The scene assmbled itself, it was violent. Explosions, fire everywhere. The sound of labored breathing filled the air, dulling the sound of the explosions. The picture vanished, turning black, only to reappear seconds later. This time there was a mare filling up a considerable amount of the view.

"No!" the cry from the pony sounded far off, even though she was right there.

Tears were streaming down from her bright yellow eyes, matting the fur on her cheeks. Her ears were flattened against her head. There was another explosion, and the mare's face zoomed in, as a chunk of earth flew through the air. The dark blue fur face zoomed out. The mare was still crying. Her heavy breathing joined the sound of the laboured breathing. The view zoomed in again, this time into the two colored white and light blue mane of the mare. The scent of scorched hair filled the air.

A new voice resounded through the air, "Kid! We can't hold the defense here much longer!"

"Keep trying, please!" the dark blue mare's voice cracked.

The scene went black, reappearing a few seconds later.

"Noire! Get up, please!" the rate of tear flow in the mare's eyes increased.

"Come on!" the voice came again. "We have to get out of here!"

The mare roughly shook off the hoof that appeared on her shoulder. She shouted, "I won't leave him!"

"There's no time! It's too late for him! Maybe the medics will reach him!"

"Let go!" The mare tried to fight off the rainbow of forelegs that now appeared over her head, shoulders, neck, and ribs.

"I can't leave him there!" the mare attempted fruitlessly to stand her ground, but the forelegs were dragging her away.

"Noire!"

A new foreleg appeared from the left. This one was black and much closer than those that were dragging the dark blue mare away from view. A masculine voice whispered softly.

"Polaris..."

The scene blacked out.

Sometime earlier...

"Next."

The black stallion took no notice to the call for his attention. He was looking up at the sky, recalling how he got there. His friends were worried that he did not provide a reason for his departure.

But the letter he had recieved from Princess Luna clearly stated

"Tell nopony of the details."

It was followed by an explanation.

"Equestria has been a land of harmony and rest for thousands of years. The ponies that reside here do not know fear, they don't know pain, suffering, or loss. These ponies will know how to handle the fear on an iminent threat. The internal peace is better left undisturbed."

The black stallion felt a pang guilt course through him. He had left his friends without sufficient explanation.

"I said 'Next!'!"

The black stallion was snapped out of his thoughts by a the voice of the pegasus mare in the window.box. She was looking at him, and was obviously irritated. The ponies behind him were all staring. Noire went red, and trotted up to the window box.

"Name?" the pegasus in the window asked.

"...." The unicorn stallion was at a loss for words.

"Do you not know your own name?"

"Uh, Noire. Noire Pulse,"

The pegasus suppressed a snort. She was obviously dealing with somepony who wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer.

"Age?"

Another one. Noire exhaled.

"Of Age, vouched for."

The rest of the questions were a breeze. Nothing that took a psychological toll on him. Although the pegasus was surprised that Noire, a unicorn, had worked on a farm prior to joining the Equestrian Homeland Defense, and this bothered him.

After the questioning, Noire was lead by a guard to a set of double doors belonging to a very modern but dull building. He was ushered inside, and taken to another pony at a window.

"There are various teams available for enlistment. You will be assigned one based on your talent." said the stallion behind the window.

There was a pause.

"...What is your talent?" the green stallion asked.

"I can cast life detection spells pretty easily." Noire responded.

"You'll be in the medical team." the green stallion said monotonusly. "Next!"

By now, the whole process wasn't settling in well with Noire. He felt as though it was all to automated, and not very exciting. Had he not been called here for his patriotism? Where were the rallying speeches and where was the sense of Equestrian Pride? Had he made a mistake in coming here? This certainly didn't seem of much importance now. If only somepony would give a flying feather about the whole ordeal.

Noire entered the door at the end of the hall he was directed to. His doubts dissipated as his eyes met those of another pony. Standing regally in front of a group of ponies in tight formation, was a dark blue mare. Her mane was flowing and ethereal, a midnight void filled with shining stars. Princess Luna gave Noire a warm smilie.

"Welcome to unicorn squad of the Equestrian Homeland Defense. I will be your skill development mentor. If you can join the formation of your comrades, then we can begin."

----

"Ponies of Equestria," Luna began, "You have been all been summoned here today because of your character. The responsiblity you have all decided to take on is an extremely important one. Your actions in this group can either destroy or save Equestria. As you all know, Equestria is known for it's peace and harmony. Although my sister and I do our best, we need more help to help maintain the order. There are creatures and races out there that would very much like to ruin the peace in our fair country. Therefore all this enjoyment and freedom of the ponies does not come without a cost. Soldiers,"

Soldiers? Noire thought, But I'm just a medical pony.

Luna continued, "What I have to offer you is not the safety of the inlands, but constant danger, and risk of life. It's long marches and short rations. Dangerous posts and constant vigilance throughout the day and night. That said, those who love their freedom and country may stay here. As for the rest of you, the door is right there."

Nopony moved a muscle.

Luna smiled slyly. "I hereby declare you all official guardians of Equestria."

Noire used his forelegs to heave himself over the edge of the wall he had been climbing. It had taken some time, and had only resulted in Noire falling over the other side, and into the mud. Spitting out the moist dirt, he seethed at the drill instructor who had put him to this. Surely there had to be a better way to train. Grumbling to himself, Noire rose out of the mud, and headed back to the starting point. He was never going to finish this, not at this rate. Despite the reassurances he had gotten by the rest of the border defense, Noire found himself close to resignation. After another moment of thought, and a few more faceplants caused by the obstacle course, he remembered not everyone meant well.

On the first day of his training, Noire managed to become the target of an unruly unicorn mare, by the name of Bowstring. She was a first class archer, enough for her to boast that she can hit a bullseye from over a hundred yards. Bowstring had greeted Noire by shooting a arrow, with a suction cup on the end, right on his muzzle. After removing the rubber device from his muzzle, Noire questioned another pony in his squad, as Bowstring had already left. The stallion explained that Bowstring was the self proclaimed leader of the squad, and she was hard on new arrivals there.

There were three other ponies, all unicorns, in the squad, besides Noire and Bowstring. The stallion who explained Bowstring's behavior introduced himself as Brandish. Brandish had a blue coat and black mane, with a Cutiemark of two crossed swords. He had the ability to conjure a sword and use it for combat, whether it be in his mouth or gripped by a telekinesis spell. Brandish seemed nice enough, and had befriended Noire. The other two ponies were both mares. Bastille and Sarissa, their cutiemarks a shield and a spear, respectively.

Throughout the first week, Noire faced challenges he had never prepared for in the past. While Brandish had been there to give him some advice, Bowstring had nothing but torment him. Once, Noire was given the assignment of crossing a platform suspended by ropes without having the platform shake so far, that the edges hit nearby metal barrels. When he was halfway across, one of the ropes gave out, causing Noire to lose his balance. He had fallen of the platform, and landed on the barrels. While receiving instructions to retie the rope, and start over, Noire noticed alone arrow, half buried in the dirt. He looked in one direction, and saw Bowstring smirking at him.

He had also been obligated to train combat skills with various weapons. Since Noire couldn't conjure a sword, he was given a standard iron one to fight with. His sparring partner had of course been Brandish. After yelling "I yield!" for the seventh time, Noire decided to try a different weapon. He faired no better with spears. It turned out Sarissa's talent dealt with thrusting spears, not throwing spears.

Noire shuddered as he recalled the amount of times he saw the steel arrowhead pointed in-between his eyes. He sighed, and returned to the beginning of the obstacle course once again. Nopony in his squad seemed to be very interested in making friends. He was going to need the support from somepony if he was to stay here, as things were not looking great. Somepony who can relate, somepony who understood him...

"Ohai, Noire!"

Noire looked up and shocked to see a familiar pegasus trotting towards him.

"What are you doing here?" Noire asked.

The dark blue pegasus mare stopped in front of him and smiled. "Same reason you are, Noire. I want to maintain Equestria's harmony."

"You shouldn't be here. I...I don't think you're up for the....task..."

The pegasus mare raised an eyebrow. "What are you trying to say..?"

"Nothing!" Noire sighed, "Look, Polaris. This place is rough. I haven't been through any threats yet, but I can tell this is serious stuff. I -"

"You don't think I knew that when I signed up for it?" Polaris asked.

"I just don't want to see you get hurt. I've known you too long for me to call you a stranger."

It was true. Noire had met Polaris a yfew years ago, when he had first moved into Ponyville. He had purchased a small plot of land to farm, and keep himself busy. He had started growing potatoes as a cash crop, purely for sale. However, one day the weather schedule called for a continous downpour. Despite Noire's efforts, his potatoes had drowned. Polaris had been in charge of the section of sky over his farm. After some ranting and venting, Noire decided Polaris wasn't all too bad. She listened to his complaints and took them seriously (even though there wasn't anything she could do). Over time, they became friends. However, Noire had kept himself reserved, and there was no further development in their relationship.

Polaris flapped her wings, and started flying around Noire.

"Don't worry." she told him. "I'm just a scout and courrier. I won't be put into any major skirmishes."

"For your sake, I sure hope not. I'd hate to lose a friend." Noire paused. "Hey, what's the pegasai training like?"

"It's just a bunch of drills on speed, control, and combat with lances. What about you?"

"I think we get pretty much the same physical training as the earth ponies. With a magic refinement class in the evening." Noire saw a chance to impress his friend, and took it. "Princess Luna teaches it, you know."

"I know."

Noire's proud smile fell to pieces. "Oh, ok."

"They us know at the meeting," Polaris chuckled.

"Well, I have to get back to training. See you around, I guess."

Polaris waved a hoof in response, and flew elsewhere. Noire got back to climbing the wall. Polaris sat on a far off roof, and watched Noire fall into the mud and getting up to do it again.

She giggled, and took off into the air again.