Twenty six years ago...

I had finally made it to Canterlot, Rust was a nice place but I wanted more adventure in my life. I went to the nearest recruiting station and quickly enlisted in the royal guard. Today was my first day at the training camp. I had made my way over to the entrance and was looking for building C of the south wall. I found a senior officer and decided to ask him for help.

“Excuse me sir? Can you hel-”

“Excuse me? Where do you get off talking to me like that!?” shouted the officer.

“I’m sorry sir I just-”

“Oh your sorry? Well now, ain’t everything all freaking perfect now because you're sorry. Son I ain’t in a talking mood right now, so get the hell out of my sight before I break your damn teeth in!” with that the officer walked away. I wasn’t sure what caused him to act like that, and I hoped the rest of the officers weren’t all mean like that.

I spotted what seemed like a new recruit and went over to see if he had some clue to where to go.

“Hey buddy can you tell me where building C is located at?” I asked the stallion who smiled at me.

“Sure, actually I’m assigned to head there too, come on we can go together. The name’s Divine Paladin,” he raised his hoof to me and I shook it with a smile.

“Lawful Hunter, nice to meet you too,” we walked for a bit and found the correct building.

Upon entering we saw many different kinds of stallions and mares that were talking and goofing around in the bunkrooms. Each bunk was made to hold three ponies, one on the top, middle, and bottom. Me and Paladin got a bunk on the far west side of the room he got middle and I got bottom with a unicorn mare on the top of the bunk. Shortly after the drill sergeant came into the room.

“Attention!” everypony went deathly silent and became stiff as a rock.

“I am sergeant Ironside, your senior drill instructor. From this day forth you will be trained to become the elite of Princess Celestia’s royal guard. The training will be brutal, your spirits will be broken. Heck some of you will most likely quit and cry home to mama. There will be no handouts, no handicaps, and no help from anypony. You all will speak only when spoken to, do I make myself clear?”

“SIR YES SIR!” shouted everypony.

“Good, for today you all can mingle with one another to get to know each other. Learn each other well, because the pony next to you will make sure your flank is out of hot water. Lights out at 9:00 p.m. sharp. Rise and shine at 6:00 a.m. understood?”

“SIR YES SIR!”

“Carry on then,” Ironside left and everypony went about their business.

“Geez, what a tough place,” sighed Paladin.

“Well whatcha expect? They’re not gonna hold our hooves for this stuff.” I said.

“I know, I know just that well they don’t need to shout at us and make us feel like crap,”

Paladin told me a little about his life. He was born in Manehattan to a family of clockmakers and artists. He got his cutie mark when he defended a mare from some thug in an alleyway one night. Paladin isn’t usually the type of pony that I hang out with, but he’s actually a pretty cool guy.

It was getting dark soon and Ironside came back to the bunkroom.

“Alright everypony get your flanks in bed pronto! whoever’s not in bed by the time I finish counting from ten to zero, then one hundred push ups right here right now!”

“10”

“9” everypony was scrambling to get to their bunks.

“8”

“7”

“6” soon everypony was in their bed and Ironside stopped counting.

“That’s what I like to see. Now then, lights out!” he switched off the lights and left the room.

So, my first day at training camp was pretty uneventful right now, but I just know that more exciting things are gonna come during my time here. Hopefully I make a good impression on these officers. Well then, let’s see what tomorrow brings for us.

Author's Note

Well this is the first flashback side chapter of the story. These are meant to be short and just provide back story to Hunter and how he met Paladin and all that stuff. These will be posted after the end of any chapter that has Hunter going to sleep at the end. Don't expect these to be any good compared to the main chapters due to how short these are gonna be.