I woke up to the sound of my alarm, "ugh, what time is it?" I looked at my clock. "7AM!!!! fuck! I'm late!!" I quickly got out of bed and headed towards my wardrobe.
"NO NO NO! Capt. Sugarcane is going to kill me!!!" I grabbed my uniform and begian to put it on. Despite that i hate what i do I always loved the uniform, it's simialr to the royal guard uniforms; Except silver and the mohawk thing is red, with our rank in the middle of helemt; The officers had the royal guards uniform. If you're wondering, yes the officers are the royal guards, or at least most of them are.
I looked at myself in the mirror i had next to my wardrobe to see if my uniform was on correctly.
"damn, I look good" I winked at my reflextion.
I ran as i made my way to my post. I bumped into lots of other ponies as i made my way there, some even panicked when they saw me run by wearing my uniform; They must of thought the NLR attacked us again. When I finally got to my post, I saw my officer waiting for me.
"PVT. BUCKLE, UP AND CENTER!!!!" I knew that tone all to well. It felt like my mom was yelling at me, execpt my mom wouldn't have court marshaled.
I quickly trotted up to her and saluted her. "Captian Sugarcane; sorry for being" she interupted me before I could finish.
"Can it, Private. Now would you mind telling my, WHY IN ALL OF CELESTIAS WORLD WHERE YOU!?" she said, in the angriest voice ive ever heard.
"yes ma'am, i woke up late ma,am" my hoof was starting to shake from both nervousness and from it being sore from yesterday.
she looked at me skeptically. "you woke up late private?"
"yes ma'am i woke up late" my hoof was violently shaking now. "THATS NOT A GOOD EXUSE PRIVATE!!!" I swear the house almost moved from her shout.
"Now since you're late; I have a special assignment for you" I saw the devilish grin she gave me when she said those words.
Never again, never again will I be late for my duty, Sugercane made me patrol Ponyville. I wouldn't of minded this.....200 YEARS AGO!! Seriously ever since the NLR came to power, Ponyville has been a strong supporter. It doesn't help that they are in Solar Empire territory; tensions there are so high, even a Pegasus would look up in fear. Throughout the day I got rocks thrown at me, called a "imperial pig" and one even tried to stab me in back of neck, lucky my partner was there and saw him before he got close enough to do it; not to mention this was all in the first hour.
Now I bet you're wondering why I joined the emipre; well I was drafted, The NLR took out one of our bases in New Appleloosa. I will never know how the managed to do that, there had been 500 soldiers stationed there, and they took them out like it was nothing. The civilians weren't hurt, just the the military; how I wish we could be like that. We have orders to kill any who is a Lunar Rebel, suspected of being one, or is helping them. I'm surprised we haven't killed all of Ponyville yet, I mean like almost everypony there supports the NLR. Huh......I better ask Sugarcane about this. I went to bed and set up my alarm. I really dont wana be late for patrolling tomorrow.
I woke up and I checked my alarm. 5AM, good my alarm woke me up on time. I got out of bed and I made my way to my wardobe, where I pulled out my uniform. I put on my armor and put my helmet on
I went down stairs and grabbed the Hayflakes box and poured the Hayflakes into a bowl. I went to my fridge and opened it, I looked inside to grab the milk. Then one of my nightmares came to life.
"FUCK!!!!!" I screamed a the top of my lungs. "I forgot to pick up milk" I whispered to myself as I facehoofed.
"Ok if I leave right now I'll be able to get to the mess hall and eat somethng before my shift." Then I realized something, Why was I talking to my self?
I trotted toward my door; where I heard a commotion outside. I opened the door to see what was going on. I saw mares and stallions run toward the center of Canterlot. I knew what this meant. They were holding a execution. I followed the crowd to the center of the city. Good thing i dont live far from the center, my parents would always go here and just hang out, or meet up with friends.
If you're wondering, no Im not a Unicorn, and neither were my parents. My mother was a Pegasus and my father was a Earth Pony, I came out a Earth pony. How I wish, I had my mothers wings; how cool would it be to be able to fly! Anyway back to what I was saying. My father won the lottery, and won 100 million bits; We moved to canterlot from Hoofington. My parents died when some random pony broke into our house and tried to find the bits. My father heard a noise downstairs and went to go check it out, that was the last thing he ever did. The burgler saw my father and stabbed him to death, my mother heard the noise and went downstairs to see if everthing was ok. The burgler saw her and stabbed her to death as well. were was i? Well I was over at my friends house for a sleep over. When my friends mom went to drop me off we saw police tape, royal guards and investigators. I went up to them and asked them what happend to my parents. The look on his face was one of pure sorrow, He told me what happend. I cried for several months after that. I stayed in our old house, and since I was just old enough they gave me the option to either be takeing into a foster family, or take care of myself. i don't think I need to say which I chose.
I finally arrived to the center of town. I made my way past the crowed to see who was being executed; I could not belive my eyes! Sugarcane, Sugarcane was standing on the platform with a rope tied around her neck. One of the royal guards stepped up and said "you have been labled a traitor. your crimes agianst the empire, The people, and to Celestia are unforgivable, and must be paid in blood" Everypony in the crowed was yelling horrible things at her; some even threw rocks at him, a few even hit her.
The royal guard finally said "Any last words, traitor?" Sugarcane looked apon the crowed. After a secnond she saw and landed her eyes on me. Sugarcane looked at me for a moment and grinned.
He stood silent silent for a moment and said "You're making a mistake."
As soon as the words left Sugarcanes mouth they pulled the leaver, opening the trap door at the bottom of Sugarcanes hooves. she fell down till the rope managed to tighten around her neck and suffocate her. I bet if the cowed wasn't so loud I would hear the snapping noise of her neck.
The crowed roared at the lifeless body of Sugarcane, slowly rocking back and forth. They were happy at the death of this so called "traitor". I just stared at the lifeless body not knowing what to think. Sugarcane dosent seem like the type that would betray Celestia and the Empire. Was it true? Was he really framed? And even if she was who would want her dead?
I left the scene keeping my head down. "Rest in peace, sugarcane" I whispered to myself.
I made my way to my post and reported in; When I came in I meet my new officer , Capt. Thundermane. He was a white, Pegasus with a gold mane and light yellow streaks. I can see why his parents gave him that name. he's a member of the royal guards; Its funny actually like 99.99% of the royal guards are white with a blue mane, it makes them all look like clones or something.
Anyway they called in the whole platoon to tell us what happened to Sugarcane, since most of us live here in the barracks we tend to be ignorant about the outside. The only reason that I live at my own house is because I live 10 minutes away, and they are a bit over crowded here.
We got into our ranks and Thundermane and another pony who I didn't know trotted in front of us. "Platoon, parade rest!" He called the command and the whole platoon flawlessly executed the command, and yes including me. Just cause I don't like the job I have to do, and I was late ONCE, doesn't mean I'm not a Solar Empire solider.
"I'm sure you all are wondering,what happen to Sugarcane?" He said in a bold and sturdy tone. "Well unfortunately she was labeled a traitor, and was executed earlier today"
Everypony looked shocked; Everypony but me. Thundermane noticed that I wasn't shocked. He pointed a hoof at me and said "you there, private mind telling us why arent you surprised" I looked at him and sauluted "Pirvate Buckle, sir, I was there to witness his execution" He looked at me with a eyebrow raised.
"And what were you doing outside of the base?" The pony next to him whispered something I his ear. "My apologies Private, I didn't know we had a special case" He looked at me and then at the platoon and said "No more questions? Good"
"platoon, ATTENTION!" he said it in a very stereotypical drill sergeant tone. i had to hold back my chuckle. "fall out!" everypony left in a unorderly fashion to their post. i better go see where im patrolling.
Chapter 2: Moonlights Shadow
Chapter 2: Moonlight's shadow
I was prone among the tall grass, just outside of Ponyville. The morning breeze rustling the grass.
"Hey, Moonlight?" a voice whispered next to me "Yeah?" i whispered back. "why do you think Sarge had us waiting here?" I turned around to look at my squad leader "Ha, you're the squad leader when Sarge isn't around, Gritter. You tell me." I said. "Hey its not my fault that Sarge wouldn't talk. He said it was suppose to be a special assignment of some sort.
A third voice came into our conversation "Well whatever it is i hope it isn't another boring scouting mission."
Gritter and I both turned our heads to the New Blood. "They may be boring, new blood but this is how we took over Appleoosa." Grittier said in a annoyed tone.
"I have a" Gritter cut her off "Well you're gunna have to show us that you're worthy of that name, New Blood." The New Blood looked at both me and Gritter and frowned. A few minutes later our sergeant arrived. He looked at the 3 of us and said "Corporal, Private, New Blood; glad to see you're all here. Now ditch your uniforms" we all gave a puzzled look. Then finally Gritter said "Permission to speak freely sir?" Sarge looked at him. "What's on your mind Corporal?"
Gritter cleared his voice and said "why the hell do we need to change? All of Ponyville supports Luna's cause." Sarge looked at all of us and with a flat tone said "Ponyville supports us, but not the Empire. Celestia still has control over Ponyville and our sources tell us there will be units patrolling the streets." We all looked at Sarge with blank expressions on our faces.
"Now if there aren't any more questions; get changing!" Sarge said.
We changed into our new cloths and regrouped about 100 meters outside of Ponyville. Sarge took a look at us and said "Well don't you all look dashing." The New Blood was moving around in her uniform and was complaining about her cloths being being to itchy or something.
"Hey Sarge, can I maybe get a more conferrable shirt?" Sarge looked at her and said "Get used to it, New Blood. You'll get what we give you and you'll like it. Now let's get going."
We all started to trot towards Ponyville. I trotted back to the New Blood and whispered "Don't take it to seriously, Haystack, they were all New Bloods at one point." Haystack smiled at me and said "Thanks, Moonlight."
We trotted into Ponyville and almost Imminently saw two Solar Empire solders patrolling the area. We passed the two guards unnoticed; I got a look at one of them. He was blue with a dark brown mane, He almost looked like my father.
After a short trot past the guards we finally arrived at our destination.....a cider bar.
"AWWWW YEAH!!! Sarge finally decided to treat us to a drink" Gritter yelled right, next to my ear. I swear I would of gone deaf if it were just a little louder. Sarge smacked Gritter in back of the head.
"Ow! What was" Sarge cut her off and in a menacing whisper said "Damn it, corporal, are you trying to get us caught?"
"Sorry" Gritter said in a almost inaudible voice. "Sorry doesn't cut it, corporal" Sarge said.
It was weird seeing Sarge like this. He isn't a hard ass, he's normally a really chill stallion. It's probably that the empire wants him dead, REALLY REALLY badly. Out of all the NLR assassination attempts, Sarge, has come the closest to actually murdering Celestia. The only thing that stopped him was that the princesse teleported to another room. Or at least that's what Sarge said anyway.
We went inside the cider bar; it was dark an in ruins, plus smelled of piss, vomit, and apples. This place has probably seen better days. Sarge told us to wait for him wile he went to go contact the base, how he was going to do that? I had idea. We went to go sit down at the stools. This stallion who obviously had to much to drink, came up to the three of us.
"Well by Celestia's grace, what are three beautiful mare's doing in this dump?" We turned to look at the buck. He was white with a sorta magenta mane. Haystack told the buck to rightfully fuck off. He looked at Haystack "You're too ugly anyway"
He turned back to me and Gritter. "What about you fine pieces of flank? Wanna see me rock your world?" Gritter looked at the buck and with a calm voice told the buck "If you don't leave us alone, I will make you regret the day you were born."
The buck pushed me out of my stool and grabbed Gritter by the throat "I FUCKING WISH YOU WOULD, CU." Haystack grabbed a mug and smashed it on the stallions head. The buck turned around to Haystack and yelled. "YOURE GUNNA REGET THAT"
I used my telekinesis to grab my counseled gun and pointed it at the stallion's forehead. "you sure you wanna do that?" He looked me terrified. He slowly backed away from me and Haystack; then Gritter hit him upside the head with a mug.
"GRITTTER! WHAT THE FUCK!?" I yelled at her. "Nopony touches me, especially some drunken stallion." We looked at the uncoinsius buck on the floor. It took us a moment to relize that he was bleeding from his head. Soon a pool of crimson formed next to the stallions head; Everypony took notice of this.
"THEY KILLED, CHESTER!!!!" Somepony yelled from across the room, it sounded like a mare. Frankly i was surprised that drunken bastered had mare-freinds.
Soon a crowed of ponies surrounded us, all with menacing faces, and murder in their eyes. "Guys, we need to get outta here" Gritter whispred to us. "No shit, sherlock" i whispered back. "wha-what about Sarge?" we could hear the fear in her voice. "dont worry about him, New Blood" Gritter sure knows how to give ponies reassurance. I looked around for a exit or anything that would help us; Then i had my answer.
I turned my head to my companions and whispered "When i give the signal, I want the both of you to cover your eyes" They both nodded in agreement. The crowd started to close in.
"NOW!!" both Haystack, and Gritter covered there eyes. I casted a spell, the room was filled with a bright light, blinding everypony with their eyes open.
"RUN TO THE FRONT DOOR" We ran for our lives toward the front door, pushing ponies outa the way. We bursted out of the front door, taking a turn on a ally way. After running for what felt like a life time, we stopped to catch our breath, and to make sure we weren't followed.
"G-Good thinking, Moonlight" Gritter said while trying to catch her breath. "Come on we need to get going, every guard in the town will be looking for us" Gritter struggled to say that sentence. I swear if she doesn't stop smoking she wont be able to run for more then 20 feet.
"You ok, New Blood?" Haystack looked at Gritter and nodded. Gritter asking someone if they're ok? That's a new one. We slowly trotted through the ally's, being weary not to be seen by anyone. Every Imperial solider must be looking for us at this point.
We were about to exit Ponyville, when a single Solider was standing In front of us. He had his back turned to us so he couldn't see us. At that moment I couldn't help but chuckle. "Moonlight? What are you laughing at?" Gritter whispered in a concerned tone. "Sorry, it's just that I bet he has trouble with camouflage with that bright red coat of his" I whispered back. They both looked at me like I was crazy. Then a small smile crossed their faces. "Yeah I bet he dose." Haystack whispered.
"Well we need to get rid of him, any ideas?" Gritter looked at both of us. "We could wait it out, and see If he moves" Haystack suggested. Gritter and I both nodded in agreement.
10 Minutes. 10 Minutes he stood there without a single movement. "Screw this, I'm taking him out. You two wait here." Gritter pulled out her knife. It had a shine to it when she pulled it out. "Gritter, don't." Quite, New Blood, let me handle this. Gritter turned to me and said "If things go south, you're in charge." I nodded. "Be careful." Was all I could say. Gritter smiled and said "Relax, we both know I'm as sneaky as STDs" We both shared a quite laugh.
I took Haystacks hoof and we hid behind a large box. Haystack turned to me and whispered "Why didn't you try to stop her?" I turned to her and gave a small grin. "I have faith in her. Out of all the years I've known her she's never failed a sneak challenge. Besides nothing will get through that thick skull of hers anyway." Haystack looked at me with a skeptical look.
FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!!! One of the soldiers saw Gritter and took her away. Gritter was kicking and screaming when they took her. I very badly wanted to go out and help her. Luna only knows what they're going to do to her. Fuck Haystack and I need to get the fuck outa here.
