In The End? I Love You.

From the Notes of Nova Blight

Nova Blight: Good Evening, Mister River. It's wonderful to finally meet you after this time.

Stone River: Good Evenin' to you too, Miss Blight. Can't say I'm happy to meet over these circumstances.

NB: I would have to agree on that note, but here we are. I was hoping you might be able to give me some background into your childhood, leading up to your joining the Canterlot Royal Guard.

SR: Ah- I suppose that might clear up a little bit.

NB: You were a very hard pony to find, Mister River.

SR: Please, Stone will do.

NB: Stone then, Tell me about yourself. Where did you grow up?

SR: Dodge Junction. Small ranch outside of town but just enough to be part of the town. Had the usual family, Ma, Pa, two brothers, one younger and the other older. Ma was a bat pony and Pa was an Earth Pony, got two of a kind and me.

NB: What was your family like?

SR: Pa was... Wasn't the nicest fella to hang around. Rough on all of us, even Ma. Never thought he wanted foals, but got three of us anyway. I was the odd colt out so Pa had a habit of picking on me.

NB: Right. And your Mother?

SR: Ma was a saint. She made sure the three of us were well fed and groomed and made sure we didn't run our mouths around Pa. She was the kind of mare that would always put her foals first and always did, she loved us.

NB: I see. Now. What caused you to join the Royal Guard?

SR: Ha- That's a little easier than the other questions, don't you think?

NB: Hardly, Mister- Stone. But it is essential to the narrative.

SR: Yes. Of course. I joined the guard to escape my Pa.

NB: Can you elaborate?

SR: As my brothers and I got older, Pa started getting meaner. My older brother was the first to leave, moved to Manehatten, and got married to a stallion, Pa disowned him. My younger brother ran off when he was 14, couldn't stand being at the Ranch anymore so set off on his own. Got married young and had a daughter with his mare. I couldn't be at the ranch by myself. Ma died a year before and Pa wasn't worth staying with, so I figured myself a hero and joined the guard.

NB: And how old were you when you joined the guard?

SR: Sixteen, lied about my age to get in and back in those years with the Cold War starting? Well... The guards needed as many ponies as they could get should Equestria go into war.

NB: Of course. Now. What was being on the guard like for you?

SR: Bout the same as any pony. We trained, worked, and patrolled near about every day. We were trained to be strong yet elusive.

NB: They sent you on patrols? Can you elaborate on what sort of patrols you and your squadron were sent on?

SR: Squadrons would be sent around the Equestrian borders in a systematic procession.

NB: When were you sent to the borders of the Dragonlands?

SR: Three years ago now, I was 20 at the time.

NB: Tell me about the hours before the alleged attack.

SR: It wasn't Alleged. It happened.

NB: My apologies, for the intention of this article, we have to use the term allegedly rather than assumption.

SR: Fine- Our Squad Captian's name was Golden Flash. Big stallion, knew what he was doing with himself. We set up camp for the night at the borders of the Dragonlands, still on the Equestrian side, before the sun went down. We were having a good time, it was routine and we joked. Most of us were younger, not much older than twenty, and not much younger than twenty-five. A few of my buddies, Foliar Fortune and Taper Track, joked about the dragons finding us.