Hestaria rolled over and dove straight for the ground where the front line of troops where getting hammered. She looped to their right flank and waited for one of the troops to fall. The second a spell landed on one of the soldiers, she bolted forward and snatched his lance. She held the weapon like she had been meant for it, the way it felt having the lanced in her grip was so natural.

She banked hard left and flew towards the wall at full speed from only a few feet off of the ground. All of their spells and bolts landed inches behind her hindlegs. She reached the wall in a matter of seconds. The stone left her filed of view as she launched herself to the top of the wall and another twenty feet higher. No pony on the wall was ready to see the bomblets from her right foreleg fall exactly in the middle of the largest concentration of troops lining the wall.

Hestaria dug her sharp canine teeth into the leather straps that held the dispenser onto her foreleg and ripped it from her hoof. The devise fell to the wall and shattered on impact. Thinking she was now unarmed, the unicorns down bellow started trying to pelt her with knock out spells. Hestaria tucked in her wings and tumbled straight towards the middle of the pack.

Only a few yards from the ground she opened her wings again and slowed herself enough as to not break her knees. She kept low to the ground for a moment and let a few unicorns knock each other out before unleashing her lance. As earth ponies advanced with their own lances, Hestaria stood proud and grinned mischievously. If it felt right holding the lance, it looked down right bad ass and graceful when she swung it. She spun on her hoofs and wielded the spear like it was apart of her body. She used it in close range against the earth ponies, held it by its base to keep the others at bay and even intercepted bolts and spells inches before they reached her body.

The sudden sound of a paint bomb blast caused her to lose concentration for moment before realizing that the other Pegasi were starting a bombing run. And knowing the pattern they had practiced, she needed to start running right for the flag. The paint bombs flashed and coated everypony in her wake with various colors of paint as she sprinted on her hindlegs towards the flag, the lance firmly clutched in her hoofs.

Ten feet from the flag, Hestaria spread her wings and caught the blast wave of one of the bomblets. She had no paint on her body, but the wave carried her up faster then she could have just flapping. She pushed forward as hard as she could and snatched the red flag in her teeth as she passed. Hestaria’s grin stretched wide as the flag whipped in the wind and pounded her light gray coat.

She followed the flight of Pegasi as the team behind the wall looked up at her dumbfounded. She weaved through the flights until she found hers. The flight lead looked at her shocked and angry at the same time as Hestaria’s grin grew larger. Once on the ground, her flight lead snatched the flag and her Drill Sergeant shouted at her to drop and give her twenty for breaking formation. It didn’t matter to her, it was a victory over her shitty flight lead and everypony else on base.

Around dusk, her Drill Instructor had her follow her to the Captain’s office. The door read “Capt. Shining Armor: Captain of the Guard” Her Sergeant left her in front of the door and the Captain’s voice came from inside. Hestaria stood at attention and saluted the stallion. The office was a simple beige color with a large wooden desk at the very back in front of a window looking over the quad. A filing cabinet sat to the left of the desk and a dark blue flag on its right. Next to the door, his armor sat on a stand next to a coat rack. His usual hat rested on it along with a black leather jacket.

The Captain wore his midnight blue dress uniform without its hat behind the desk with a dust colored Pegasus mare in a maid outfit standing next to him adjusting a photo on the wall. This was the first time she had gotten a close up view of The Captain. Dark blue coat, matching eyes, and a black mane. There was something else off, his wings weren’t just silver, they were made of metal. He had a permanent set of Lunarus Corp. Iron Icarus’.

He looked up at her from a file on his desk, most likely hers. “As you were.” he said calmly. Hestaria stood at rest and looked straight at him. “Private First Class Hestaria. Denied promotion for having a smart mouth and not following orders as given. Personally I don’t think that’s the whole truth but that doesn’t excuse going that far in a combat situation. Is there anything you have to say in your defense of what happened today?”

“Captain Armor, Sir, I-”

“I am not Captain Armor, he’s no longer in charge here. I am, so address me as Captain, Private.”

“Yes Captain. I was told to hang back and stay out of my formations way.”

“Exactly what Corporal Lightning Dust had told me, but I don’t think she told you to take a fallen soldier’s weapon and go Brave Hoof on them.”

“No Sir, but-”

“No buts Private. As Sergeant Fire thought about you, you’re not right for Celestia’s guard.”

Something inside Hestaria suddenly snapped. “NO! WHO ARE YOU TO TELL ME ANYTHING!? SO WHAT IF I DON’T TAKE ORDERS WELL, I’M A DAMN GOOD FIGHTER! DIDN’T YOU SEE ME OUT THERE!? YOU FOLOW ME EVERYWHERE SO I’M GUESSING YOU SAW WHAT I DID OUT THERE TODAY!”

“Private,” The Captain said calmly. “if you would just let me finish. You’re-”

“Not what we’re looking for, I know! I don’t care. I. GIVE. UP!”

Hestaria finished her rant and dashed out of the room in anger with tears starting to form in her eyes. As she ran from the room, she knocked White Knight over and he heard her call after her. Not even a second late, The Captain’s voice told him to stay where he was. Hestaria kept going over in her head what could have been in that file. “Doesn’t meet physical expectations: Is odd looking.” okay that last part might not have been there but it was probably worded differently. As she burst through the doors of the main building, Hestaria took flight towards the south as fast as her wings could carry her in the late fall air.