The train to Los Pegasus rattled it's way across the San Palomino Desert, with several dozen ponies aboard. One of the ponies was a young Royal Guard named Blue Skye, who was going to join the Equestrian military. It only seemed like yesterday that he joined the Royal Guard and over the years, has advanced through it fairly quickly. He was easily one of the best guards on the team, but he wasn't expecting to be drafted into the military. Right now, however, he was asleep, but he was having a bad dream. A nightmare to be more exact. It was something that he hasn't had for as long as he can remember...
Blue came back from the military after six long months of training with a body build that was unmatched by any stallion in Ponyville. He walked down the road to his house, often turning the heads of many mares and stallions who were walking along that same path. It felt good to be finally out of the military and back home where he belonged, but little did he know there was a nasty surprise waiting for him when he got there. Blue eventually arrived at the house and knocked on the door. A few moments later, somepony opened the door for him, and it was not Meadow. Instead, it was a stallion who was almost twice as massive as Blue is. Blue recognized that stallion from school back in Cloudsdale. He was big and muscular and had a snow-white coat and a blond mane.
"Uh, who are you exactly and what are you doing in my house?" Blue asked, slightly intimidated by the stallion towering over him.
"This is now my house." replied the stallion. "Unless you want a painful beating, I'd suggest you get lost."
"When did this become your house, big guy?" Blue asked, trying to stand up to the muscular stallion. "No, you get out of my house." Blue said.
"No, Blue. You go." said a voice. It belonged to none other than Meadow, Blue's marefriend and future wife, who was standing against the stallion. He looked at her and his jaw dropped. Why was she being so rude to him all of a sudden?
"You want-want me to go?" Blue asked, bewildered. "I mean, who the hell is this guy?" he asked her. "Why are you with him?"
"While you were away, I found myself a new special somepony." Meadow explained, glaring at him. "Meet Snowflake."
"Snowflake?" Blue begun and chuckled to himself. "What a cutesy name..." he said, laughing. Snowflake looked at him, with no emotion whatsoever. "No seriously, what the hell does he have that I don't have, huh? [i]Other than that body build...[/i]" Blue asked, his hooves shaking in fear.
"You see, Blue, I think he's better than you in many ways..." Meadow begun. "He knows how to take good care of me, he knows how to have fun, and he knows not to take his job as seriously as you do. We're getting married in a few weeks." she explained, giving Snowflake a peck on the cheek. Blue gulped, with tears rolling out his eyes.
"So, you don't love me anymore?" Blue asked, with a sad face.
"Nope." came the reply.
"I thought you did..." Blue begun, trying to hold back the wall of water stored in his eyes. He had no idea his marefriend hated him, and was heartbroken after finding out.
"Well, you thought wrong." Meadow replied and glared at him. "Out of my sight. I don't want you to ruin our happiness."
"But, Meadow..." Blue begun, but was interrupted by Snowflake.
"Enough. Get out of our sight." he said, pointing towards the train station. Blue sighed and was about to set off towards it, before some green smoke surrounded him.
"Goodbye, Blue..." Meadow said, her voice becoming more and more distorted. Blue's field of vision begun to turn green and he was pulled away from the house. He waved and looked at her with tears rolling out of his eyes. She was by Blue's side for over eight years now, so why did Meadow hate Blue and hook up with that 'Snowflake' guy all of a sudden? The green smoke enveloped him whole and dragged him away. Meadow and Snowflake became distorted and stretched as the green smoke pulled Blue away from the house, faster and faster.
"MEADOW! NO!" Blue tried to scream, but he was just too far from her to her, not that she'd want to listen to him anyway. The last thing that Blue saw was the house fading away into the green void that surrounded it before he woke up, drenched in his own sweat and tears. Blue panted heavily and looked around. He was still on the train and Thunder Storm lay on the seats in front of him, somehow not woken up by Blue's incoherent mumbling and shouting. Blue sighed and begun to compute what just happened. He then realized it was all a bad dream, but for him, it seemed a bit too real for it to be a dream. What if, when Blue does come back from the military, Meadow won't be waiting for him? What if she would be with an entirely different stallion? All those thoughts begun to surge through Blue's mind as he tried to process the situation. He then looked out of the window of the still-moving train. The moon was there overlooking the rocks and mountains of the desert. Blue looked at it, with tears rolling out his eyes. He was now alone in life, with nopony to talk to except Thunder Storm. It would be like that for the next six months. No friends, no family, no marefriend for half a year. As he stared at the moon, he hoped that Princess Luna would come into his dreams and make them better, make them more pleasant, more happier, but nothing happened that night. Eventually, he went back to sleep.
The next morning, the train arrived at Los Pegasus, and it's loud horn woke up everypony on board, including Thunder, and Blue, who almost didn't get any sleep that night. After getting their bags, the two stallions got off the train and walked towards the exit, where they were going to meet the pony who was going to take them to the military base. Immediately after stepping off the train, Blue and Thunder felt far better than they felt in Ponyville. It was over 75 degrees outside, but this was common for Los Pegasus.
"So, dude..." begun Thunder Storm as they walked into an elevator with several other ponies, which was going to take them down to ground level. "You excited?" he asked.
"No..." Blue replied awkwardly as the elevator slowly moved downwards. "In fact... I'm scared." he confessed.
"Well, me too..." replied Thunder Storm. "But remember, this is only training. This isn't an actual war or anything like that."
"Yeah, I guess so." Blue said.
"What is this talk about a war?" said an elderly unicorn mare who was in the elevator along with them and happened to overhear them talking about a war. Blue and Thunder Storm turned to face each other and chuckled awkwardly, before turning to face the mare.
"We weren't talking about a war, ma'am." Blue replied.
"Yep. We weren't talking about one. We were talking about why uh, I need [b]more[/b] apples on my apple farm back home." Thunder Storm lied. The mare and her husband both nodded in reply and Thunder Storm and Blue turned to face each other and grinned awkwardly. Eventually, the elevator stopped and it's doors slid open at the main concourse of the train station. Blue, Thunder Storm and the rest of the ponies in the elevator stepped out of it and went to meet the ponies who were going to take them. Blue and Thunder Storm looked around the concourse to see if there is anypony there to take them to the base. It was a fairly large place, much larger than Blue expected it to be. Eventually Blue located the soldier who was going to take them to the base. He had a cardboard sign between his hooves which said "BLUE SKYE/THUNDER STORM" and was sitting beside a vending machine. From what Blue could see, the soldier was a light yellow unicorn with a brown mane and a camo beret on his mane.
"Hey Thunder. That's our guy." Blue explained, pointing at the soldier.
"That's him?" asked Thunder Storm.
"Yep." Blue replied. "Let's go."
The two stallions walked across the concourse towards the soldier, visibly nervous. This was their first day in the military and they couldn't just back out of it now. Eventually they reached the unicorn, who was reading a magazine, and stood in front of him. Blue tapped the soldier's magazine to get his attention.
"Uh, hi. We're Blue Skye and Thunder Storm." Blue explained awkwardly.
"Yeah, that's us." confirmed Thunder Storm.
"Oh, that's cool." replied the soldier. He got up, putting his magazine down on the floor and shook Blue and Thunder Storm's hooves. "I'm Private Goldshield, but you can call me Gold, or Shield."
"Nice to meet you." both stallions replied and followed the private out of the concourse, dragging their suitcases behind them. When they stepped out, their jaws dropped. There were tall buildings surrounding them, much taller than they have ever seen before. Blue had been to Los Pegasus only once before, and that was back in the summer of 2005. The city hasn't changed much the last time he's been there, with one or two new buildings being built. Still, it was an absolutely unbelievable sight to see Los Pegasus before their very eyes.
"Hey fellas." said the private, who was looking at them. They were staring at the bustling city before them with the delight of a small foal. "We gotta get moving." he explained. This snapped the two future soldiers out of their trance and they went to stand beside the stallion with their suitcases resting against them. "Ready you two?" he asked.
"Sure thing." they both replied.
"Right." Pvt. Goldshield replied and teleported them beside an electric fence... in the middle of the desert. Blue and Thunder Storm looked around and saw nothing but the electric fence and two locked doors inside it, surrounded by miles of rock, sand and the occasional cactus or tumbleweed. "Welcome to Fort Sandstorm." he said, pulling out a card and swiping it in the lock. The metal doors then opened, allowing Blue, Thunder Storm and Goldshield to walk into the base. After a mile or two of walking, they arrived at the military base, where there were soldiers lined up and preparing for training. They looked around the base. To the left they could see some barracks, lying beside a large cliff, while to the right they could see a large runway, with several hangars to it's right, while up the front they could see a large building, which looked eerily similar to the mess hall in the Royal Guard outpost in Canterlot. Beyond the mess hall was a large circular track, possibly a mile long. While Blue looked around his new surroundings, Thunder Storm and Goldshield went to talk to the captain.
"BLUE SKYE?! OVER HERE, ON THE DOUBLE!" yelled the captain from afar. This seemed to snap Blue out of it. [i]Man, even the drill sergeant back in Canterlot doesn't shout as loud as that...[/i] he said to himself as he trotted to meet the captain.
"Yes sir?!" asked Blue, standing in front of him beside the other ponies. The captain was a large, middle-aged Pegasus stallion with an orange coat and a red mane, far more muscular than Blue or any of the other conscripts present, including Thunder Storm.
"I am Captain 'Breakneck' Blazebringer." he explained. "You must be from outpost #2 in Canterlot, am I correct?" he asked Blue and Thunder Storm.
"Yes sir." Thunder Storm replied.
"That's cool. I myself am a Canterlot native, only I moved to a town on the outskirts of Los Pegasus as a colt and I've been living here for ages." he explained in a raspy voice. "Anyways, has the Captain Shining Armor told you why you're going to be here?" he asked.
"No sir." Blue replied, shaking. "He has not."
"Well, that's swell. He wasn't meant to tell you." explained the captain. "You are all here because... you just are. We only choose the best guards from every outpost in Equestria for our training. I mean, look at these guys." he said, pointing to several stallions, all lined up and facing him. "They are all from different parts of our fair country, from Vanhoover to Mareami and from Manehatten to San Prancisco." he said. "And they're all here to learn how to protect and to serve Equestria, if the time comes to fight." he explained.
"So, we're not here to go to war or anything?" Blue asked, shaking slightly. The other stallions gathered (including Thunder Storm, although he was doing it jokingly.) begun laughing at him. Blue turned to look at them and glared at them.
"No. Not for now, anyways." he explained. "We only fight when we need to fight, Blue Skye. Remember that."
"Yes sir." Blue replied and turned to face the other stallions, hoping that they weren't laughing at him.
"Anyways, all of you will race around the track twelve times, before coming back here for a short break, is that alright? After that, I'll tell you all what to do." he explained.
"What about us?" asked Blue.
"Well, you two will do it as well." the captain explained. "If you can't do it, then tough." he said and shrugged his shoulders. "You're gonna learn to try again. And your bags will go into your barrack, which you'll share with several other ponies. Are you ready?" he asked.
"I guess so..." Blue replied, feeling quite unsure of himself. Although he had done laps around the track almost everyday when back in Canterlot, he was still pretty nervous about doing one here.
"What's the matter, Blue Skye?" asked a soldier from Appleloosa. Blue could tell he was from those parts of Equestria but was too lazy to point him out. "Can you not run?" he asked, and all of the other ponies gathered begun to laugh.
"Shut it you guys." Blue snapped back at them, but this did nothing to stop their laughing. Eventually the captain decided to do something about it and went to the stallion from Appleloosa and looked down on him.
"Want me to make you run twelve more, Cactus?" the captain asked the stallion from Appleloosa, towering over him intimidatingly. The stallion shook his head nervously as he looked up at the captain.
"No... sir..." the stallion replied, shaking.
"Good. I expect better treatment of a fellow soldier next time, understood?" he asked. The pony named Cactus simply nodded, trembling in fear before the captain. "Good. Fifty push-ups, GO!"
"Uh, sir yes sir!" he replied and did as he was told. Blue watched the stallion do his push-ups with a grin on his face. His pride did not last long, when the captain yelled something incomprehensible at the ponies gathered, something about running twenty laps around the track... Blue gulped just thinking about it. He could run up to twenty five a day back in Canterlot, but this was the military and things were a little bit different here than they were back home. He then looked at the other soldiers, who were all trotting towards the large track several hundred feet away. Blue gulped and trotted after them. However, Cactus had finished his push-ups quite quickly (or so Blue thought.) and was trotting beside him, with a less-than-pleased look on his face.
"Uh, hi." Blue replied and waved awkwardly at him.
"Let's see if you can run..." said Cactus as they finally arrived at the track. It was far... longer and narrower than Blue expected it to be. The other soldiers were several hundred feet away from them, shrouded by some haze and smog coming over from Los Pegasus, which could be seen from the track. Before Blue knew it, Cactus was off at speeds Blue never expected to travel at himself. Cactus was quite an athletic stallion, yet he wasn't nearly as muscular or as athletically built as the captain was. One thing was for sure, however, and that was that he was far faster than Blue was. Blue sighed, before trotting after him. Although he was a great royal guard, he wasn't nearly as fast or as strong as all the other stallions were. He struggled to run after Cactus, who was rapidly nearing the halfway point of the track, fighting the urge to fly over him. Blue groaned and continued to have Cactus in his sights, but his urge to fly over him got the better of Blue. Blue groaned and pulled off the ground, hovering silently over the track and looking at the ponies trotting around it. He eventually managed to locate Cactus and the remaining ponies, already behind the halfway point of the track, before nosediving towards the ground and flying over them. Cactus and some of the other ponies looked at Blue flying over them in shock. Flying was training that was meant for another time and Blue was doing something that was highly shameful in military training. Doing something when you're not supposed to. He regretted it himself, but he had no choice if he wanted to be the first. What Blue did not understand was that this wasn't meant to be a race. This was just a run for several laps, but Blue had his eyes set on being the first. Cactus looked at Blue and smiled to himself, before stopping and enveloping himself with magic and teleporting away from the track. Blue turned to look at Cactus, thinking that he joined the rest of the group, but his jaw then dropped when he noticed Cactus appearing out of nowhere, with the captain beside him, who had a less-than-pleased look on his face, looking directly at Blue. Blue gulped and stopped his flying, before landing right in front of the captain, an awkward smile forming on his face.
"Uh, is there anything wrong... sir?" Blue asked awkwardly.
"WELL OF COURSE THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG... YOU'RE CHEATING, THAT'S WHAT!" shouted the captain, far louder than the drill sergeant back in Canterlot. Definitely louder... "FIFTY PUSH-UPS. NOW!" he yelled at Blue's face, who rapidly done as he was told to. Cactus looked over Blue, grinning, but was also forced to bear the brunt of the captain.
"DON'T JUST STAND THERE, CACTUS!" yelled the captain at the unicorn, who trembled before him. "YOU RUN!" Cactus did as he was told to and with the blink of an eye was off around the track. Blue sighed as he watched the unicorn trot around the track, but continued to concentrate on his punishment. He expected the army to be similar to the Royal Guard, but in reality it was much tougher from the start.
"So, you done yet?" asked the impatient captain. It's been almost 10 minutes and Blue was on his 42nd push-up, meaning he still had eight left. He didn't expect himself to be that... weak, especially since he could do the same amount of push-ups at the Guard in less than 10 minutes. Blue turned to look at the captain and grinned awkwardly, before dropping down on the ground.
"Sorta..." Blue replied, tired and puffed out.
"That was forty two. Continue please." the captain replied, putting his hoof on Blue's wings and holding it there, in order to stop him from getting up. As much as Blue wanted to stop and take some rest he knew that the captain won't take so kindly to it. Several minutes later, Blue had done his fifty push-ups and was incredibly tired. He was hoping that the Captain would let him off from running, but he wasn't so sure. All the other ponies were done their twelve laps around the track, except Blue...
"Sir, do I have to run?" asked Blue, puffed out.
"Well, yeah." replied the captain. Blue turned to look at the other soldiers who were giggling among themselves at Blue, Thunder Storm being somewhere in the crowd. He sighed and trotted off around the track, turning every once in a while to look at the crowd of ponies. He didn't like being a soldier; in fact he hated it. He was only here for an hour and already he has gotten off to a bad start. After one lap (the captain let him off, on the condition that he'd improve himself), Blue went to his barrack, not knowing that somepony was following him. Blue walked up to the Barrack and pulled open the door, before being pushed into it.
"WOAH!" he yelled, seconds before he landed on the rough sandstone floor. He turned to look at who pushed him in, and to his surprise, it was Cactus, who looked over him, grinning.
"Dude, what the hell is your problem?" Blue asked, agitated.
"You are." replied Cactus, grinning. "You call yourself a Royal Guard? You can't even run properly!"
"Well, I can, but over here things are-" Blue said, before being cut off by Cactus, who threw some rocks and sand at him. Blue spat some sand out of his mouth and looked for the rock. Surprisingly, it missed him by several inches and it lay lying behind him. He picked it up and threw it back at Cactus, hitting him in the face. Blue smirked.
"You know you're not meant to be here, right?" asked Blue.
"Well, what are you doing here?" asked Cactus.
"I'm just here doing my personal business." replied Blue. "That's what."
"What exactly?" asked Cactus, facing Blue, who had his eyes set on one of his bags, where he had hidden a picture of him and Meadow at Manehatten. Cactus smirked and used his unicorn magic to unzip the bag and throwing out all of it's contents, including the picture, which landed on the floor. Blue rushed to pick it up, but Cactus used his unicorn magic to pick it up.
"Dude, that's my picture!" Blue replied, trying to snatch the picture out of the magic, which enveloped it entirely. "Leave it alone."
"Or what?" Cactus asked, hovering the picture several inches above Blue's head. "It's my picture now."
"No it's not." replied Blue, still trying his hardest to rip it out of his grasp. Cactus turned the picture and looked at Blue and Meadow in it. He was seemingly lost in a trance looking at them two, before snapping out of it and throwing the picture, along with it's picture frame onto the floor, shattering it to smithereens. Blue turned to look at the destroyed remains of the picture and it's frame and turned to face Cactus, sighing. An overwhelming sadness overtook Blue. This picture was the only way of remembering Meadow and all the times they spent together, but instead of showing his emotions to Cactus, he decided to do what he was fighting the urge to do ever since he first met Cactus... [i]beat him up.[/i]
[b]"I'm gonna beat the hay outta you!"[/b] Blue yelled, throwing himself at Cactus. The two ponies wrestled their way out of the barrack and rolled across the desert. Cactus repeatedly punched Blue, while Blue tried to gag him. Eventually the two ponies became so involved in their fighting they bumped into the captain, who was less than pleased with both of them. The two ponies got off of each other and stood up, battered and bruised.
"Well well well..." begun the captain. "I see that you two are now the best of friends..." The two ponies turned to look at each other and glared.
"No seriously, who started this?" asked the captain. They turned to look at each other and pointed their hooves at each other.
"He did it!" they both said in unison, while pointing at each other.
"It was Blue. He threw himself at me for no reason, sir." Cactus explained.
"You idiot! I had an obvious reason to do so!" replied Blue, agitated. "You're the one that's been picking on me the whole time that I've been here!"
"I had an [i]obvious reason[/i] to do so as well!" yelled Cactus. "You consider yourself a Soldier? You're nothing compared to one!"
"Just you wait till I get my hooves on you!" threatened Blue.
"Ooh, I'm so scared..." replied Cactus, chuckling.
"[b]ENOUGH, BOTH OF YOU![/b]" yelled the captain. Both ponies immediately stopped pestering each other and turned to face him. "Both of you, track, fifty laps. Go!" he said, pointing to the track. Blue sighed and groaned, before turning to face Cactus and glaring at him. He wasn't expecting his first day to be like that; he wasn't expecting a massive brawl to break out. Why did almost nopony like him there? Why was he so slow and poor-performing, compared to what he could do back in the Royal Guard? Cactus smirked at the confused stallion, before trotting off towards the track.
"See ya, Blue-boy!" shouted Cactus from a distance. Blue sighed and trotted off after him.
[u]That evening...[/u]
After a long and hard day of physical training, Blue, Thunder Storm and the rest of the ponies (including Cactus) were incredibly tired. After going to the mess hall to have dinner, the ponies went back to their barracks to get some rest. Blue was visibly angry after what happened today between him and Cactus, but he tried to hide his emotions. He was followed to the barrack by Thunder Storm and Goldshield.
"Hey, dude. I'm sure he wasn't picking on you or anything..." begun Thunder Storm. "Maybe it was just some playful competition?" he suggested.
"Playful competition..." said Blue. "Playful competition?! He smashed my picture of my marefriend! He threatened to kill me!" Blue screamed.
"Dude, calm down." intervened Goldshield. "Cactus is usually like that, but once you get to know him, he can be a great friend."
"Yeah, right..." replied Blue, pulling open the door of the barrack and revealing the destroyed picture lying on the floor. "Thunder, you think this is 'playful competition'?" Blue asked, trying to calm himself down.
"No, this is vandalism." replied Thunder Storm.
"If he's such a great friend, Goldshield..." begun Blue. "Then why does he go around picking on ponies? I mean, he destroyed the only way I can remember my marefriend and the time we shared together."
"I'm sorry..." replied Thunder, putting his hoof on Blue's shoulder.
"Well, Cactus has problems, you see?" begun Goldshield. "He's been here for the past two months and he still doesn't feel right. He misses home, he misses his family, his wife." Blue visibly calmed down and begun to feel regret and sympathy for Cactus, but he was still mad at the stallion for destroying the only way he could remember his marefriend and the times they spent together.
"So, he's just... angry?" asked Blue.
"Yep." replied Goldshield. "He destroyed your picture because he missed his own family and the emotions were visibly taking over him." Blue simply sighed, feeling sorry for the stallion. He wanted to help Cactus, despite all that he done to Blue so far, but Blue was too nervous to even go near Cactus. And staying away from Cactus was not going to be as easy as it seemed since the two stallions shared the same barrack.
"Let's just tidy this mess up." said Thunder Storm.
"Good idea." replied Blue.
"I'll help." said Goldshield, spawning a broomstick with his unicorn magic and sweeping the shattered glass into a pile, before making it disappear. Thunder Storm picked up the pieces of the picture frame and tried to put them back together, while Blue managed to salvage the picture of him and Meadow. A tear rolled out his eye as he thought about her. Right now, he was feeling the same as Cactus was feeling on a daily basis. He missed her and the rest of his family and would do anything to get back to her, but he knew that his time in the army would eventually pay off. He put the picture into the picture frame and sighed, before putting it back into the suitcase.
"Well done boys." said Goldshield, before being tapped on the shoulder by somepony behind him. "Huh?" he asked himself and turned around, before being pushed onto his mattress.
"Outta my way!" said Cactus, who walked into the barrack and turned to face Blue, with a sneer forming on his face.
"What do you want from me Cactus?" asked Blue. "You've already done enough..."
"How you even accepted into the Royal Guard... the world may never know." he replied. "I mean, look at you! You are not Guard material. You are not even CLOSE to being Guard material!"
"Oh yeah?" asked Blue. "And I know why you're so... angry." he explained. Cactus sighed and looked down, before looking back at Blue again.
"If you actually believe what Goldshield told you..." he said, turning to look at Goldshield, before turning back to look at Blue. "Then you are pretty stupid. I have no family."
"Ugh..." Blue replied, unconvinced by what the stallion said.
"Can we just go to sleep, like everypony else?" asked Goldshield, who was in his sleeping bag.
"Yeah. I'm tired and we have a long day tomorrow." said Thunder Storm, also in his sleeping bag.
"Sure thing." Blue replied and went to his own sleeping bag, while Cactus sighed and went to his sleeping bag as well. This was going to be a long day tomorrow... a very long one indeed.