Chapter 4

The first thing Stargazer was aware of was a dull pain resonating from the back of her skull. She tried to move but every attempt at movement shot pain through her whole body.

“Do you think she’ll wake up soon Gunnar?” whispered a small voice to her right. It couldn’t have been much older that a filly.

“Well, I’m not sure I can answer that. She was hit hard, judging by the size of that bruise.” That must be Gunnar, “What surprises me, Radar, is that supposedly she’s an unregistered unicorn. I thought they almost all worked for the ministry nowadays.” His voice was deep and rough, like it belonged to somepony very old.

This was all she heard before be fell back into unconsciousness.

When she awoke again most of the pain had subsided. Her mind felt groggy and slow, the effects of the concussion made it had for her to focus. “Ok, let’s try this way,” she thought “I am… um... Stargazer. I’m a….a unicorn. I have a navy blue coat... my mane is... gree.. no yellow... and I have... lavender eyes. I am in pain because… something…hit me.” Slightly reassured of her mental stability, she slowly attempted to open her eyes. She could see several vague shadows in her current field of vision. One leg at a time she attempted to stand up. Bad idea, once again a fresh bout of sharp pain shot through her body, though not as bad as before, that caused her to fall directly back down on the ground.

“Hey Blitz! She’s up!” It was the filly again, but this time a different voice answered. “About time too, I’m sick of sitting here all day.”

She felt two pairs of hooves attempt to help her up as she hissed through her teeth in pain. Strangely, she felt better once she was off the cold stone floor. She was in a small cabin, the walls were composed of stacked wooden logs and the floor was made of roughly cut stone. There were four sets of bunk beds pushed against the side walls and eight lockers stood along the back. In front of her stood two ponies, one was indeed a unicorn filly, and the other was a pegasus but fully grown. The filly had a beep brown coat and a blond mane, and the mare had a blue coat and a grey mane. Their coats were so heavily coated with grease stains that it was hard to tell the exact color of their coats or even if they had cutie marks.

“Good morning sleepy head, you’ve been out for a while. Name’s Blitz” said the Mare.

“Oh! And I’m Radar!” chirped the filly, “Gunnar and the others are around here somewhere.”

“Where am I?” Stargazer moaned her head still foggy from the concussion.

“Wow she’s a fast one!” the pony called Blitz laughed sarcastically, “You mean you really don’t remember? You must’ve got hit harder than I thought. You’ve been drafted lady! Welcome to Camp! You are now a member of the New Canterlot army, Capital city division!”

“I’m here with a friend of mine. He’s an earth pony stallion with a tan coat and a brown mane. I don’t suppose you’ve seen him?” Stargazer groaned.”

“Not many earth ponies are kept here.” Radar replied, “They stay in a separate side of camp. The camps are segregated you see, first by the severity of the crime, then by race.”

“You get placed based on who you are and what you did.” Blitz said, “Ponies who repeatedly didn’t reach their quotas, are ranked as one of the crimes on the lowest tier, level 3. Ponies who fail inspections are ranked in the middle tier, Level 2. And you’re with us in tier 1, for crimes against the government. Then the earth ponies are put in area one and the others are put in area 2. And then of course there are the individual cabins. These military hotheads sure do like their protocols and systems. So, what'd you do?”

She thought it would be best in this case to answer honestly. “My friend and I were caught impersonating inspection officers and trespassing in the restricted section of the information center.” She said simply.

The two ponies’ eyes widened in surprise, “Well no wonder you have such a nasty lump! The officer who caught you must have been hopping mad! Nopony impersonates an officer, you’re lucky he decided not to kill you right there! And in the restricted section too!” Blitz shouted.

“Well what did you guys do?” Stargazer said

“I said that I wished the Princesses would come back and make Thundermane go away, at school” said the filly.

“And I refused to submit to inspections by telling the officer that I didn’t care what Thundermane ordered and that Thundermane should crawl back to the stinking pit he crawled out of. Needless to say, he didn’t take it well,” Blitz explained, "By the way, all the other bunks are taken so you're using the bottom bunk over there and you can use locker 8."

A loud klaxon alarm went off, "sounds like it's the end of the work day, we got to stay in here because we were babysitting, the others should be back soon." Sure enough five Ponies came staggering through the door. They all looked beaten down and tired. There were three pegasi and two unicorns.

"She's awake eh?" muttered a weathered old unicorn. He looked like he had been here a long time; his hair had turned grey with age, and his hooves showed heavy wear and tear. “How you feeling missy?”

“I..I think I’ll be fine”

“Pleased you’re feeling better. I see you have already met Radar and Blitz, I am Gunnar.” He said “The Pegasi here are Archer, Maverick, and Wingman. The unicorn here is Chip.”

“Well my name is Starg-“Stargazer started, but she was interrupted by the startled shouts of the ponies in front of her.

“Oh no you don’t!” Blitz yelped, “We go by code names here! We ARE at war here, if we lose anyone, it's still hard, but it's easier if you don't know their real name.”

"Plus, code names are fun!" said the filly

“Well, what should I call myself then?”

“Let’s see…You can be..." Blitz seemed to have trouble coming up with a suggestion.

"How about you're Navy! For the color of your coat! I'm Radar because I'm good with finding extra rations to smuggle back to the tent, and she's Blitz because she always gets really fast times on the obstacle courses when were training.” chimed Radar. “Oh and Archer has killer accuracy, Maverick has amazing agility in the air, and Wingman, the filly right there, is always following Maverick around. Chip is called that because he came in with a chipped horn. Gunnar is an expert with weapons.”

"I've been at it long enough kid, it doesn't take the sixty years I've been here to learn to use a gun."

“Navy… I like it! As long as I’m in this place, call me Navy!” Stargazer smiled, “I just hope my friend is okay.”

---

The Doctor woke up in a jail cell. His hind legs were chained to the wall behind him. “Is someone out there?” he called “Where am I?” His saddlebag had been removed and was probably locked up somewhere. A guard trotted over to the door and peered through the bars.

“Yelling won’t help you, you know.” He said “You’re in here for good. Just be glad you aren’t out in the field like your friend.”

“But why am I in a cell?”

“The great prince Thundermane ordered that any especially suspicious ponies be locked up here. He was very interested in what we found in your bag. He seems to think that you are an alien from another planet. You’re stuck in here until he sees fit to send you off to war instead.” The guard laughed to himself “Like that’ll ever happen!”

When the sound of the guard’s hoof steps faded away down the hall The Doctor quickly reached up into his mane with one hoof and withdrew his sonic screwdriver. “For as smart as they think they are they missed the one thing that can get me out!” he thought. He expertly adjusted the settings and pointed the gadget at his bindings. The thick metal cuffs slid off as if they were never locked in the first place, and the door opened just as easily. No time to find his saddlebag, the Doctor sped as quickly yet quietly as he could towards the doorway. “This is too easy” he thought “Where are all the guards? There's something suspicious going on here.” Just as he got near the exit, a dark figure suddenly formed in his way, seeping from the shadows. A tall figure with both a horn and a set of wings looked down on him and smiled.

“I knew you had it in you spaceman."

"I should have known. IT WAS A TRAP!

"Obviously." He sneered "My name is Prince Thundermane, pleased to meet your acquaintance.”

“What’s going on here? You have no right to rule! You stole that from the Princesses!”

“Maybe so, but all you need to know right now is that you need to watch your step from now on. This is my kingdom, and I have my eye on you.” The room went dark; The Doctor could not even see the floor he stood on, or his own hoof right in front of his face.

“Where is my friend?! The one thing you do NOT do is mess with those that I hold dear!”

“She is safe, for now. You were separated because you are obviously dangerously stupid when combined.” The voice, laughed and came from every direction at once, “However now is not the time for details, now is the time to WAKE. UP.” As the prince spoke the last two words, the doctor felt himself falling as if from a great height. After a long time, finally his fall stopped abruptly, his eyes snapped open, and he woke up.

He was laying in a hospital bed, his saddlebag was sitting on a chair next to him, and he had been dreaming the whole time.

End of Chapter 4

Author's note:
I did make several deliberate references in this chapter to things in other movies, TV shows and stories. Bet you can't find them all!