[Friday Morning]

I was sleeping at the bottom of a bunk bed, wearing a white tank top, and boxer briefs, trying to take as much advantage of the rest as possible. Suddenly, a loud horn was blasting through the speaker, my violet colored eyes jolting open with red cracks riddling in the sclera.

“IT’S FUCKING 5 IN THE MORNING! AT LEAST GIVE ME ANOTHER HOUR DAMMIT!” My roommate yelled from the top bunk, while I grumbled and covered my head with my pillow.

After I sluggishly, but quickly getting up and changing into my cadet uniform, I went to the mirror, and quickly brushed my violet mane and tail. I then tied the former with a blue hair tie, making it into a ponytail, while my front was splayed in a messy style.

“Luminaaaaa, can’t you convince the drill sergeant to give us more time to sleep today?” My roommate whined while putting on her own uniform.

“Sorry Creamy,” I apologized. “My looks can only get to so many stallions, and I can never get the sergeant to crack. Besides, I heard Commander Dusknight was going to inspect us today, so sleeping in is not an option.”

I’ll try to keep my introduction short and sweet. I'm Luminescent Lustre of Squad 13 in the E.U.P. Guard Academy. I prefer to be called Lumina though. Unicorn, butter colored coat with violet mane and tail, Age 19, and 5’9.5” tall. Don’t even ask what my weight and cup size is if you know what’s good for ya. Cutie Mark is three hot pink hearts with a flash of light shining behind them, representing the love that shines from within, and spreading it to those close to me. And I mean CLOSE close, like really close friends and family who deserve them the most. Anyone who messes with me or those I care about won’t get any from me, can fuck off, and jump off a bridge. Speaking of family, I was born and raised in Trottingham with my mother and older sister, who I’ve dearly love and missed since I left home. My dad unfortunately died of a stroke before I was born, so I never got to know him.

I didn’t even WANT to come here, but because of my private teacher, Bright Beacon, who I refer to as ‘old hag,’ took notice of my… Special ability, and how I barely listen to her teaching me to hone said ability, she convinced my mom enough to draft me here to "learn some discipline." If I ever see that bitch again, I’m going to whop her good enough so she wouldn’t be able to bear foals. Then again, she probably has no use for them anyway, since I’ve never seen or heard about her dating life. Ugh, I’m getting sick just talking about it.

Anyway, you can probably guess why I sound like such a bitch, and excuse me for my language, but I’ve been wanting to get out of here since day one. It’s been one year since I enrolled, and I STILL want to get the fuck out. It’s better than what I went through in high school though. I don't want to get into much detail about my high school life, but let's just say I've gained a bad, false reputation that was enough for me to get looked down upon until graduation. In the academy? Pushing the yelling and ‘in your face’ confrontations from the Drill Sergeant to the side, I have learned some self-defense and attack spells that could knock someone over to next week, toned my body good enough to leave stallions and mares drooling (I’m quite proud of my ass especially), and boy has it been fun giving them a good tease now and then. Oh, and did I mention I was bisexual? Well there ya go.

“Oh please, you’re not giving yourself enough credit,” my roommate commented. “I’m sure if you put in enough effort, you could probably grab SOME his attention.”

Cream Cloud, my roommate, was a white pegasus with an orange, braided mane and tail with white highlights. She had perky B Cup sized breasts, and also a well-toned ass that I would peek at now and then. We’ve become… Okay, for the past year, but you can probably tell by her yelling from earlier why I’d rather not get too close to her. Plus, she’s straight.

“I like to tease, not using my body to get what I want,” I defended. “I may put on the moves, but I know my boundaries once I get to know them. Like how I want to grope your sweet ass and play with your perky breasts now and then.”

Creamy’s whole face blushed red, and her wings fluttered a little from the comment. “W-what?” She asked.

Goddess how I love it when I make ponies squirm and speechless like that.

“See?” I asked. “There ya go. You’re not comfortable with me doing such activity, and I back off from it. I can even stop with the teases too if you want me to, but I haven’t heard anything since we first bunked here. In the end, that just tells me that you’re fine with it,” I concluded as I bent down and wagged my hips. I held her chin up with my finger, gazed at her with my bedroom eyes, and gave my signature sexy smile. “Isn’t that right?” I asked in a sultry tone. Creamy just got redder in the head until it was an apple on shoulders, and her mouth opened and closed. I took in the sweet moment until I heard the door slammed open.

“Lumina! We got to get to the training grounds before-!” Exclaimed a light green pegasus stallion in uniform as he drank the view of me in close proximity with my roommate. His nose started leaking with blood flowing down before I gritted my teeth, tightened my fist, and I could have sworn a vein was also pulsing through my forehead.

“Niiil? How many times do I have to tell you?” I asked through my teeth before I stomped towards him, grabbed the collar of his shirt, lifted him up, and threw him across the hall. “KNOCK ON THE FUCKING DOOR BEFORE GOING INTO A ROOM!” I yelled before he hits his head on the wall, and plops to the ground.

I sighed frustratingly before I turned to Creamy. “Sorry about that Creamy, but I guess we should get going now. We’ll continue where we left off later,” I said before I winked, and walked to the end of the hall where Nil lay.

Oh yeah, I should probably talk about the pegasus I just threw. Nil Thunder was his name. 21, 6’1", light green coat with a very light blonde, messy mane touching his shoulders, and tail reaching to his knees. On his arms and legs, he always wear metal plates with bandages wrapped around them. I could never get him to tell me why. I did get he was from Hoofington though. His cutie mark was a lightning bolt striking two working gears, symbolizing his special talent in science and engineering involving magic and electricity (as far as what he had told me). He's also the top genius in this squad.

Now, he wasn’t a bad guy. He’s usually pretty chill and laid back, and can be pretty friendly. But when it comes to mares though… He has a little pervert problem. He respects and treats mares well, don’t get me wrong, but show him enough of your coat, some mare’s bra or underwear, or have him run into a sexual innuendo-like situation like earlier, and his IQ just plummets and turns into a big idiot that doesn’t know a mare’s personal privacy.

The first time this kind of thing happened, he had walked in on me changing while I was still in my bra and panties, and he just stood there dumbstruck like he had never seen a mare in such attire in his life before. Which was actually the case, but I reacted with a similar gesture like earlier. Only to a third degree as I was still VERY pissed about drafting here during the first few weeks.

We had talked after that though. Found out the poor guy was a virgin with no dating experience, and the only mares he had ever known in his life were his adoptive mother, and young step sister. He didn’t even know what porn was when I asked, as he had only read books on science, magic, and all that braniac jizz. I had apologized after my reaction, and offered to teach him some ropes about what you should or shouldn’t do when it comes to mares. He has gotten better, but he’s got a long way to go though as his progress was just shown. We’ve gotten to be okay buds as we’ve gotten to know each other, but I sometimes feel there’s more to him than meets the eye. And of course there’s noooo way of letting him getting in my pants. That was the first rule I gave him with mares. When they say no to a date, or going to do something adult, you back off. He seemed to take that advice at heart.

After I pulled his body up from the floor, he brushed himself off, and wiped what blood was left dripping from his nose. He seemed to have gotten used to my… Over the top reactions, but I should really pull myself back a little. “Ugh. Anyway, we need to get to the training grounds, stat. And sorry for earlier,” he apologized.

“It’s okay. Sorry for throwing you to the wall,” I reciprocated.

“Eh, I’m starting to get used to it. Think it’s gotten me pretty resistant to physical pain, so that’s a plus. Oh! And Lumina, I was wondering if we could talk privately during lunch today?” Nil asked.

Huh, that’s strange. Haven’t heard something like that from him yet. Now I’m curious.

“Sure, we can do that. Just don’t get any ideas though,” I said while I slugged his shoulder with a teasing grin.

“Please, as if I have a chance,” Nil humbled.

We then started running to the training grounds where the other recruits were in two lines facing each other at two meters apart. They stood at attention on standby for further orders. At the end of one line though… There he was.

Shining Armor. The one pony within this academy who I can call the closest friend I have. And… Kind of my crush. 20 years old, 5’11”, white unicorn, mane in three different shades of blue reaching past his shoulders,  which was also tied in a pony tail like mine. His tail had the same colors as his mane that reached to his calves. His cutie mark was a blue shield with three light blue, five pointed stars above it, and a fuchsia six pointed star at the center of the defensive weapon, representing his strong willingness to protect his family, and others around him. Blue eyes, broad shoulders, washboard stomach, steel toned ass, and I’m getting over the top with the description aren’t I? Can you blame me though? He's just that fucking hot.

He was the first out of everyone in the Academy who had welcomed me and made an attempt to make friends with me, even when I didn’t want to be here, and wasn’t into making contact with anyone. I didn’t have any feelings for him at the time. I saw him as attractive, sure, but it wasnt enough for me to take a special interest in him.

I had actually attempted to run away from the academy once. I was caught in the act by him, and stopped me before I got away. Shining sympathized what I was going through, as he has a little sister back home that he dearly misses, and understood my homesickness. He also added how I could put the time in the academy to my advantage, training myself while I think about what I want to do with my life, and become a stronger individual both physically, and mentally in the process. After a long talk, he convinced me to stay, and that was where I had first developed my crush for him. To this day, no matter how much I struggled to get through the daily routines, spending time with him, getting to know him, and making friends with him, made my time here at the academy worth it.

Nil and I stood at attention in the line, me between him and Shining, as we faced forward.

“Glad you were able to make it. Rough morning today?” Shining asked in a whisper while still staring intently straight ahead.

“You can probably blame Nil for that,” I whispered back.

“I said I was sorry,” Nil defended.

“It’s just never a calm morning with you two isn’t it?” Shining asked with a small smirk while glancing back at me. I couldn’t help but blushed and stared to the side when I noticed that. Stupid sexy Shining.

“Quiet, the sergeant is coming,” someone else whispered, before the three of us stared straight ahead.

A brown, husky earth stallion with the usual camouflage uniform and hat, was stomping from the side, approaching to one end of the line, opposite from ours. He stopped and turned towards us.

“ATTENTION!” The sergeant commanded us with his loud, throat wrenching voice before we fixed our postures and stood upright. “Listen up cadets! Today we have a special guest from the Royal Guard who will be monitoring your performances, and evaluating your progress to be future Royal Guard Soldiers. Everyone give salute to Commander Dusknight!”

“GOOD MORNING DUSKNIGHT SIR!” We all yelled.

“At ease,” the voice ordered with a calm, yet firm tone before we shifted our balance to a more comfortable position, and put our arms behind our backs, still facing forward at attention.

Commander Marine Dusknight, a broad looking stallion, was sporting a navy blue suit with gold trims and matching slacks like other higher ranked guard stallions. He had his medals, bands, and symbols stuck on his chest and shoulders proudly, with an insignia of a red shield shaped like Shining’s, but had a black six pointed star in the center instead. He had a dark blue coat like his name implied, black mane that stretched below his shoulders with matching tail, and the one thing that can get even the strongest of warriors to their knees: his blood red colored eyes. The moment I had first saw those eyes as he looked at me, not only did they have a sense of beauty and wonder in them, it seemed he went through a dark past as I looked closer in those eyes. He had probably developed them while in the guard, but there was something more to it. Like whatever he had experienced or dealt with in the past, was something nobody would ever want to see, and that gave him a sense of coldness that could chill anyone to the bone. He’s the only one besides the old hag I’ve considered watching out for and not play games with, as I felt a sense of fear in myself every time he had looked at me.

“This squadron,” The commander said with a calm, yet somber tone as he walked down the space between the lines. Though staring straight ahead, he takes a few glances on each side as he passed by. “I can certainly see changes from some of you when I  had first saw you in orientation last year. Some of you… have gotten stronger. Not through physical means, no, but mentally. Whether you're stronger by emotion, cognition, or intelligence, that can only be shown once you're on the front lines. Some of you probably went through a traumatic, sad, or life changing experience, but you learned from them, and grew stronger in the end.

“There may be reasons why you’re here today. Whether it be to finding your place in life, searching yourself, or the main reason why we have this academy: to shape ponies into the best guards imagined to protect our royal monarch, our loved ones, and maintaining the peace in Equestria. Whatever motivations you have to coming here, I would like to say thank you for choosing this academy to find your calling, and for considering to be one of the many who will be offering their time and lives to maintaining this land of harmony.

“Today, I will be recording progress in your training, and I will be holding interviews to each of you about what you have experienced here, and what you’ll do next. There will be no skipping out on the latter. When I call you in, you follow with no argument, question, or excuses,” he stopped in front of me. Though he looked straight ahead, his fearsome red eyes turned their gaze toward my direction. “Do I make myself clear?” He asked.

“SIR YES SIR!” We all complied. Part of me wanted to think that last question goes to everyone in the squad, but when he looked at me back then… I could tell that question was directed mostly to me.

“Sergeant, they’re all yours,” the commander concluded before he walked past the rest of us out of the space.

“ALRIGHT CADETS!” The Drill Sergeant started. “FOUR LAPS AROUND THE TRACK! LET’S GO GO GO!”

“SIR YES SIR!” We followed before we got to the obstacle course.

Next Chapter: Chapter 3: Cyan's Movie Outing, Pizza Lunch, and Cutie Mark Concerns. Estimated time remaining: 9 Hours, 43 Minutes