I have, to an extent, Dissociative identity Disorder(DiD). I am the first one, the one that was before the other one. I should explain, my body has two minds, two personalities. I was the first one, before you ask, no I won't remember why I share this body with him, for I fear doing so would let him out. I had done my best to contain him, and to keep him a secret, but one night, he broke out. He kicked me out, to what I found out later, well, how do I say this? Ok, um you know how venn diagrams have a overlap in the middle, and when there is more than two there are more overlaps? kind of like that, not in the middle one, but one that overlapped several realities.

I met another mind/personality there, who asked me why I was there. I had lost, it wasn't critical, it had already blown! I had nothing left to lose, so I told her. She later helped me lock the other personality up, and we would just talk from time to time. I learned that her name was luna, and she lived in a world of talking ponies. We broke the wall between the realities, no 'broke' isn't the right word, more like, 'poked with a very sharp needle' and I came to her world.

That was yesterday, and now I am in a pony body, one that I can barely walk in.

"You are getting better at walking."

"I but if I am this bad at walking, I dread my first fight." I should explain.(sarcastic) well bless my little heart,(no longer sarcastic) I am so scatter brained, I forget to say details, like I have wings. I also forgot to discribe myself! The odd thing is, because of that fact, it is really hard for anybody, sorry, anypony, to read/control my mind, which kind of makes sense, if I have trouble focusing my mind, then a pony completely new to my mind should have even MORE trouble doing simple things.

"I know a mare who would be happy to help."

"Wouldn't that raise questions, things you said you didn't want?"

"If she were most ponies, than yes, but she is very kind, and won't go into a sensitive subject like that."

"You think of everything, don't you?"

"Thank you for the compliment. But no, I don't think of everything, for one, your job, rich ponies are in the spotlight, so you would be noticed, and questions raised about who you are, or who your parents are. Another, where you will live, for same reason. Not to mention the ones that I haven't realised yet."

"So, my backstory?"

"Why are you asking me? you know yourself better than I do."

"Yes, but you know this world, and what would be believable, I don't."

"Well, if you are ok with it. You were orphaned at a young age, never learned to fly, and never adopted, and just now went out on your own."

"And if(probly when) people look into this story? one word from another orphan and it falls apart."

"Fine, you were adopted by a secured unicorn pony, who never taught you how to fly."

"Do you know somepony who would say that?"

"I know ponies who would say they murdered their mothers if I asked them to, so yes."

"Ok, on a more PG note, job?"

"Well, I could arrange for you to be put in the lunar guard training easily, so there. And why do you think ponies might look into your history?"

"I forgot that we are mentally speaking, well, I am just that kind of guy, sorry, pony"

"It would be stallion, and your name will have to change."

"Ok, well same as my backstory, you run by names, I say yes, no, or maybe."

"Starry midnight?"

"Maybe"

"Midnight barding?"

"No"

"Shielded star?"

"No"

"Starlight Shimmer?"

"Yes!"

"Then you have a name."

"Now all I have to do is learn to use this body very well."

"Don't forget flying."

"I'm not."

"So my short term goal is to get used to this body, but after that?"

"After that I am going to get you into the lunar guard training."

"So who was the mare you said would help me learn to fly?"

"Her name is Fluttershy."

"Well, I going to start practice walking."

Time lap of starlight shimmer falling down, getting up, taking a few steps, falling down again, repeat.

"Well, you can walk, but can you run?"

"You know me too well, I can't refuse that challenge."

Time skip, about a week, or if you prefer time lap of starlight waking up at sunset, eating 'breakfast', then running, falling all the time, eating 'lunch' then back to running, still falling, eating 'dinner' then going to bed at sunrise.

" I think you beat derpy's record" commented Luna.

"And what record would that be" I ask, panting heavily having just fallen.

"Her record of falling, flying into things, and tripping."

"Haha, anything else?"

"Other than the fact that I believe that you are ready to learn how to fly."

"Well, I better hurry up and learn to fly."

"Well I will introduce you tomorrow morning, that means be awake at sunrise, and stay awake for the day."

"Then I better get to sleep now, so goodnight."

"See you at dawn"

-first day of training-

"WAKE UP!"

Uhm, why?

"Training starts in a half hour!"

Oh.

"...and you rookies don't want to be late!"

Why did I let luna talk me into this again? It doesn't matter now, I better get up and eat.

"ALRIGHT DIMWITS, TIME FOR YOUR TWO MILE RUN!" Oh Buck, this is gonna be painful, just remember, stay in rhythm and you'll be fine, left, left, left right left, just like marching for JROTC… You you even had two mile runs as apart of you Physical Training, with a bit o luck, you won't have to do it under ten minutes...

-last day of being a 'rookie'-

The lunar training was, well, exhausting, the first day was the only 'nice' day, and you see how that started, waking up by shouting in the ear, you know, if I was in charge I would change a lot. But I am not, and here is how our days generally went.

wake up call

eat

dawn run

specialty drills(unicorn=magic, pegasus=flying, earth=workout)

Equestria's diplomatic relations

eat

noon run

combat drills

combat 'games'

test on Equestria's diplomatic relations

eat

dusk run

exercise

sleep

(possible, but not always)disaster drill(s)

Repeat for next day.

This daily plan beat the living buck out of my lazy teen mentality, and told me to be active, needless to say, I listened. and now I take a test, a test that proves me ready, or unready for active duty. Some say that to pass this test, we have to stand outside a door for days without closing our eyes, others say we have to fight each other to the death, last stallion standing passes, and few say that we have to take an exam on Edr(Equestria's diplomatic relation), honestly, I think that those are just rumors, though I am going on a bit of study and training freeze, but not as much as some of those study/training weirdos(Nightlance and Duskglow). Now I am waiting in line for my turn to take the test, well, worst comes to worst, I fail, and I retake the test next year.

"STARLIGHT SHIMMER, YOU'RE UP!"

Here goes what little courage I had. His office is big, what type of rug is that? nice bookshelves, messy desk, but that comes with paperwork and I expected that. Who is that in the painting?his daughter? no his granddaughter.

"So, before we go into physical testing, I am going to ask you a few questions, and you will answer to the best of your ability and honestly." said my boss, Bardedsky.

"Then ask, as I don't want to hold up the line." I respond.

"First off, why did you join the lunar guard training, the adrenalin? The chance to be near royalty?"

"No, and no, and for both if I wanted those, I would have entered the royal guard. I joined was because four reasons. First, the pay is said to be good. Second, I am a night pony, so I wouldn't have to make a new sleep schedule. Third, I have nothing else to do, not a bit to my name. Finally, and probably the most important reason, this guard is understaffed, nowhere near the amount need to constantly provide protection to a single princess, but now there is four, and the royal guard is requesting help to provide security at annual events, in short, the lunar guard needs more good, guard ponies."

*(\ /)* Why is he clapping?

"Well, you almost passed, but we don't let ponies who snoop in the archives into the guard."

"Archives?" Woah, those actually exist? yesh, if only I knew where they where.

"That is the only way that you could've found out about the royal guard's request."

"Oh, I didn't go into there, the way I found out was logic, they were a tad understaffed after Princess Luna returned, but now that there is another princess, they are very understaffed."

"They could have done mass hiring spree."

"Like they could keep that out of the papers?"

"Now, you've have passed, and one day you might be in this chair."

"No I won't, if I was the head of the lunar guard, I would buy a different chair to sit in, not sit in the one that has been here for years." Besides I don't want to be the head of Luna's security, it would be a bit of a conflict of interest.

"This is a new chair."

"So? I won't be the head for a long time."

"Don't be so sure of that."

"I doubt that you want to, but would you please elaborate?"
"You are right I don't want to, and off we go to the physical tests."

"First up, there's a group of Very Important Ponies(VIP) lost in the mines, your job is to find and guide them back to the tour." said Bardedsky

"Yes sir."

Some time latter

"According to the VIP(s), you passed with flying colors, and you were even polite to them."

"I thought that being rude might hurt any future relations."

"They were not diplomats."

"So? some of the most important ponies are businesmares, and it would be bad if all trading with Equestria just stopped."

"Thinking ahead, another reason you might be giving these test, and sitting in my chair."

"Just give me the next test."

" Fine, there is a mare that is, er, buried, under books in the royal library."

Please don't be Twilight Sparkle.

"Her name?"

"Princess Twilight Sparkle.

Oh b***!

"And I am to...?"

"Calm her down, and remove her from the library."

"Yes sir."

I can only hope she is more refined than Luna's stories portray her. Though it should, no hopefully(never say should, as you prepare for the worst, and hope for the best!) be easy, as I was pretty much the prime specimen bookworm/geek, and I know how to calm down hyper reading.

(cut out travel to the royal library)

Have you ever been in a blizzard? Snow fling around you? Ice particles stinging your exposed skin? Only seeing a few feet in front of you though the snow? That is close to how it felt in there, but the 'snow' was a pink, magical glow, and the 'ice particles' were bits of broken quills.

"Hello?" I ask, quietly.

No response.

Well, I guess I have to find the eye of the storm. At least she isn't actively fighting my approach. Even if those quill bits sting a little.

"Hello?" I ask again, being much closer, and a little louder, making it more likely for her to hear me.

"Whos there?" somepony responds.

"Trainee Starlight Shimmer of the lunar guard."

"why are you here?"

"Officially? I was sent here to remove you from the library."

"But?"

The 'blizzard' calms down some.

"I am also here to assist you in moving the books to a more convenient location."
"Ok, grab as many books as you can hold, and follow me." Thats the trick, you don't calm it down, you move it to a more convenient location, for me it was either the basement o a tree outside.

"Yes mam."

Roughly 30-45 minutes latter.

"Rookie, I was informed that about a third of the books in the royal library have disappeared, you wouldn't know anything would you, as I sent you there to retrieve princess Twilight Sparkle."

"Yes I do about that, sir."

"And what of it do you know?"

"That you should ask Princess Twilight Sparkle for any more information."

"Another reason, you know how much information to give to anypony."

"Sir, why are you still trying to convince me that I will be the next commander?"

"The only reason is if I don't, then you wouldn't ready your self to the possibility, and be completely unprepared to the job, and you may fail, and in this seat, if you fail, good ponies pay for it, with money or life."

"Did I pass?"

"Yes, but I want you to return every day after your dusk run, so I can teach you the little tricks to paperwork, and how to arrange guards, etc…"

"Yes sir."

"you're dismissed, go to the cafeteria and eat."

"Yes sir."

In the cafeteria.

"Hey star!" Nightlance hollered.

why did they have to come up with such an annoying short for my name?

"Come sit with us and tell us of how your test went." said Duskglow, waving from a table across the room.

Test? Test? there was three of them, not one, and duskglow is the type of pony that will stop herself from slipping up like that.

"I'll tell you in a moment!" I respond.

"Ok!" both yell back.

Great, how much will I tell or should I lie and say I failed? I hate having friends, it is so much harder to hide things! And I don't want to hurt their feelings by rejecting their friendship, but I don't totally trust them, I will never trust any person or pony ever again, expect luna, she is the exception not the rule.

"Ok, I will tell you how it went, I failed end of story."

"WHAT!" both scream.

"Nopony has failed in years, and I doubted that you would break the record! You! The pony who went at training and class single mindedly!" screeched duskglow. Well, I didn't have much else to do.

"Calm down, remember the stuff I told you about, the probity and time?"

"That if something doesn't happen, then it is more likely to happen in the future, for example, stock markets, one thing stays high, but it will go down eventually, and the longer it is up, the more likely it will crash sooner. But what does that have to do with you and failing or passing?" answered Nightlance.

"Don't you get it? the longer any streak goes, the more likely it is to end now, that goes for everything, including scores!"

"What score? All we have to do is answer a few questions and retrieve some vips in the caverns below." asked Duskglow.

"Well I am assuming that there is some kind of rubric, something to compare our performance and answers to." I explained.

"Oh." Duskglow responded.

"What about getting into the guard? you strived to that goal, never swaying, always putting off socal events until you had done your training and studied!"

Hehe, the bits I made from those drunken ponies, hehe, they still don't know how I knew what they were 'whispering' about, and I still charge them to keep my mouth closed. When the one stallion threatened me, hehe, I took him into the infirmary, for 'falling down' and 'rolling over many simi-sharp rocks' It is a good thing I learned to mask my feelings, or at least from people, (NO, PONIES!) reading my body language.

"Well, the commander has told me that I should report to him after I eat, and in case you didn't notice I have eaten my meal, so see you tomorrow."

Here I go, how am going to explain to him that I said that I failed, I shouldn't of said that to them. Well I better knock.

"Come in."

How did he know that I was right here, well I shouldn't disobey a direct order like that.

"Yes sir."

"Now I hear that you have claimed to have failed."

That wasn't a question, how did he find out? well, no use lying.

"yes, I did."

"Good, then our meetings will not attract suspicion and rumors."

"You implied that there was something in particular you wanted to teach me tonight?"

"Yes, the first thing is how to deal with the massive amounts of paperwork."

This is going to be a long night, I just know it.

Throughout the course of the year, I learned:

The command voice [fairly loud, but by far not as much as the TRCV(traditional royal canterlot voice)].(Well, relearned, its was surprisingly hard to do in this body.)

Many, many paperwork tricks.

Scheduling.

How to deal with other the guard groups(royal, cestral, and crystal).

Various battle tactics.

The known terrorist and anti-Luna groups.

More about the elements of harmony.

Princess Twilight's unique mental state.

The location of the entrance to Tartarus.

The known changelings, and whom they are replacing.

And Bardedsky's retirement plans.

-Retirement(Bardedsky's)-

It was posted on the mess room's wall, and it arouse a lot of the ponies' interest, at first they thought it was a joke, others thought it real, and some asked my advice, and I told one pony, loud enough for several others to hear, "and you want ME to tell you? The pony holding the secrets of many of you? You want me to give away information for free?" That stopped most of the ponies, but a few kept at it, until I bluntly told them that I would not give advice on the subject. The look on the faces of Nighlance and Duskglow, they thought that all of the late nights where some kind extra study, wither in fighting, or in political matters, not how to run a guard. he was standing on the podium, and he asked for me to walk up, and he named me his successor, and that all the required paperwork was being drawn up, so all I had to do was sign. After the applause, he told me to move into my new quarters, and that he would take me to my first meeting with my single superior.

"Princess luna, this is the pony I have chosen" Bardedsky told Luna. Oh no, please let me keep my bearing, I have to keep a straight face.

"What is your name guard pony?" Luna asked.

"Starlight Shimmer." I answered. Good, we're on the same page.

"I trust that you have already instructed him." luna stated.

"I did."

"then leave us"

"Yes mam"

After the door closed, she turned to me and said "I didn't expect this when I enlisted you Starlight."

"then what did you expect? And I kinda agree with that. Please note that I did not want to be promoted to this stage, at least not for a few years. Unfortunately three years of JROTC put my mind down the right track. Too far."

"A pony in the corner that nopony knows that is silently manipulating things."

"Who said that I am not that?"

"I did"

"I regret to inform you that you are only partially correct, after all, this poston gives me access to more resources, and at less hassle."

"making the best of the situation?"

"yep"

"any changes you're going to make soon?"

"for starters, instead of waking up the newbies by yelling in their ears, dump them into an unpleasant situation.'

"really?"

"nothing too bad mind you, middle of the maze in the royal gardens, or maybe on top of the mountain itself."

"why?"

"so that they learn that no matter when or where you are, there are dangers, and that they sleep lightly and awake in a moments notice."

"why do you want them to learn that?"

"so that if necessary, they can be ready in moments, and be consus, not just awake, and aware of any dangers"

"and of those who are already guards?"

"I'll have to think of something, maybe just have them be on loan-out"

"most of that is for holidays, which don't happen daily."

"true, but malls in manehatten have an unusually high crime rate, so I can stick a few there, and the only time they close are for holidays,

"you've barely changed"

"no, I became much more coordinated, and gained a lot of muscle mass. oo, that brings me to another change, the combat training, instead of learning pairy stick, avoid, in drills, we'll learn hoof to hoof, and a lot more in mock battles."

"fine, have you been keeping up those mental barriers?"

"he has barely troubled me all year."

"good, well, I have complaints to read, and you've got to rework the training system."

"Of course, see you latter luna."

Things were running smoothly, or at least as smooth as you would expect, a lot of complaints about the new training system, in particular unicorn nobles. They act as if the world wouldn't exist without them, and that we should all worship them! Other than a depressing test result for my guards(guard the place while I'm away for ceremonial duties, with a lot of very determined ponies attempting to get into restricted areas) nothing happened until Discord's birthday. Some idiotic pony pointed out that Discord hasn't had a proper birthday party in millennia, and even worse, suggested that she make it as chaotic as possible to make him feel more comfortable, to Pinkie Pie, a pony who plays with the laws of physics, magic, logic, and reality while making breakfast! And of course since both Luna and Celestia were invited, along with every pony that Discord knows personally, To mark the beginning of the party, it became both day and night, with a stripe of dusk/dawn in between. The cake changed shape, flavour, and color at random times. instead of chips there were pages of long forgotten books. Ironically, other than quit a few pranks, discord kept his promise for Mostly using his magic for good. After a while I managed to talk to him about the elements of harmony(both the embodiments, and the actual jewelry). The jewelry was apparently at least as old as him.(author's note; episodes s5, e1and2 never happened in this world) And he had a mule research them, since he couldn't be in close proximity(then). The mule discovered that every element can be used as a magical 'battery' but they wouldn't work if it would kill the target or anything else, however imprisonment and banishment spells work fine. Each element on it own has specific powers, loyalty gives a slight bounce to resisting temptations (will save +), magic gives its bearer a large amount of passive magical energy and 'evens out' any spellcasting the bearer does, honesty makes it harder to lie around its bearer, laughter makes ponies around its bearer more easily cheered, unfortunately he could not complete his research on the elements due to Luna and Celestia rescuing them. I had an idea, I knew that their were only faint memories of anything Nightmare Moon did left in luna's head, the elements will 'eat' any spell that kills from the inside. So what happened to that entity? She wasn't imprisoned with luna mind, but where would the elements bansh her? Just something to think about, I doubt that I'll find something if I looked, right?

if you were wondering why Starlight didn't just have Luna blast his other personality, this should answer it.

I don't know what to look for, a demonic filly? A stealthy alicorn? A ghost? I know that Nightmare Moon was not a different personality. Luna would have much more mental 'damage' from the backlash, destroying a part of yourself, or someone(SomePONY! Not one!) destroying part of you, it leaves massive mental scarring, and often puts the unlucky victim into a coma. Where Luna is definitely not in a coma, nor does she have that much mental scarring, so it was a separate entity, in short(or laymares' terms), she was mind controlled. Though that control was extremely subtle, a thought here, angry/sad emotion there, misunderstanding a offhoof statement, and it snowballed until she almost had a split persona. I'm going off task, I need to focus on the possible threat, Ok, I Know that Discord has been told about Nightmare Moon, so he didn't see any need to tell us about the threat, he told princess Celestia about the possible threat, he is working under the pretense most of the time for his restrictions and helping her(but what good is he doing, or planning on doing to make up for it?), or his is just ignorant about it(extremely unlikely that the only (known) nearly omnipotent being wouldn't notice something this big). Now, If I were the elements, what would I do to the entity that was corrupting one of my users, the first time I couldn't separate them, so I banished them, to the moon(kinda ironic). But when they return I can separate them, but where do I put the entity? Poetic justice, it wanted eternal night, I would have her work, something that only happens during the day(farming?). No, it made Luna go into a filly's tantrum (admittedly a filly with a small army under her control, and no small sense of strategy and tactics), so I would have her grow up, so that she learns that actions have consequences(and hopefully make some friends). Dang, that means that somewhere there is a filly, who, not only has several cults worshiping her(legacy of her army), but probably has all of luna's memories, which means she understands tactics and strategy! Oh and she is manipulative and subtle! And I don't know where she is! I can only hope that she doesn't have an alicorn level of power. I better start looking though the census reports, and cross check with the physiological testing results, this is going to be a lot of paper work.

I was grudgingly doing the paperwork to outfit all of my guards with concealed daggers with a unicorn with a snow white coat, and faded banana yellow tail/mane barged into my office. Good thing I wasn't keeping Luna company.

"Mr Shimmer, I am the commander-in-chief for the Royal guard. I am here to access your training methods, due to the numerous complaints my department has heard."

"Really? First off, you should knock before entering an office. For all you know I could have been in a meeting with my superior about details you cannot know. Second,-"

"I doubt that, the guards share ALL information. Down to the exact routes the patrols take. And I am YOUR sup-"

"Stop right there. Information to that degree is supposed to separated so that if one of the commanders is compromised, theres two others. Also, MY only superior is princess Luna. That is in case of any rebellion, and if you actually READ the law books, memos, and policies, you would know. There is no position of commander in chief, so Trooper, why did you barge in here without announcing you rank and name? However, it won't be necessary this time, Trooper Armor. Need I remind you that the change about information sharing happened less than a week from your nearly disastrous wedding?"

"You do not need to remind me. However, there has been no change about the chain of command; I am the Commander in chief, and you answer to me."

"You are correct, there has been no attempt to change in the chain of command for roughly the last 1001 years. It was during Nightmare Moon's rebellion-

*WHISPERING*"Great, they have a historian and rules lawyer for a commander, I bet he's shallower than Twilly's old drawings"*WHISPERED* It really was about that subtle, at least for someone who was used to hearing interruptions to his rants

"Really, I'll take that as a compliment, now where was I? The attempted change, Princess Celestia tried to make the rank 'General' but failed due the accord the Princess Luna and Celestia made shortly after overthrowing Discord. The rank 'General' would have always answered to Princess Celestia, where the accord stated that neither would have more power than the other. Thus it failed."

"Is that true?"

"I checked before I even entered training, I wanted to make certain who I answered to. I didn't want to have to follow an order from Princess Celestia-"

"WHAT! HOW DARE YOU! She is the main princess!"

" She also has an unhealthy obsession and not the one about sweets. Your sister and her friends. Instead of sending out the royal guard to threats, she send them. They are not even legal adults yet they have seen more action than most of the Royal guard! yet she continues to send underage civilians into potential combat situations, and otherwise dangerous situations. What was she thinking, sending your sister to ponyville in the vague hope that she'll make five friends who happen to embody each element? Either she had somehow ensured that ending, had backup plans, or is obsessed with ether the elements or your sister. My bet is the elements. The apple clan expanded and pioneered the ponyville area under her advice, Spickavoruos can instantly send scrolls between them, Miss Pie visited her during her wandering, Miss Rarity received an unpublished magazine several months early about the developing economy in ponyville, I don't know how she got Miss Shy and Miss Dash there though. I ask that you think this through before you tell anypony, this is ONLY my THEORY."

With that he left, well mission complete: Use a Sounding Board, preferably a live one. Optional: Avoid ponies looking into your training systems: Complete! Now I have to debrief Luna….

*KnocK* At least he knocked this time. I really should thank that page for telling me know that he was on his way. What was her name? Perfect Pen? some like that.

"Enter Sargent Armor" Oh how he ran to get promoted.

"How did you know it was me?"

"Are you going to interupt me this time? It can become extremely annoying, so tell me now."

"I'll try not to."

"Good enough. one, you only left a half hour ago, You still need to inspect my training system. " Oh B*** he's an unknown CHANGELING.

"Of course, but some other pony could have been sent."

"Secret of the trade(let's see how he reacts to this!), You must always know of potential threats, even if the potential is in an trusted ally."He smirked, thats it,it's personal. I was going to be nice, well, not as harsh.

"Of course, we wouldn't want a repeat of my wedding."

"Certainly, down the left hallway, third door to the right." See how he likes that.

"Are you not going to accompany me?"

"I trust my troops, they will do as I taught them." yes, they will chain teleport him all the way to the train depot, and take him out of equestria, then to Miss Silverhoof. We need to know what the hive wants with me. Or maybe they want to take out Luna, and spread from there, it makes sense. Luna is a bit reclusive, as is my guard. But we still have authority to act upon suspected changelings, so they could save their operatives.

"Sorry sir, but I need you to be with me so that you can answer any questions I may have."

"of course, I will just finish this paperwork." yep, a form about my disappearing for lets say, three days, enough that Miss Silverhoof has some fun, and I get my info. I'll bet she'll enjoy the activities. It really was a pain finding where to put her. I ended up stockpiling a cave in the 'haunted' wastelands where some old dictator or another had his fun. The cave is conveniently placed, it is deep enough that it has no natural light, rodents already live there, but it is still subjected to the harsh and erratic temperatures the area is known for.

-3 days latter-

I am extremely glad that I, and no one(pony!) got Miss Silverhoof: She's terrifying, especially to changelings. Apparently their queen was, for lack of better term, broadcasting her senses throughout the hive. And that was when she was new to this profession. Now every changeling has a deeply ingrained fear of Miss Silverhoof, and by association, me. They also think that I am an exiled changeling due to my ability to detect them, wich is kinda funny. I can detect them because of their empathic, probing. That is how they blend in so easily, they can feel what you generally expected of them. If your mid is ten seconds slower than the world around you, then your mouth is twenty, in short they can know what you are gonna say before you do. I can detect that probe and put up a screen of what they would suspect, and hide my true thoughts and emotions, because of that blasted guy in my head, oh if only I could blast him to the moon, then I could actually trust myself in...NO! DO not torture yourself with thoughts of what will never happen, that is how you drive yourself Crazy! Ignore that train of thought and continue with the story! The one we captured had offered me a chance to return to the hive, in exchange for freeing him. It was hilarious how he kept saying that it wasn't too late, how if we brought Miss Silverhoof, we would be rewarded as heros! Anyway, they were just investigating me, some unknown stallion who made it to the position of Commander in record time, and that my various birth, school and health paperwork was back filled shortly before I was enlisted. Now, I am some ancient, exiled Changeling, who really doesn't like the hive, one could even say that I loath it. It really is funny from my point of view. If they didn't rely on impersonating(imponyating?) ponies, then they could actually be an excellent intelligence agency. Instead of replacing ponies, they should create them, Sleeper Agents. They can even communicate mentally, so there isn't the risk of us finding their communication system.

*Knock*

And he is back. I'm not really surprised, but, really, I have been in my office for four hours!, You would think that he would of shown up by now. Tsk .Tsk. Tsk.

"Enter Sargent Armor"

"Why were you gone for three days immediately after I come to inspect your training?"

"I left a little over a half an hour after you left. Something came up, and I choose my family over other pressing concerns, and it was all legal, if a bit suspicious"

"you're an orphan"

"To quote a lovely culture, if fictional: family is more than bloodlines. Oh how I, respect them."

"Then family trouble is cutting it close, on a technicality that is iffy. Furthermore, we still have not gone through your training."

"Are you closely related to your wife?"

"What!? No, my ancestry has been a long line of unicorns."(I bet it one of those families, they probably only let him marry Princess Amore Cadenza because she is currently an alicorn)

"Well, if something happened to her, would you not drop any and everything to rush to her side? Oh course you would! otherwise you couldn't of married her!"(Interesting bit of magic those marriage vows, they won't happen unless both sides love each other, and literally won't let you betray your partner and if they are somehow broken the marriage is void. Any fillies/colts go to the 'faithful' partner. Well with both the queen of the changelings and the princess of love, then they might be a bit of and that could be a BIG threat… I better look into it later.)

"I am afraid that training is done for the day. And I am heading to bed, I don't have the luxury of not needing sleep, and tomorrow Princess luna has an event that I am providing security for. I recommend that you come back in a few days at around, 1900."

"Good morning Luna."

"Good morning Starlight."

"What time do we wake up tonight?"

"6, Its an early night."

"Thanks."

Carnage. Killer instinct. Bloody. Uncontrolled. why can't my blessed sleep be good? I can stand the occasional nightmare. But this is a whole new level.

For those who don't know how that time system works, it really is simple you subtract 1200 if you can, then it is in the afternoon, the first two Numbers are is the hour, the last two is the minute. So 1900 becomes 7:00 PM(1900 - 1200 = 700) Bonus points if anyone can review and say what culture I referenced. Hint: I am not talking about the silly peace lovers, nor the butchers, but rather their honourable ancestors. Lovely is stretching it quite a bit.

Why can't my life be easy for once? back on earth I was always wondering what would happen once I finished school. But that never happened, here, there's the standard stress of running a guard. I still need to talk to duskglow and nightlance. And to top it all off, my blessedly wonderful sleep, is now run over with far too clear carnage. I, starlight Shimmer not the human, fighting many battles, against poorly equipped farmers, and scholars. Thankfully I am still physically rested, but I am mentally exhausted. I am still a commander, my suborants address me as such.

But they don't use my name. It is as if I was the only commander. It is worrying. there are multiple guards for a reason, if I were in charge, then if someone took me out, then they could get their own proxy, which could cause so much chaos. Well, I better get to the present.

Tonight I have a few things planned, beyond the standard. Priority one, Luna's safety, in particular during the event. Priority two impress sargent Armor with the efficiency of my guard, therefore validating my training system. Priority 3, insure the event goes smoothly.

The event, is a co op between the guards Lunar, Crystal, and celestial. The Event is orchestrated by Luna. It is about the time before the windigos. It wasn't pretty. At all. The Pegasi were like the Romans of this world. Well, Commander Hurricane's was the main reason. He was a Terror. He had some of the nastiest tricks. Cloud models of troops to scare off resistance, hiding troops in clouds, and he let his enemies have an escape route he usually let a few of them survive, too spread the story. Those stories are what caused most of them to retreat. He was a frontline Leader. Fighting alongside his brothers in arms, carrying wounded to the medics, a pony. Not some untouchable leader. He had emotion, drive, fear, but also cunning, calculation, and strategy. He single handedly(hooffedly!) turned pegasi from unorganised raiders into a force to be reckoned with.

The event is the sighing of the peace deal. Of course soon after that windiegous happened, but there was an official peace. Apparently we don't know much about Commander Hurricane. All we know other than what he did, was his gender and the color of his coat: blue. RD couldn't make it due to a performance with the Wonderbolts immediately after.(too bad, I still need to get her back for that prank back when I was learning to fly. I show her was its like to wake up not in bed, but rather somewhere unpleasant, maybe that swamp near the town. That should make up for her putting me 400 ft above the lake.) At least Luna is following my advice. She has to improve her public image somehow. Hidding from the public won't do it. I had got her to attend the gala last year, but I agree with her assessment, a bunch of stuck up quasi racist rich ponies.

So I have been getting her to be a the patron of learning. A lot of history was forgotten in the last thousand years. The progress of tech has just flatlined completely. I could probably give Equestria a good jumpstart. Well, not if they go technomagic, I have no idea how that would work. or even if it could work. Well if you just used magic to start the generation, if something lost energy due to it, then it should work. Do unicorns lose energy when they do magic? I think that is a good thing I'm not an unicorn, I would probably break this world with any number of experiments.

So all I have to do is be an egotistical bastard who wants it all, for nothing. Thank my lucky stars for my parents being such role-play nuts. I can act. The script on this is more of a they spend a couple minutes doing x, then somepony(cough Minister puddlemere cough) yelled out something about the rights of bunnies, shutting the rest of us up. So I've been practicing my impression.

"Re-c0o-it! Froo-nt and Zen-ter! Colern-ol, Priv-it, P-the-toon" I need to focus more on P-the-toon

-3 days later-

Deer Miss Shimmer

We at the Lunar Guard regret to inform you that your (adopted) colt was KIA as of last 1700, during the recent co-op between the guards. He died valiantly, protecting Princess Luna in the surprise attack that happened during the attack. We understand that he was providing some financial support to you, and we shall carry on that support in his stead during these unsteady times. We sincerely hope that you understand that this is how he would have wanted to die.

Sincerely

CPL. Duskglow

Bonus Chapter!

Ok it was going smoothly, right until the crowd pulled out weaponry and started fighting. But to be honest, Equipped rebels vs well trained, if poorly equipped, military, the military usually wins. Heck, just the Lunar guard could of taken them. With casualties. But the royal and crystal have no idea how to properly brawl!

So my first command was this

"Lunar Guard, Attack pattern 36 Bravo!" Which means this, go offensive, I'll grab whomever I need to protect Princess Luna, be mindful of the idiots in the nearby area. The last part, Bravo, means that its Brawling until you get their weapon, then you pass it on to somepony who'll use it. I grabbed two shield bearers and went to protect Luna.

But since they just couldn't be shown up by the upstart commander of upstart guard, The crystals tried to go on the offensive, and almost got slaughtered. To prevent that, I selected the closet squad to cover their 6, but that left an opening for the other sides archers to shoot at Luna. Most of them would get deflected by magic of stuck into a shield, all but one, and I saw it go through a magical barrier. So I did what any idiot in love would do, I took the Arrow, from the base of neck, into my chest.

Then the world went black….