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Rapid carefully opened the door with a grin on his face, laying down each hoof as quietly as possible. He crept up close to the bed. When he was right next to he put his lips to a horn and blew.
FRAAAAAAMMP
A startled mess of black and red hair scrambled around and tumbled out of bed. “What the fuck dad!?”
“Rise and shine my little ghostly spirit!” he said nudging her back with a hoof.
“There is no shine it’s three in the morning,” Ghost got up and went to put on her bionic arms. A device that although widely used has unknown origins. Almost all information about it was lost during the Catian overthrow. Ghost secured everything in place and used the arms to grab a brush on her dresser. She ran it through her mane a couple times just making sure it wasn’t a big mess. Rapid tapped a hoof on the floor impatiently.
“Lets hurry up, we have to eat and make forty laps by five A.M.”
“Just grab two packs on the way out we’ll eat on the run,” Ghost put down the brush and folded the arms back into their metal cases.
“That’s my girl, good thinking,” he gave her a pat on the back with his own arms as they walked out of the room.
Ghost opened her brick of an unhealthy looking chartreuse colored MRE. They started off at a slow canter so they could eat as they went on. Ghost took a giant bite out of it quickly chewing and swallowing it. Her father looked at her in slight confusion.
“How are you able to gobble them down so fast? I haven’t even seen a Trackuul eat these as fast as you, and you know they’ll eat just about anything,” he took smaller bites, powering through the bad taste.
“You don’t think these taste good? If you didn’t make us save these I would be eating them for dinner,” she had gone through two thirds of her brick already.
“Well slow down for your old pa, he still has to power through his,” when he finished his brick he noticed that she was muttering something he couldn’t understand. “Are you speaking in Trackuul again?”
“The formal name is Dialactics, but yes, I am, would you like me to stop?” there was a tone of annoyance in her voice.
“Yeah, practice it some other time. Those things still give me the creeps”
“How so? They are the kindest creatures to us in the entire galaxy, they are incapable of hurting us and they scare you?”
“Well I’m not sure about you but all that hard exoskeleton, and the fact they are two extra meters taller than us.”
“Actually they really don’t like touching hair, it’s kinda funny really.”
“Doesn’t make it any easier, just, shut up and keep running,”
“Someones feeling touchey, you never tell me to shut up, but I’ll do as you ask.”
When they finished the last lap Rapid was completely winded. He sat down on the sidewalk, heaving big and loud breaths.
“You gonna be alright?” Ghost asked, panting a bit herself.
“Yeah, I just need some water, I’ll be fine. I’m gonna head inside,” Rapid slowly got up and hobbled inside.
“I’m going to run another few laps!” Ghost shouted at him. He didn’t respond. She continued jogging at a much more moderate pace than before.
Ghost trotted on the sidewalk looking for a friend’s house. All the buildings were the same so the only way to tell them apart was the addresses. Once the correct house was found she hopped over the fence hoping that no one would be in the backyard. Her jump was miscalculated and ended up diving right into the open pool, a mistake that she had made many times before. She silently cursed to herself before splashing into the frigid water. Ghost grabbed the edge of the pool with arms and yanked herself out. Her muscles stiffened when the cold air came into contact with her fur. She shook off what water she could but that didn’t help very much. “Now the fun part,” Ghost whispered to herself, crouching down and springing up like a cat. Her bionic arms reached up and grabbed the ledge that each floor had. She hoisted herself up and prepared for the next jump. She repeated the process, slowly clambering up to the top of the building. Once on the highest floor patio she had one more feat of agility to complete. A window a few feet away from the patio that she suspected was unlocked. She crouched and readied herself, “Come on Terric please be oblivious,” she muttered right before jumping. Her claw grabbed the ledge and she swung precariously over a good dozen meters. Her other arm reached up to slide the window open. The window opened to her tense and frozen body’s relief. Ghost clambered in being careful not to knock anything over. Her mane and tail were still dripping water. She folded the arms up and carefully walked into the bathroom, laying her hooves down on the tile as gently as possible. She grabbed a towel in her mouth and sat down to dry herself off. When Ghost sat down the cases for her arms clanked on the ground. She continued to run the towel over her mane hoping that nobody would be awoken by the noise. She heard footsteps though and went into a momentary panic. Before she could react though Terric stepped into the doorway, his two right arms holding onto the frame.
“Oh good, it’s just you,” Ghost spoke in Dialactics and went back to drying herself off. Terric stood there in his underwear, perplexed.
“How did you get into my house?”
“I unlocked your window last time I was here, fortunately you left it unlocked, otherwise I would have had a long cold run back home,” Ghost unfolded her arms and put the towel back on it’s rack.
“You climbed up here!?” Terric had a look of horror on his face.
“Yeah, I only nearly died once,” she gave him a smirk.
“Ok, second question, why are you here? Did your plumbing break or something? It looks like you used our shower.”
“No stupid I just got here, I accidentally dove into the pool when I jumped over the fence,” Ghost stood up and folded her arms back in. “Also I’m pretty damn cold could I get a blanket?”
“Right,” he started to walk away but stopped and poked his head back in the doorway. “Actually come sit on the bed with me, it’s a lot more comfortable than the tile,” Ghost obliged trotting after him. She hopped on the bed and was about to unfold her arms to grab the blanket but Terric b eat her to it.
“Thankyou,” she smiled, settling into the bed.
“Better? Good, now could you tell me why you risked your life to get up here?” Terric went over to his drawers to put on some clothes.
“Well I didn’t want to have to go through your colony and family. It is like trying to go to your grandmother’s house and expect not to eat. They will shower me with food and ask me if I need anything and… I just didn’t want to deal with that.”
“Right, you of all ponies wouldn’t want to be treated like a queen,” Terric pulled a shirt over his head and worked all four of his arms into the holes.
“A queen isn’t mobbed by her subjects and servants with gifts and food. It’s almost all Trackuul that you meet on the streets too. I tripped once and at least four Trackuul came running over to see if I was ok. I just wish ponies weren’t treated like delicate little flowers. You’re pretty good about it though.”
“You know we are taught from a young age that ponies should be treated like royalty. I disagree, I know you can handle yourself. I also think it sets a bad example for anyone who wants to join the military. Everyone there is treated equally,” Terric sat down on the bed next to Ghost.
“That is actually one of the reasons I came here to talk to you. Both of my parents really expect me to join the military. Both my brothers became scientists, well one of them was a scientist, the other became an engineer. But I know they at least wanted one of their foals to join any branch of service because, they were in the military. I’m just not sure I am cut out for the military, and I’m not sure I want to be a part of it either,” Ghost sighed and let her head rest on the bed.
“Well I hate to break it to you but from what I’ve seen you would make a fine soldier. Uncle Jeratric was in the PDAM and he acts just like you in a lot of ways. Also, don’t you have talent with a sniper rifle. From what I remember last week you are really good at putting bullets through targets, at a distance too. If fact your cutie mark is a damn sniper slug,” he pulled back the covers on her leg and pointed at the detailed tattoo of a bullet on her flanks that were mostly obstructed by her arm cases.
“You really think I should join the military?” Ghost gave him a worried look.
“I think you should, in fact you should join the PDAM, I can already see you making one hell of a sniper,” he put a hand on her shoulder.
“You still haven’t convinced me,” Ghost awkwardly glanced around the room. Terric thought for a moment, softly squeezing her shoulder.
“Ghost, do you remember the stories of the monsters your parents read to you?”
“The giant owls? Yeah I know, they are actually the Strigiforme and they are planning to destroy us.”
“You don’t want to be that hero? The one who can fight hordes of enemies and return home with triumph and celebration?”
“That’s not how it works Terric.”
“Well, I am out of ideas then,” Terric thought for another minute. “Tell you what, I have absolutely no idea what I am going to do after I finish my fourth quarter of schooling. I will join with you!”
“You aren’t serious,” Ghost looked up at him in shock. “Would we even be in the same division?”
“As long as we join the same time yeah I think so, and yes I am serious. I never wanted to go to after school,” Ghost’s eyes watered, she stood up and wrapped her arms around him.
“You are the best friend I could have ever wanted,” her voice shook. Terric wasn’t entirely sure what to do so he just held her. Ghost never showed much emotion so this was a rare occurrence for him.
“Ghost I didn’t know this was such a big deal for you, I just thought you would find your own way into the military,” Terric let her go.
“Thank you so much, Terric Harrvak Ranora I will always have your back. You really don’t know how much this means to me,” she wiped a tear away with her foreleg and smiled at him.
“I’m getting an idea. We have just signed ourselves up for one hell of a journey.”
