Clare, Equestrian teleportation building:

I groaned as I rubbed the side of my head and stood up. The last thing I remembered was… “Oh yeah” I said in a low gruffly tone as I was met by the face of a female receptionist pony. “Mr. Clare I presume?” she asked and I nodded. Jesus I had never really paid attention to the stories about ponies but when the other guys said they were smaller than us I thought they meant by a few inches, not a few feet.

The receptionist stood maybe 3’5”, but I guess if she stood on her hindlegs she would be at least 5’3”. “Yes, I’m Clare” I replied and she nodded “This way please”.

She led me through the building and to the front entrance. “Do you see that carriage?” she asked and pointed to a yellow carriage. “Yeah” I replied, “That’ll take you straight to the Canterlot recruitment office” she informed me. I turned to thank her but she was already gone, “Thanks, I guess?” I muttered and walked up to the carriage.

I stepped into the carriage and sat down, it was so much more comfortable than a car. The ponies attached to the carriage started pulling the carriage towards Canterlot. “So Mr. Clare, I hear you were in the military” the driver called back. I leaned forward so I could talk to him. “Yeah, what about it?” I asked, “Oh well no offence I was just trying to create small talk” he replied and became rather quiet.

“I’m not offended, I was just asking what part of the military did you want to know about?” I asked and he turned his head back to me. “Well I was just wondering what you did? Engineer, pilot” he began but I cut him off. “The military paid me to kill people” I replied bluntly and he became quiet.

“Oh… I see, uhm well how’s things?” he asked and I tried to change the subject. “Alright I guess, how’s your life?” I asked. It was one of my biggest mistakes I had made so far. He began to go on about his life, like he was telling me every single detail of his life so far.

Clare, Canterlot recruitment center:

“Well here you are sir, have a nice time” Jethro, the driver, told me. I nodded and handed him some money. Apparently our currencies were rather interchangeable, one dollar equalled whatever the hell those gold coin looking things were.

I gave him a wave and walked into the recruitment office. The receptionist looked at me and her eyes widened. “Uhm can I help you sir?” she asked and I nodded. “Enlistment for royal guard please” I replied and she was probably stunned because she just sat there and didn’t say a thing.

“Uhm okay… can you please fill out these papers” she said and gave me a pile of papers. I took a pencil and quickly answered all the questions then handed the papers back to her. Most of the questions were easy: name, age etc.

“Okay, if you would be so kind as to follow me to the examination room please” she said and led me to another part of the building. “We have to give you a basic physical examination before we can bring you into training for the royal guard” the receptionist said as she opened a door and let me into the room. “The doctor will be with you in a moment” she said and left the room, leaving me alone inside.

I twitted my fingers as I waited, it was different than the Canadian military recruitment that was for sure.

A stallion walked into the room, his attention was focused on the papers. “Okay Mr. Clare, I understand that you… whoa… okay you’re… a human?” he asked and I nodded. “I see… okay well if you would please remove your shirt and pants and attach these monitors to your chest” he told me and handed me these little suction cup looking things, they were probably the same sort of things that the doctors use to measure your heart rate when someone exercises.

I got my clothes off and hooked up the little suction cup wires to my chest. “Okay Mr. Clare, if you would please step on the treadmill so we can begin” the doctor said and I did as I was told.

Third person, recruitment building:

The physical exam had been going on for hours and Clare showed no signs of exhaustion, his rigorous training with Nurse Bloom had really paid off. “I’ll uhm… be right back” the doctor said quickly and raced out of the room and to the receptionist desk. “Molasses, call Celestia. Tell her she has to see this” the doctor ordered her and she quickly called Celestia with the desk phone. Recently humans and ponies had shared their technology with each other and now ponies used phones rather than the old styled mail system to talk with one another over longer distances.

The doctor returned to the examination room where Clare was still going. “Uhm… so uhm I’ll be back… just uhm keep going okay” the doctor told Clare who nodded and continued to jog on the treadmill.

Soon after Celestia and Luna both arrived, Luna on her own decision to see what had the recruitment doctor so hyped up. “Celestia, you have to see this, come with me” the doctor told her and led her to a room with a one way window that allowed them to watch Clare in the examination room.

Celestia shrugged “So, it’s a human exercising” Celestia retorted and the doctor handed her a pile of papers that had recorded Clare’s physical exhaustion levels during the examination. Luna looked over the doctor’s shoulder and gasped. “He’s been doing this non-stop for the last eight hours?” she asked and the doctor nodded, Celestia simply shrugged. “What’s the big deal?” she asked plainly.

“Look at his vitals right now” the doctor said and pointed to the monitor in the room. It read that his heart rate was barely above normal. “His body must have been pushed to limits beyond what you push your guards to. I also called in the travel building and asked them to find out about this guy. He was in the Canadian military and was labelled inactive after he was nearly killed by an explosion, he could barely even walk four months ago, then he just got up and began to run again” the doctor informed the princess.

Celestia thought about it for a moment. “I don’t want him” she replied bluntly, both the doctor and Luna gasped. “WHAT” Luna gasped and Celestia turned to her sister. “Our royal guard consists of unicorns and pegasus for a reason sister, they have abilities that others do not. Even though this human has extreme physical fitness he cannot fly nor can he probably shoot a gun” Celestia told her sister.

“Actually… uhm the military reports state that he can continuously hit bull’s-eyes at one hundred yards with an open sighted rifle ma’am” the doctor informed her but her mind would not be changed. “Even so, he is a different species and would not…” Celestia began but Luna interrupted her “I’ll take him. Tell him he’s already passed training and have him report to the royal castle throne room tonight at 8pm sharp” Luna ordered.

Celestia looked to her sister and shook her head. “He is your responsibility Luna, I will not take responsibility for your elite guards” Celestia said as they both left the recruitment office.

Clare, inside recruitment office:

My hair was still wet, I had used the shower room behind the examination rooms to wash up before I got ready to go. “So she really said that?” I asked and the doctor nodded.

“Yes, but you better hurry because it’s 7:45 now and you don’t want to be late” the doctor told me. I nodded, “Thanks doc, see yah around” I called out as I dashed out the front doors and looked around. I saw a castle looming above all the other buildings and figured that had to be the royal castle.