Day 1:

2 Days before Nightmare Night

0530 Hours

Star Grazer walked through the pastoral meadows of Manehattan’s suburban outskirts. The crisp spring air blew across his face. He skipped along happily, the smell of Delilah wafted from the rolling hills as he wondered on that bright sunny day. A small river that ran past Manehattan flowed into a modest little pond tucked just out of sight of the city. The birds chirped and the animals roamed, as he skipped to the still face of water. He looked in and saw his reflection. A handsome fellow one might say! Toned muscles shaped the denim jacket he had over his white beater. Star Grazer looked up at the sun but strangely enough it wasn’t all that bright. Probably the shades he had on. He continued to view himself in the reflection when a white unicorn pony with a blue mane and bright shining armor stood behind him. Star Grazer stared at the comforting yet menacing face for a while before feeling a sudden dull pain in his stomach. Star Grazer fell over into the pond and began to flail his arms in panic.

Star Grazer opened his eyes to see the same face glaring down at him. He looked behind the armored stallion to see the barracks devoid of ponies. He slowly began to stand up when he was shoved back down by this pony. His sea blue eyes gazed deeply into Star Grazers dark cerulean eyes. The stallions jaw was a chiseled iron vice. It slowly opened as Star Grazer anticipated the pony to begin to speak.

”DOES THIS LOOK LIKE CLOUDSDALE TO YA? ARE WE MILES HIGH IN THE SKY? ARE YOU GOING TO SIT THERE AND LOOK LIKE A MULE OR ARE YOU GOING TO ANSWER ME? HAY FOR BRAINS! ARE WE IN FUCKING CLOUDSDALE?” Star Grazers ears rang as he attempted to stand up, slipping on the wet cobblestone. A bucket was lying next to the stallion.

Star Grazer was very tentative before speaking. “Uh… Hey? Why are you yelling?”

”THAT’S CAPTAIN TO YOU! PRIVATE! BUT AS OF RIGHT NOW! YOU CAN REFER TO ME AS SERGEANT! SERGEANT SHINING ARMOR! NOW GET OUT THESE BARRACKS AND GO OUT INTO THE YARD YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT! MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!”

0800

”GET YOUR BLANK FLANK UP THAT HURDLE! YOU! QUIT SLACKING! FASTER, FASTER! MOVE, MOVE, MOVE! LIGHT DASHER, WHO GAVE YOU PERMISSION TO REST? 10 WIND SPRINTS AROUND THE YARD! STAR GRAZER, SHINGLES KEEP UP WITH HER OR NO FOOD FOR YOU! COLT SHOOTERS!”

Star Grazer knew that training was going to be tough. He expected the trainer to be rough. What he didn’t a expect is a stallion who instills more terror than a Manticore. He sighed, or well would have, if he wasn’t breathing so heavily as he sprinted after the Pegasus flying in the air. He looked over to his left seeing the entire compound they called The Yard. It was a large oval shaped space with four obstacle courses set up, one for each pony type and a coop exercise. This was his first day in training and he already wanted to quit. He was infracted for asking for breakfast. Those showers smelled like raw sewage… the raw sewage I slipped in was nothing compared to those showers… He looked over to his right to see an exhausted green unicorn attempting to keep up. To Star Grazer’s dismay he collapsed prompting Sergeant Manticore to yell at him and Light Dasher to do five more sprints.

0900

”Attention!” everypony in the barracks quieted and looked at Shining Armor. ”I said, ATTENTION!!! Everypony snapped to a salute at the realization of what he wanted. Star Grazer was a little late on the matter and got a feeling he was going to regret it. YOU! FOUR EYES AND BLUE EYES! FRONT AND CENTER! He was right…

“Yes sir?” Shining Armor glared at him making him cower a little. Suddenly the armored ponies face turned from one of intense anger to that of kind gentleness.

“Hi, Private Star Grazer right? I think we got off to a bad start. Lets start over by introducing ourselves to our fellow ponies hmm?” A smile broadened across his face. He turned Star Grazer to the group of Colts and two Mares in the small musty barracks. He was about to speak before being interrupted. “Allow me!”

“Everypony! This is Private Star Grazer! Does everyone see him?” Nods were shared around the room. “This here is a star pony. Tell me Star! How tall are you?”

“uh… Im four hooves tall sir.”

“Huh. I think you set the record for Equestria’s Tallest Foal Sitter! Tell me. Are you educated?” Star Grazer perked up at this question.

“Why yes actually! I studied at the college o-“

“WOAH! I didn’t know they let Hay for Brains here into college! Shoot! If I didn’t have this Royal Guard thing going, I would have tried college! Maybe then I wouldn’t have to deal with pinheaded ponyfeathers like you lot! Now then!” He pushed Star Grazer making him stumble and fall on his face… literally, causing some small cuts to bleed out. “Aww… Look at that! The little filly got hurt! Do you all see this pony?! That is an example of what you DON’T want to be in this guard!”

At that moment Star Grazer snapped up, back hoofing Shining Armor in the chest making him fall back a bit. He completely turned around to face Shining only to have a hoof jammed into his nose. He saw a string of blood fly in front of him as the white pony galloped toward him. Shining placed a blow into Star Grazer’s side. The adrenaline rush Star Grazer got kept him from feeling pain as he pounced Shining Armor grabbing hold of his left hooves. They both fell over and began tossing blows at each other’s sides. Shining Armor managed to land a solid punch to the nose again and was released from Star’s grip. Star Grazer slammed a hoof down on the ground, spinning himself around swiping at Shining’s legs causing him to fall over. Star Grazer gets up and places a hoof down on Shining’s throat, gritting his teeth and heavily breathing. Shining Armor smiled at him which enraged Star Grazer. He almost finished Shining off but looked down to notice a blade at his neck.

“Very good. Very good. That was very impressive Star Grazer. I didn’t expect that sweep at all. However you need to utilize the resources around you.” He turned toward the large crowd of ponies at the barracks. “That, everypony, is not what you want to be in the Royal Guard… You want to be like him in the Equestrian Royal Army! Good work, Corporal Grazer.”

2200

Star Grazer was exempt from the rest of training for the day. Much to his dismay the other ponies became resentful. He never really did have time to talk with anypony anyway. The rest of the day, after the fight, was spent having Star Grazer fitted with a jacket that had the Equestrian Royal Symbol on it. It also had a strange badge on it he had never seen before. Shining Armor explained that the new ranking system and badge came from the changeling. Star Grazer got the feeling Shining Armor admired the changeling more then he puts on about.

Star Grazer was constantly shot resentful looks as he began preparing to go to sleep. He began unpacking his things, being that he never had time to do so the night before. He placed the picture of the beautiful mare next to his saddlebag that served as his pillow. He took out his parchment, ink, and quill and began writing down the events of his day. I hope cherry enjoys reading the adventure im having! She will be so proud and happy to know she has a Colt like me! He sighed as he finished writing up his final thoughts. He looked around the barracks. The day seemed to go by quickly. Almost as if it hopped from what place to another… Strange… it’s like the days are starting to merge together… At this thought he shuddered. To have to go through a day like today everyday would be a nightmare!

Star Grazer yawned and felt he should probably get some rest. Never know what life is going to throw at you! He smiled at the wall and laid his head on the saddlebag, allowing his thoughts free rain.Tomorrow will be a piece of cake! Next Chapter: A Case of Blue Blood pt1 Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 25 Minutes