(Edit) A/N Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter up, I had to read through the edits that the others made before posting it. From now on we should be getting at least one (probably more than that though) chapter out every week. Also thank you to Arcboundwriter for the review, we really appreciated it :)

~Juffii

Silver Note

Once the coach that was arranged to drive them through the city came to a stop Silver snapped out of her daydream, noticing that they had gotten through to the inner walls of Hoofington. It looked as it was described to her by her parents and other guards who had been here. The city was so much more beautiful in person; the buildings were all painted with such beautiful colors, flowers in all the windows and scattering the few yards that were in the cobblestone based town. There were many different shops, sales stands than she had ever seen in her life, and bakeries that smelled even better than her own mother's cooking. I think I m definitely going to like it here.

The aura of the place was just city was comprised of bustling streets with many ponies that looked much better off than the ones she had seen in the lower circles of the city.

It was strange to Silver that a town could change from such a sad and poverty stricken place into a beautiful and happy town within just miles. She decided it was best not to think too much into what was going on and focus on finding their bags and getting to the barracks where they would be staying.

She stepped out of the plush coach and nodded her appreciation to the earth ponies pulling it along. She looked around for Blaze and noticed he had already begun to walk away; she trotted after him to catch up and noticed he had a distant look in his eye. Was he thinking the same thing as her about Hoofington? 'Nah, he s probably just working out his speech so he ll get it perfect', She thought to herself rolling her eyes. He would do anything if it meant making their father proud.

She followed closely after her older brother; he walked over to get their luggage but was beaten to it by a few burly looking ponies that were obviously of lower class than the other ponies carrying their bags. She looked to see Rocco sitting on top of her luggage glaring at the bigger ponies with a look that said, 'Drop me and you shall suffer'. They were probably hired from the poorer parts of the city to carry the luggage of the 'Higher Class', Silver hated that word. She only hoped these ponies were getting payed enough.

They were escorted up the large stone stairs that were decorated on either side with large statues of General Foxtrot. He looked menacing with his slicked back mane and cruel eyes, not exactly something she wanted to wake up to every morning.

Silver raised her hoof over her eyes to block the glare of the sun peeking through the clouds to get a better look at the barracks. It was a fortress that loomed ominously over her. The building was huge to say the least, big enough to house many guards. The walls were all carved out of stone with striking architecture that almost had a Gothic appeal to it.

She looked over to her side and was shocked to see what looked to be the gallows, the stage was set and everything. Guards were diligently posted all around keeping a steady eye on by passers. She neared the top of the steps and in front of the working ponies a short stallion stood greeting the guard. The first thing silver noticed about him is the way he looked down his nose at them, giving him a very snobby appearance. His mane looked as if he had spent an ample amount of time working on it, though Silver thought it still looked pretty ridiculous. She could already tell she didn't like him. It was strange to her that he was the first unicorn she had seen since she had arrived, her own town having an equal amount of every type of pony.

Blaze walked towards the man to where the rest of the guard had gathered, the short pony stood in the front of them all writing something down. He looked up as the rest of the guard gathered around him.

"Ah, Welcome all to Hoofington! I do hope you will enjoy your time here." He said in a falsetto voice. Silver looked to her brother who was scowling. "My Name is Pettycoat Frills and I will be showing you around the city and making sure you have the adequate information needed to protect our wonderful city!" He had an almost too perfect smile as he said this, and was looking down his nose at them the entire time. This is going to be a long tour, Silver thought.

"So do you think that he's as ridiculous as I do?" Someone whispered in her ear and she jumped a bit. She looked behind her to see a smirking dark blue Pegasus with bright blue eyes. Of course it was Rain.

Rainy Nights had been Silver's only friend for as long as she could remember. In her early days as a guard, she only spoke to her brother, since there were a very sparse amount of females in the guard at the time. In about her third year Rain had transferred from another division of guards, saying that her Martingale position wasn't challenging enough. They quickly bonded and Rain helped her to become a better fighter, though she still wasn't that great.

"Rainy Nights you almost gave me a heart attack!" Silver whispered feigning anger at her, a smile tugging at her lips as she did so. She should have expected her to try and surprise her like that since she arrived a few days prior. Rain let out a chuckle and shook her head.

They heard someone shush them and looked up to see Blaze glaring at them. Rain glared back and stuck her tongue out while Silver giggled. Blaze rolled his eyes and mouthed pay attention. Silver sighed and looked back to the short pony who was still blabbering on.

"- And that shall be all that you need to know, now on with the tour of our fine city!" Pettycoat trilled as he guided them out of the barracks and out onto the streets.

Silver didn't pay any attention to Pettycoat on their tour, and had been so in awe of the city that she hadn't even noticed when they arrived to the rooms they d be staying at.

"This will be your living quarters during your stay, we can't go in now due to our schedule, but I can promise that you have all gotten the finest rooms the city can offer. Only the best for our new guard captain!" Pettycoat spoke as if it were the most exciting part of his day, which Silver thought it most likely was.

They finally parted ways with their energetic tour guide as they arrived at the gate to the courtyard of the castle where the general resided and where a large portion of the richer ponies were waiting for Blaze to make his speech. She looked to her brother and he stopped for a moment and brought her away from the rest of the guard.

"Alright Silver, I am going to be captain of the guard and I am picking you to be my chief officer," She cut him off.

"What about Rain?" she asked peering up at him, pouting that she couldn't spend time with her only friend in the guard. He sighed looking irritated.

"Yes, Rain will be working close with us too. You two are to be on your absolute best behavior. This isn't like training Silver Note, this is real." He said. Any of the softness that had been in his voice was gone and he stared her down waiting for a response, she nodded meekly. He nodded back to her and gave her a quick smile as he took his place back at the front of the guard.

She heard the guard being announced, the annoyingly high pitched voice of Pettycoat once again making an appearance, and that's when the door opened.

There were ponies everywhere looking at them in awe, at this point Silver was glad she was wearing the armor that her father had forced her to wear even on the train as she peered through her helmet, awe on her own face as she looked upon the castle.

The castle itself was magnificent; the walls taking on a grey stone that must have been washed everyday with dark mahogany wooden doors and bars lining all the windows. If it weren't for the flags and decorative features of the place she could imagine it looking much scarier, but for some strange reason it looked almost welcoming.

They walked all standing tall and straight as they arrived to the center of the courtyard where there was a small stage set up where she assumed Blaze would be making his speech.

Her brother walked up to the wooden stage proudly, head held high. He reached the center of the stage and the crowd slowly quieted down and he cleared his throat.

"Citizens of Hoofington, thank you for the warm welcome as we have had a long journey. We have come to take the place as your new guard and to serve and protect this fine city. With us, we have brought honor, order and justice." He boomed. Alright Blaze, you re doing well, just don t overdo it. "As your new ruling party, we have some laws that we have to lay down to the people of Hoofington. Each pony will pay a monthly tax to assist in the development of the city, which we may lower and raise as we see fit. If you are unable to pay these taxes, they will be drafted into the army unless another punishment is enforced by your community official. The use of magic is strictly prohibited, anyone caught using their abilities as a unicorn outside of the reforming center will pay with their lives. If you do not follow any laws that are enforced, we will have to take action and you will be punished accordingly. We hope that there will be no trouble with the fine citizens of Hoofington, and that the city shall remain as beautiful and prosperous as always. Thank you."

As he finished the city seemed unsure whether to applaud or not, though it remained silent for the time being with a quiet murmur starting to break out through the crowd. I only hope they don t blame Blaze for all of this, he's only doing what's told. Silver thought, but then again he was the one who gave the speech and most people did tend to shoot the messenger.

She smiled at him as he came back towards the guard. He only looked back at her a hardened look on his face and her smile dropped. Pettycoat made his way back up on the stage and commented on how rousing the speech was, getting the other ponies in the area to clap a bit. Silver saw Blaze relax a bit once the ponies seemed happier. Though, she had a strange feeling stirring in her stomach that what they were doing wasn't entirely right. She shook it off, glaring at no one in particular. Even if it wasn't right, there s nothing I can do about it, She thought as they started making their way back to their quarters.

If this is what she had been training for all of her life, why did she feel so bad about it?

A/N Big shout out to Arcboundwriter for being our first follow/reviewer! thank you so much! And no we're not that kind of people who need a certain amount of reviewers to post a new chapter but we still greatly appreciate them! Also to 8-Bit Spider who reviewed the last chapter on DA, and also created the awesome pony name generator that helped us a ton! THANKS GUYS!