Day 2

1 Day before Nightmare Night

0500

Light Dasher hadn’t talked to Star Grazer much at all the past two days. They seemed to go by all to quickly. That only left the night in which she is too exhausted to even consider it. The showers were actually quite large compared to the barracks they slept in. Light Dasher stood there sticking her head in the stream of hot water. The warmth trickled down her mane and washed the sleepiness of the morning away. The water felt good against her coat. She hummed a small tune as she began to wash her mane. Peeking out the corner of her eyes she noticed two stallions staring at her flank. She almost peaked with fury before catching herself. A sly smile broke across her face.

“Oh, boys!” She said in her most seductive voice. The stallions acted as if they didn’t notice her until that moment. “Why don’t one of you come over here and keep me company? Hmm?” A tall blue coated stallion rushed over to her, nearly slipping a few times. She giggled causing him to turn a reddish color.

“Hey. What’s up?” He leaned against the wall of the shower making sure to avoid the knob to the showerhead he stood under. She dropped the brush she had and bent down to pick it up, raising her flank in the air in a slow arching motion. The stallions were having an increasingly hard time controlling themselves. After picking up the brush she walked over the the stallion. She gently picked up his hoof as she stared deeply into his eyes. The stallions face burned fire red through his blue coat as he heard a squeeking noise. For a breaf moment he saw a wicked smile break across the mares face before intense cold washed over his body. He jumped and ran out the showers screaming like a little filly.

“Anyone else want a look?” A wicked smile was still painted over bitter anger. Everypony except Star Grazer averted their eyes. Star Grazer was too busy laughing to do so. She ignored Star Grazer and flicked her wings at the other ponies as she proudly walked out of the showers with a grunt.

0823

Shining Armor called the ponies to attention as he strolled through the barracks. He drilled the ponies on proper military eticate and after a few hours of practice it seemed that they got it. Shining Armor was glad that changeling came around. His weird new methods seemed to work a lot better than just complimenting the soldiers when doing good and encouring them to do better. “I called you all here for a reason! The special task force Team Green Bean will be overseeing the training up until mobilization. The Overseer is among one of your ranks watching you all individually. He or She will be watching you. Don’t mess up” The air seemed to shift in the room to something a little more stuffy. Nervous glances were shared among the soldiers as they shifted in their spots awaiting for that blissful moment to be set at ease. “Now then with this in mind, id hope that you woiuld put forth your best effort during training sessions! No more slacking off and falling behind. Being tired is no excuse!” He shot an accusatory glance at Star Grazer.

Silence filled the partially lit, stone room. The air, still stuffy and hard to breath. It was almost as if everypony was holding their breath. Waiting for something to happen, anything to happen, to break the silence and thickness in the room. Shining Armor walked to the door and quickly turned to the ponies, taking a long look around at all of them.

Soldiers! FALL IN

1415

Who is that pony? Which one is he? Why is this bothering me so much?!?! Light Dasher was in a tizzy, sitting at the mess hall table. Star Grazer sat across from her munching on some lettuce she didn’t want in a annoyingly bored way. She took the Daffodil and Daisy sandwhich in one hoof gesturing to Star Grazer if he wanted some. He nodded his head and continued to stare at his lettuce and munch on some from time to time.

“Hey Star Grazer you alright bud?” She craned her head.

“Yeah I just made a sad realization though…” He took a bite of lettuce and grimaced. It was rotting…

“Whats on your mind then? Training is tough and all but it aint all that bad.” Star Grazer chuckled at how off topic that last sentence.

“Hmm… I don’t know… It might affect some of the goings on here. You ran or…er, flew, 20 straight wind sprints then won a spear training match against that particularly big fellow.” Referring to a largely built stallion, he noticed the gesture and glared at him causing Star to recoil in fear.

“Ah who cares just tell me.” She nonchalantly took a bite of her sandwhich.

“Well…” Star Grazer leaned in toward her and spoke in a hushed tone “There is no ‘overseer’ pony in our group.” Light rolled her eyes then feigned a shocked look.

“Oh my goodness… It’s the end of the world!!!” Chuckling, Light Dasher went for another bite of her sandwhich. To her dismay, she ate it all. “It really is the end of the world…”

Now Star Grazer was the one who rolled his eyes. “Well yeah. No omnipotent pony in our midst.” She looked at him with a very confused expression. “All knowing.” She relaxed.

1600

CRACK!

“OUT!”

The referee at the sparring circle was obnoxiously loud for the small stoney cubicle that jutted out toward The Yard. Light Dasher was unstoppable. As soon as the whistle blew she was no longer a pony. She was more like a deadly snake. A simple, side jump and swipe, duck and jab, or a jump and smash to “kill” her enemy. She ws as graceful as she is deadly. She broke more than 12 ‘spears’ across ponies bodies.

“Come on! Give me a real challenge all these ponies are good for is breaking sticks” She blew a piece of her mane out of the way and began twirling the stick around. She looked around the room at the remaining ponies who weren’t to injured to continue sparring. “How about you?” She pointed to a ragged stallion with a a white coat and a short dirty blonde mane. Not dirty as in dark, it was actually dirty…

The stallion quietly stepped up to the raised circular platform and was handed a spear. He stood on his end of the circle, looking at Light Dasher unattentively, much to the chagrin of Light Dasher.

“ARE YOU BOTH READY?” The referee’s voice boomed in the room.

Light dasher nodded and grunted at the stallion. “You ready?” She asked with an intensity, opposed to the stallions feeble yes in response.

“FIGHT!” The whistle blew.

2021

Light Dasher woke up on a hard lumpy bed. The room was made of cobblestone on all sides. T Celestia’s seal could be seen hanging from the walls on either end of the rectangular shaped room. She was at the very far edge of the room. A long row of beds were against the wall, some occupied with injured ponies. One pony in particular to her left a few beds down had blood stained bandages across their face and chest. After a few more furtive glances toward the bloodied pony she realized she was in the infirmary.

She attempted get up from the bed. A wave of dizziness overcame her and she fell back down with a thunk. These beds really are uncomfortable… I can see why its not recommended you get hurt. She made another attempt. This time she got on her two front hooves shaking off another wave of dizziness. What happened anyway? She was now on all four hooves and walking toward the door. The wooden door creaked open as she pushed it open to find Shining Armor and Star Grazer talking to a stallion. Upon closer inspection it was that stallion she had sparred earlier. Why would he be-? Her thoughts were cut off by a flashback.

3 hours ago

“FIGHT!”

Light Dasher yawned as the white coated pony rushed toward her. She was caught off guard by the ponies speed and hopped to the side to avoid a jab to the face. She had fumbled with the spear as he turned around for another pass. She picked it up in time to block a downward strike. She ducked under a swipe and pulled up in a fighting stance, slightly more winded than she would prefer. The white blur hopped side to side making several faints toward her. She fell the trap each time and barely dodged jabs and swipes left and right. She parried another strike and smacked him clear across the face with the weapon.

“HIT!”

They both stopped and went back to their respectful positions. She looked up from the ground to see his sky blue eyes. Under the cool blue she saw a sea of anger rise and fall toward her. She merely chuckled at the sight. A poor little filly who cant handle being beaten. She made a gesture toward him, mimicking that of a crying foal. He nearly lunged at her before the referee blew the whistle again.

“FIGHT”

This time prepared, Light Dasher jumped in place. Her opponent, confused for moment, gave her the chance she needed to finish him off. She flapped her wings and propelled herself toward the stallion. He side stepped and swung at her grazing the tip of her wing. She turned around and went in for another assault. She jumped when a bolt of some sort whizzed by her. She landed with a thump and looked up to see that his horn was glowing. She rolled to the side as another bolt shot at her. She rolled constantly out of the way. His bolts were becoming more and more accurate as they came closer and closer to her body. She kept dodging them and dropper her spear. She  ran toward it only to have it blown away by a mystic light purple blast. She watched him with a look of contempt that he gladly returned.

“Your not bad.” A mix of anger and playfulness mixed into her words.

“Hmph! You have comparable skill as well.” The stallion spoke with an air of super imposed superiority.

“Make it easier for yourself and just quit. You are good but you don’t have skills like mine.” She smiled at his reaction. It was pure sugar on the cake of frosting. He nearly lost it.

“You dare compare yourself to me?! Let alone, think yourself better then me?!” She snickered.

“What if I do? Your not as good as me!”

With that final statement the stallion rushed Light Dasher. She merely jumped out of the way and gently tapped him on the back with the spear. The referee raised his hoof to Light Dasher.

“WINNER”

To the surprise of her and everyone else the stallion rushed at her again. This time making a direct hit straight into her chest. She doubled over in pain as she looked up to see him leap into the air above her. She rolled out of the way and gave him a shove. He barely moved from the push however. It felt like she was pushing a stone wall. He grabbed hold of her hoofs as he pulled her closer to him. He managed a few good hits with his “spear” to the chest before she squirmed out and began running.

They stormed out of the sparring room and into The Yard. He threw his “spear” landing a few hoof steps away from her. She quickly spun around and dropped to pick up the stick. He was rushing at full speed toward her. She waited. She waited. A few more seconds… Then she jumped out of the way for him to fall over some training equipment left out by the others. He faceplanted on the ground as she began to pummel him with the stick. He was looking pretty bad before she noticed that his horn was glowing. She had a hard time dodging the big rock that was above her head as it fell.

Next Chapter: A case of Blue Blood pt2 Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 17 Minutes