
So much for the train ticket to Canterlot...
In the castle.
The guard left the room after receiving his orders from Her Majesty, which was to tell Prince Davis about the arrival of the human. He walked through the many passages and up the spiral staircase to the bedrooms. He walked over to the Princes' door, cleared his throat and began knocking on it. "Prince Davis!" He waited for any response but after 5 second, there was no response. He knocked a second time. "Prince Davis!" after ten seconds, he was about to knock again until he heard the door behind him open. He turned to see the Prince poking his head out his mane, or hair or something, was a big mess.
"Yes?" He asked wearily.
"Sorry to disturb you, Prince, but Princess Celetsia wants me to tell you that your friend, Kurt is on his way here." The guard said flatly.
"Kurt? How long will it take for him to be here?" He asked again, scratching his head in drowsiness.
"Around an hour, sir."
The Prince nodded his head and thanked the guard before closing the door. The guard looked around to make sure he is alone before breaking his stance to relax. Seriously, staying attention for hours is painful; especially when you are wearing heavy armour all over your body. He heaved a sigh of relief before making his way down the stairs, back to the throne room, where he would stand attention for another set of hours.
Davis yawned once more and made his way to his partner's bed. "Who was that?" She asked, looking at him. He lay beside her and returned to their hugging position. "It was just a guard. He says that Kurt is on his way here."
She yawned. "Oh? When will he be arriving?"
"An hour." Davis leaned his head on hers and hugged her tightly, trying to return to his slumber.
"Why are you not preparing for his arrival then?" She asked again, preventing Davis from fulfilling his wish.
He was a bit annoyed but did not try to show it. "I need to sleep, Luna, it was a tiring day for me today. Half an hour's sleep won't hurt."
Luna giggled. "Fine, but I blame you if we wake up hours after his arrival."
Davis smiled at her before closing his eyes once more and tried to go back to sleep.
Back in the library, five minutes later...
Kurt flipped to the next page of the book he was reading on combat magic. It seems to be different from the combat back in Earth. Military combat, to be specific. Nonetheless, it was interesting to read and it is a good way to pass the time as he waited for the arrival of the chariots. He continued reading more and more until Twilight came up with a question.
"So, Kurt, what type of soldier would you be?"
He turned his attention away from the book and looked to Twilight "What do you mean?"
"Well, like, are you a soldier of a kingdom, a freedom fighter or uhm..." Twilight was having difficulty coming up with more examples.
Thankfully, Kurt understood what she meant and did not need anymore examples. "I am a soldier of my country's army. What we do is protect our country from invasions or terrorism or even war and, if necessary, we help other countries either by helping rescuing victims from natural disasters, give off food rations to the people or helping them fight against a war. But mostly, we do the fighting and the civil defence crew are the once who help in emergency situations."
Twilight nodded her head. "How about you guys? Does Equestria have a military to fight a war?" The soldier asked.
"No. But we have the guards who serve Equestria, protecting it from danger and keeping law and order."
Kurt was shocked, even though he does not know how big Equestria was, he was sure it was big enough that a small organisation could not handle such a large nation nor could they defend themselves from an outbreak of a war.
"Is that all? How strong exactly is the defense here?" he leaned forward, now getting interested at the conversation he was having with her.
"That is not all. We also have the Equestrian Royal Guards and the Equestrian National Army. The Equestian Royal Guards is an elite organisation, which is stronger and more loyal than the normal guards and they are responsible for the protection and safety of the Princesses. They are Canterlot's main defense. In fact, to be precise, 90% of Canterlot's defense depends on the Royal Guards. The purpose of the normal guards is to defend other cities or towns so the Royal Guards could focus mainly on Canterlot. The Equestrian National Army is made up of many different factions. The Equestrian Air Force, The Equestrian Ground Force, The Equestrian Magical Defense and the Equestrian Civil Force.
The Equestrian Air Force consists of a group of pegasi who are specially trained to defend the skies of Equestria. The Equestrian Ground Force is a group of Earth Ponies who are utilized to defend the ground, forests, and mountains. Anything on the ground is for the Ground Force to handle. The Equestrian Magical Defense consists of unicorns that specialise in combat magic that you have just read to defend Equestria against other types of magic. They also assist the Ground Forces in certain situations. Lastly, the Civil Force, basically the same as your world's Civil Force, they are responsible for the protection of the civilians and they are utilized in times of crisis. Understand?" The purple pony finally ended.
Kurt was amazed. Their defense is more complicated and larger than he thought. "How strong is this defense?" He asked, trying to compare them to Earth.
"It is not really strong to defend the whole of Equestria because the National Army started only 50 years ago so it is still small; whereas both the Guards and the Royal Guards started centuries ago. So, all in all, the Royal Guards are the best we have so far."
Kurt underestimated them yet again. "How about your defense technology, do you have fire arms or cannons or tanks?"
"We do not have fire arms at all. In fact, nopony knows how to create any. Only our magic is capable of doing such things. And I am assuming we do not have these 'tanks' as I do not know what they are. Our defenses are mostly on magic. So we do not depend largely on technology. How about yours? I am sure your world is much more technologically advanced, since you are not capable of magic and you talk about these 'tanks'."
Kurt nodded. She was right; humans were not capable of magic and therefore rely on technology to do their dirty work. "I think we are, well, in military terms. We have machinery, fire arms, equipment, devices and various contraptions to help us defend the country. For example, these 'tanks' are one heck of machinery, it is heavily armoured and is capable of shooting these explosive rounds, causing havoc to those who are not well protected. We also have fighter jets, something like your pegasi; they are controlled by our pilots and dominate the air space with their rockets, yet another explosive round, and drop bombs, ANOTHER explosive round, which creates a devastating explosion capable of killing millions in the ground. And our fire arms are made up of bullets, small metals that are shaped like a prism; they could tear through your skin and cause you to bleed to death."
Kurt stopped when he realised that Twilight was feeling uneasy. "Wow that sounds cruel and scary. These machines sound so desructive and strong that I think Equestria woud not stand a chance if we go to war."
Kurt chuckled, he agreed. These ponies are too soft skinned, well, those who have seen so far were, but what if their magic could make all these stuff stop working; like and E.M.P. that could disable their electronics, leaving them vulnerable. That leads to another question, "Do you ponies know how to create an E.M.P.?"
Twilight cocked one of her eyebrow up, "E.M.P.? What is that?"
Kurt shifted a bit, feeling uneasy as he might have to explain the concept of an E.M.P. "E.M.P., also known as an electronic magnetic pulse is an uhm..." He was not very smart with these E.M.P. concepts so he thought of a simple way to explain. "It is a concentrated electro-magnetic wave that could disrupt electronic equipment such as our tanks and airplanes."
Twilight shook her head, "I have not heard of such a thing."
He underestimated them again. But still, they might be capable of doing such things but they just do not know it yet.
They kept quiet for the next 15 minutes or so before they heard a loud thump outside the building. "That must be the chariot; I guess it's time to go." Twilight said before standing up and looking out the window to confirm her assumption. It was already almost 5 when they arrived. Kurt carried his saddlebag and proceeded out of the library followed by Twilight.
Kurt saw a white coloured carriage, streaked with gold lining on the edge and it was not closed. Pulling the air-borne transport were two pegasus guards. Kurt looked at them and judged them from head to toe. They had golden armour on their backs and they wore a golden helmet. They sustained their stance in attention. "They also seem to have quite a lot of discipline." Kurt thought. But Kurt still wondered how they fought.
Twilight went came out and walked to the side of the carriage. Kurt heard them talk softly and after a while, Twilight turned to him and said, "Alright Kurt, hop on in and you will be all set."
Kurt followed her instructions and sat on the carriage. He placed his saddlebag at the space beside him. "Thanks so much Twilight."
"For what?" Twilight asked, backing off a bit to give space for the chariot to take off.
"For this, if it were'nt for you, I would have to take the train and lose my way."
"Well, you are welcome I guess. Have a good flight, Kurt."
"Flight?" Kurt wondered. He was sure Twilight made a mistake of confusing this as an airplane. "What do you mean fli-" Kurt was cut off as the carriage started moving forward, increasing in speed and they were heading straight to one of the houses at full speed!
Kurt panicked and saw the two guards open their wings wide and flapped them. "What the hell? How could they possibly think that they could..." the carriage bumped up as it lifted off the ground and flew into the sky. "...fly?" Kurt thought in his mind as he looked down at the ground below and to the guards. Kurt could not believe what he is seeing. A flying carriage? That defies like... how many physics laws, or gravity laws.
Kurt turned around to see the houses become smaller and smaller and after about five minutes, they were just clustered dots on the ground. Kurt turned back and looked straight. He actually enjoyed this, the feeling of the wind zoom past him and the light feeling he was having right now was wonderful. Is this how it feels like to fly? If it was, Kurt wished that he could have wings, crazy, yes but the feeling was so comforting.
Kurt leaned back and relaxed as the carriage flew into the blue sky.
Somewhere in the castle...
Celestia walked up the spiral staircase of one of the towers of the castle. It will be around a minute or two until she has to lower the sun. Once she was at the top, she walked to the balcony where she could get a wonderful view of her beautiful kingdom. She smiled at the sight and looked around the vast horizons. After a few breathtaking seconds, she began her routine. She spread her majestic wings and her magical horn began glowing pink. She concentrated her magic at the sun and began lowering it. After around ten seconds, Celestia fold her wings and her horn began to dim.
The sun slowly descended over the horizon and darkness began to creep out of the shadows. Celestia stood there, admiring the beautiful sunset. Suddenly, she heard a burst of magic from behind. Startled, she quickly turned around to see an old friend.
"Hello again, Celestia." Timus greeted.
Cliffhanger!
If you guys are wondering, Timus is not a real mlp fim character she/he is created by one of my faithful readers.
If hope he will be happy for this.
So until next time!
-Yellowdart1