Three days have passed. In those three days, Eclipse had explained all he could. Hours of nothing but notes and talking had all but bored him directly into an alternate reality. However, several of Equestria’s brightest unicorn scholars had been asked to join in by the princesses, on the condition that only the knowledge gained from this meeting--but not any further details--would leave the room.

The small group drank in every detail that poured out of Eclipse’s mouth. Despite his best attempts to explain that he only knew what barely amounted to a fraction of what humans had discovered, they only seemed to question him with more zeal than before.

Mathematics, science, others. With how the scholars reacted to it, Eclipse was speeding along equestrian science by several decades. That, or they were far too interested in comparing their own advances to another race's. Eclipse thought that he would keep the possibility of an invasion in mind.

One of the stallions in the group mouthed his discontent when Eclipse refused to broach the subject of weaponry at all, immediately stopping any of the group's attempts to pry the secrets from him. In the end, they eventually surrendered, but not before attempting to petition Celestia to force him to tell all that he knew. However, soon the time was up and his real training would begin.

After one more round of questioning, and Eclipse making rather crude insinuations regarding several of the ponies heritages, Luna got to nod politely as the scholars left before bursting into a fit of laughter as soon as they were out of earshot. Eclipse allowed himself a grin, but Celestia soon took command of the now nearly empty room, clearing her throat to speak. “It’s time.” Eclipse’s ear twitched as she continued. “I’ll be the one who trains your mind. Everything from basic survival to biology to history and culture. If you want to serve as the operative I need you to be, you will need to know this and much more.” Eclipse cast his gaze downward, nodding once. Celestia closed her eyes. “When I am not tutoring you, Luna will take command of your more physical training. Her lessons will begin…now.”

Eclipse caught a silver object moving in his peripheral vision. He turned his head, then a medium-sized steel ball crashed into his forehead.

Luna chuckled. “We have not had need of a Special Tactics and Reconnaissance unit since the last one retired almost seven hundred and fifty years ago, so Celestia tells me.” Eclipse groaned, head throbbing from the impact. He shakily stood up, vision blurring into and out of focus.

“They were great warriors, sheltering Equestria back during it’s more violent times of life.” The steel ball circled through the air again, the faint glow of Luna’s magic enveloping it. It swooped for Eclipse, but he managed to duck under it, just to be sent to the ground by second ball. Adding insult and further injury to injury, a third ball pelted Eclipse in the stomach before he could even begin to recover.

“If you are to wear that title, you will need to be faster.” Eclipse tried to rise, but two of his legs were knocked out from underneath him, sending him into the ground again.

“Stronger.” The trio of balls pushed down against him, forcing him into the ground.

“Better!” The balls whisked away, disappearing from view. Luna nodded. “For a first test, that was fairly adequate.” Eclipse groaned, before coughing up a small amount of blood. Luna’s eyebrows rose. “Don’t worry, we’ll start off with something easier tomorrow. This was mainly to test how you would initially handle training. At the very least, you tried. There is very little chance for an average pony to keep track of and evade all of those projectiles at once. Of course, we’re not going to turn you into the average pony.”

Now, he had seen a great many things as captain of the guard, but for Shining Armor, this was most definitely a first.

The earth pony’s dull colors were enough of an oddity, but he was also limping into the hallway. Shining Armor heard the pony’s grumblings even at this distance.

“’Pay attention’ she said. ‘Keep distractions out of your mind’ she said. Yeah right! With Celestia almost blinding me with those mother-bucking flashes of light, there’s no way I could--” He stopped for a moment, overcome by a coughing fit. When he finally recovered, he seemed to sway in a nonexistent breeze. “…I should never have accepted. What was I thinking?” He finally seemed to notice Shining Armor, standing at the opposite end of the hall. The pony grimaced, but whether it was from pain or annoyance, Shining couldn’t tell.

“What?”

The question was short, sharp and to the point. Shining frowned in return. “Who are you and what are you doing in the castle?”

The pony was about to respond when a third voice called out from around the corner.

“Eclipse, where are you?” The pair turned to find one of the castle maids wander into the hall. “Oh, there you are. I've retrieved the books you asked for. One copy of ‘A Brief History of Equestria’, two tomes on the study of unicorn magic, one on the study of the enhanced strength and stamina of earth ponies over the other species and the next Daring Do novel, as requested.”

Eclipse nodded his thanks. “Appreciated, Feather Duster. You've been very helpful.”

“Don’t worry about it, but…what’s wrong with your leg?”

Eclipse smiled, but Shining and Feather Duster both knew immediately that it was forced. “Why would anything be wrong?” Shining took note of the leg’s tendency to stay just barely elevated above the ground, as well as its slightly swollen appearance. He glanced at the maid, but Feather Duster was shaking her head.

“If they keep this up, you won’t live through the month! Your ‘training’ as those two put it only just started, and they've already reduced you to a walking wreck! Come with me, you’re going to get cleaned up. You've only ever been in your room or with the princesses.”

Shining Armor’s eyebrows rose to the top of his head. “Well, that would explain why I've never seen you before.”

Feather Duster seemed to notice the Captain for the first time. “Oh, yes. He’s even more of a recluse than Twilight was when she was living here.”

Shining laughed. “I’m sure that’s a bit exaggerated, don’t you think?”

Feather Duster deadpanned. “He’s been here for two weeks and he only knows the princesses and myself. Anypony else and he just shies away or ignores them completely, not that he runs into anypony else very often.”

Shining shrugged. “So? Twilight only knew the names of a few of the guards herself when--” He was cut off when Feather Duster put a hoof to his mouth.

“Not a few of your guards, Captain. The princesses and myself. A whopping total of three.”

Eclipse began to walk away from the other two, limping towards his room. “Yes well, you two have a nice chat while I return to my studies, thank you very much.”

Feather Duster spread her wings and flew over to Eclipse, clamping her fore hooves around his sides and lifting him several feet into the air. Eclipse responded with a sharp intake of air, completely in sync with a wave of pain that hit him.

Feather Duster merely smiled. “My point exactly. Now, come on, we’re going to get you some fresh air.”

Shining intercepted the pair. “Hey, I’m on my break. Can I tag along?”

“See? I told you that you’d enjoy it.”

Eclipse pointed his spoon at the pair sitting across from him, a small scoop of ice cream on it. “This does nothing to lessen my resentment of you two.”

Feather Duster quickly leaned forward, snapping the ice cream off of the spoon.

“Hey!” Eclipse cried indignantly. “That was mine!”

“Well you shouldn't have pointed it at me.” Feather Duster replied. “I love chocolate.” she added as an afterthought, though it wasn't directed at anyone in particular.

Shining rolled his eyes. Turning to Feather Duster, he asked, “How long have you been a maid?”

“About a year, now.” She replied. “I started almost immediately after I moved out of my parents place. Still not quite sure how I ended up as a maid at the palace of all places, but whatever.”

The trio was sitting at a table outside of one of Canterlot’s restaurants. Eclipse attracted several surprised stares from other ponies, specifically for his lack of a cutie mark. Shining Armor was listening in on several nearby conversations. While most of them were gossip or just banter between two or more friends and acquaintances, some of them were conjecture about a fully grown ‘blank flank’. Shining armor sighed.

Eclipse glanced at him. “What’s eating you?”

Shining gritted his teeth. “Okay, look. You’re some new student of Celestia and Luna, that I get. But, how? How do you not have a cutie mark? Have you really not found a special talent for yourself?”

Eclipse smiled. Then grinned. Soon he had broken out into a fit of laughter. "You know what? That's the exact same question I've been asked by everyone I've run into. I think that might be why i never stopped to get to know anyone. It was more 'Your ass is rather undecorated' instead of people asking for my name." He chuckled some more, taking a bite of ice cream.

"That, or you're just more timid of ponies you don't know than a wounded animal would be." Feather Duster said, chuckling herself.

"I do have some wounds too..." Eclipse mused. "And I'm fairly sure I fit all the definitions of animal, too."

Shining Armor grinned. "You don't seem that nervous right now. You're telling jokes and everything!"

"Wait until the waiter comes back. He'll freeze solid from the ice that'll go up his spine." Feather Duster replied.

Eclipse paused, spoon in his mouth. After a few moments, he grunted, but made no comment.

Shining Armor coughed into his hoof. "Well, anyway, will you start looking for your talent soon? I'm sure the princesses give you some sort of time off."

"They do. I lay in bed and read."

Feather Duster shifted her seat until she was close enough to put her wing around Eclipse. "You really need to get out more often."

"I know." Eclipse sighed. "I've always been told that." He glanced up, realizing that he had never actually answered Shining's question. He took another bite of ice cream. “I don’t want a cutie mark.”

Shining Armor’s eyes widened in surprise, while Feather Duster choked on her drink. A nearby waiter had dropped one of the plates he was supposed to have been cleaning up, obviously having been distracted by the conversation.

Eclipse took this all in stride. “Look, a cutie mark shows your life’s calling, yes. But there’s one tiny drawback to that: You can’t change it. You are stuck like that. Whether you enjoy it or not isn’t the problem. For me, I like to choose. I like to be free of those restrictions.” He rubbe dhis chin. "That's kind of why I like books and games. You can be anything, you know?"

Shining slowly wrapped his mind around the yarn Eclipse was spinning. “So you’re saying that you, as a blank flank, can…”

“Choose.” Eclipse finished for him. “I can choose what I want. I can be whatever I set my mind too. Want to be a scholar? Alright, grab a book and find an empty desk, cause it’s study time!” He hoof-pumped, almost making studying seem exciting for a second. Shining had an image of him and Twilight standing next to each other flash through his mind. “Feel like you want to try your luck at smithing? Take a hammer and start pounding!” Eclipse slammed his hooves together, a loud clop echoing through out the now silent area, as all the ponies nearby had suddenly--and unanimously--decided to listen in. “Exploring, architecture, fighting: It’s all there! Anything I want! With practice and patience, yes, but those are minor drawbacks for being able to write my own destiny.”

Shining glanced at his own cutie mark. He enjoyed his life as a guard and he could never see himself as wanting to be anything else.

“Now, don’t twist it.” Eclipse continued, waving a hoof. “If you enjoy what you do, by all means keep doing it. It’s your lives, after all. But if you don’t love it, or just want to experiment, go for it! Heck, even with a cutie mark for being a waiter, I’m sure you could learn to be a fantastic farmer if you’re willing to work for it. Or even a shopkeeper. Dressmaker! Really, anything.”

Shining craned his head to get a better view of the surrounding ponies, most of whom had fallen into their own thoughts. Most of them pondered the thought for a moment then quickly dismissed it as they enjoyed their current lives so much, but there were exceptions.

Feather Duster and Eclipse had also noticed. A pair of mares nearby almost immediately broke out into excited chatter. Turns out, one was a seamstress who had always wanted to take care of animals. The other, a jewelry maker who had wanted to know what it was like inside one of the mines her gems originally came from, from the possible dangers of a tunnel collapse to the feeling of success when she found a hoard of fresh gems.

Shining Armor frowned. Almost everyone he met loved their lives too much to change what was seen across Equestria as a vital part of who you were. However, now that he thought about it, there were some, though they were few and far between, who would gladly rewrite their lives if they had the chance.

Thinking back, Shining realized that before he had a cutie mark, back when he was a colt, he tried anything and everything to get one. Nothing was off limits. Eclipse had taken out the goal of finding a talent and was just focusing on doing what you wanted, regardless of talent.

"I have to admit, you make one heck of a case for yourself." Shining said, nodding once. "Tell you what. I'll introduce you to Cadance sometime."

Eclipse raised his hooves. "Slow down, there, Captain. I'm not used to standing next to Luna or Celestia, yet. One more Princess is too much on an already overloaded psyche."

"Are they driving you insane or something?" Shining asked, slightly taunting the other stallion.

Eclipse's ears fell flat against his head. "I can't believe I'm about to say this... To Shining Armor of all the possible..." He fell silent, counting five seconds before opening his mouth again. "Yes."

Feather Duster turned her head to look at him. "What?"

Eclipse sighed. "A few weeks ago, I was normal. Now I'm here, in a body I don't even recognize and who do I get to meet. The the friggin' gods who make night and day work in this world. Oh, yeah, they also decided to put me through some crazy customized training regime. ...I want to go back to my bed and finish my book."

Shining took a moment to formulate a response. "It'll be alright. Look, I won't pretend to understand what you just said about not recognizing your own body, but I can promise you; Luna and Celestia can help you through this. Just talk to them.:

Despite this, or perhaps because of it, Eclipse seemed all the more anxious to leave.

“Yes, well…Can we go back now? Please?” He asked, gesturing to the castle.

Feather Duster sighed. “Fine. It’s probably the end of the Captain’s break anyway.”