Shade Nightrunner entered the abandoned apartment complex. He looked down at the paper he held in his hoof then around at his surroundings. "Surely this is the right place" he thought to himself. He entered the second room on his left just as the paper told him to do.
"Hello? Shade Nightrunner reporting for duty!" the young pegaus stallion called out. Suddenly a bookshelf to his right opened up revealing a secret passageway, a alicorn mare with a maroon coat, and a red and black streaked mane standing in the opening.
"Hey there Rookie, names Madrox welcome to Celestias Bane" she said. "Follow me."
Shade eagerly followed Madrox into the passageway, the bookshelf closing behind them. Torches came to life all along the hallway that they were now in. Madrox took the new recruit in. He was a pegasus stallion with a purely black coat, and white and black mane and tail and his eyes were a deep shade of red. He did look quite strong, looking capable of lifting several pounds of weight. They reached the end of the tunnel were they were momentarily blinded by the sudden light, when there eyes adjusted Shade couldnt believe what he saw. There before his eyes was an entire underground miltary base. Weapons, war machines and ponies of every kind lay out before him. Shade's smile grew to that of an outstretched grin, one that would make a certain pink pony jealous.
"This...This is... I Just cant put it into words" exclaimed Shade.
"You and every other recruit" chuckled Madrox.
"So when do we get to do all the awesome stuff, I want to shoot me some badies" Shade said while pretending to fire off a gun.
"Eager huh recruit?" laughed Madrox. "Well first, state your name."
"Names Shade Nightrunner mam" said Shade while saluting.
"Lets get you to your squad then recruit" said Madrox while walking off, Shade in tow.
As they neared a group of ponies Shade took them in. One was a pegasus stallion, muscalur, brown coat, and red hair. Another was a earth pony mare, Small build, a pure white coat and hair. The one thing they had in common, they were all blank flanks.
"Recruits, Attention!" yelled Madrox. The ponies in the small group stood at attention, saluting as they did so.
"This is your new squad mate, Shade Nightrunner, now as I said earlier, I want you all to treat each other with respect, remember we are not enemies we are all brothers and sisters in this group, is that understood?" said Madrox.
"MAM YES MAM" yelled the recruits in unison.
"Well then, welcome to Celetia's Bane." smiled Madrox.
Madrox walked away, leaving the recruits to themselves. Shade studied the pegasus stallion to his left, he seemed a bit withdrawn from the group, never making eye contact with any of them, while the earth pony mare to his right was not being very subtle about wanting to talk to them.
"Hey Shade, Im Nightingale, yes like the flower that only grows at night for I was born at night. I joined Celestias bane because I think she is really unfair with the taxes and also I love butter..." she countinued like this for about five more minutes spewing everything she had to say like a waterfall.
"So why are you here Shade?" She asked.
"Im here because my father was a part of the royal guard and died in combat. Celestia never gave us the bit's we were promised and laughed at us when we begged for it." said Shade.
"What about you Mr silent?" asked Nightingale directing her words to the other recruit.
"Im Fallen Star, and I joined due to my steadfast loyalty to Luna the true princess of Equestria. He stood up while saying this revealing a very muscular body and that he was taller than Shade and nightingale thought.
"Well should we hit the training grounds? They are probably expecting us over there" said Fallen already heading in the direction of said training grounds.
"I see no arguments there" laughed Shade.
As the trio made there way to training grounds Shade decided he should try to make more conversation with Fallen. He made his way next to him taking in his surroundings as he did so.
"So, Fallen, your pretty tall, how did that happen?" Shade asked.
"Well, I've always been taller than most ponies, I guess its just a natural thing for me" Fallen shrugged.
"Well, since were a squad now, I say we get to know each others strengths and weaknesses, I'll start. My strength is my strength, there hasn't been a fight I haven't won, my weakness I guess is my pride. I wont back down from any challenge if my pride is at stake" said Shade.
"My strength is my awesomness with the blade, I guess my weakness is that I may be to trusting, but hey I trust you none the less" said Nightingale.
"I guess my strength is the sword as well as dog fights, my only weakness is if anypony makes fun of my mother and father" said Fallen.
They reached the training grounds, which was full of ponies of all different kinds doing their own thing, whether it be practicing with swords, some guns, their fists or sparing with a partner, everypony had something to do. Shade and the rest of his squad found fitting armor, put it on, grabbed their weapons of choice and found a area that was clear so only the three of them could train together. Shade had decided to try his luck with a sword, Fallen a crossbow, and Nightingale had picked up a mace. Thats when a siren went off throughout the camp, freezing everypony for most didn't know what it meant.
"Recruits, get to a shelter, NOW!" Yelled Madrox flying down to the new squad.
"Whats wrong? What does the siren mean Madrox?" Asked Fallen Star.
"This siren was meant for one purpose and one purpose only, it means that the base is being attacked by Celestia herself."
Author's Note
This is the first chapter to a fanfic that will be pretty epic and deep, and the other fanfic i had to love a goddess i deleted it for i could not make a good story out of it. Sorry for that. Midna belongs to a friend of mine, Fallen Star belongs to the facebook page The Children Of NIghtmare, and Shade and nightingale are my own characters.
