A guards Life: The Lunar Core

Chapter I

"Atten-tion!" Boomed an instructor as the cadets snapped to attention, standing by twos in front of their double decker bunks.

"Alright you little tet suckin' fillies, Pay attention for I will only be saying this once!" His voice echoed as the tower of muscle walked down the isle of motionless ponies, two smaller instructors fallowed at his sides.  The row of living statues forced their ears forward while the instructor continued his colorful speech, "Today, You sorry sacks of manure are graduating from tenderized foals to wannabe hopefuls for my beloved guard!" He pause looking at the blank expressions on each cadet's face, every pair of eyes he met maintained a well trained distant stare.

The few months under his command had sharpened this batch of trainees into hardened cadets. Yet, he still doubted that any of these kids would make it pass week one of tests. However, he would keep that thought to himself. "That is right children, You are going to be assigned a station to guard a princess based on your scoring here."

He paused in step, levitating a clip board before him, the hoofful of papers clipped together contained names, unit designations, and the princess they would be assigned to guard. "Before I read off your fates, let me be the first to congratulate you cherry chasers for surviving this far and maybe there will be a future for any of you ponies yet in the guard." He eyed an earth pony who noticeably flinched at his gaze but maintained posture. "Sadly, this does apply to all of you."

"SO, with that sad, sappy bullshit out of the way, lets get this over with!" He brought the clip board closer to his face, and maintained his slow pace as he started reading off names, their new units and their princess. Eventually, he stopped and eyed the blue coated, grey socked earth pony again. "Cadet Midnight Star," His voice paused, his eyes bore into the pony for a moment before turning to the clip board.

"Guard unit twenty four, company A, platoon four; Princess Luna. Congrats Cadet Night Owl, you've got your dream job." He walked on, spouted off another set of names before two notable names came up, "Cadet Pedal Blow, guard unit twenty four, company A, platoon four; Princess Luna.  Have fun with the big boys Cadet Flowers." He continued, "Cadet Loveless!" He turned to a changeling a few ponies down from Midnight, "Oh I mean, Cadet Jeraal, guard unit twenty four, company A, platoon four; Princess Luna. Good luck out there Romeo." He chuckled as he turned to name off a couple other ponies.

The deliverance of fates to the rest of the cadets took an hour.  Midnight Star wanted to cheer on the spot, but he didn't want to get smoked and be doing push ups while instructor Emerald Hearthammerproceeded to take his time with small talk with random cadets and read their fate to them casually.  Like any pony else, Midnight wanted this to end so they could get to the train and be off to their new station.

Emerald turned around and stopped to read the last of the names on the list, and by the end of it, three more changelings made it into Luna's night guard.  "Though I am not sorry to see you mash maggots go, I would be sorry to see you fillies fail out there. Any pony brave enough to take the oath of service to Equestria, is a pony worth having in the guard." He stopped and turned to face the long row of thirty-so cadets.

"For what it is worth, I would like to see you all become the finest to lay their lives in protecting our beloved Princess'. I have a track record of providing the finest meat for the grinder." He stood at attention, "Do NOT disappoint me Cadets." He paused taking in a breath,

"DO YOU UNDERSTAND!?" he boomed

"SIR, YES SIR!" All cadet's voices replied in unison.

"Out bucking standing." Emerald Hearthammer then gave his last command; "Your rides to freedom are organized by the princess you've been assigned to." He started, "Cadets being sent to Princess Celestia, Your first, Princess Luna, Your next. Cadence, You'll follow thereafter, and finally, Princess Twilight..." He paused he lowered his head, his wide brimmed campaign hat covered the grimace or cracking smile, that grew briefly on his face, "Your last."

He cleared his throat, "All of you, get your gear, your new armor will be waiting on the trains. You all have five minuets to get the buck to em." He saluted, his cadets returned the gesture. "CADETS." He shouted after lowering his hoof.

"DIS-MISSED!"

"I can't believe it!" beamed a Pegasus cadet as she haphazardly crammed her few belongings into her rucksack saddle bags. "I'll be guarding Princess Celestia!" she sounded as if she would of squeed in excitement.

"Don't get to excited, " a unicorn cadet chimed in, "Its not all what you think."

"Yeah," A third pony joined in, "I hear you can get put outside on guard posts under the sun; cooking in your armor." she chuckled as she tied her saddle bags on. "Well, look at you Miss crystal guard pony." A fourth, her bunk mate, added, "You'll be freezing your flank off guarding the royal couple."

"Oh come off it guys, you all know as well, our armor will be enchanted to accommodate for the weather elements we'll be working in." A voice interrupted. the chatty group turned to see the earth pony that Emerald had death glared earlier. "How would you know Night Owl?" One of them pointed at him, "Working the night shift wouldn't be freezing or hot, just, Just dark."  Midnight rolled his eyes, "No, its because I actually read the buckin' manuals on the royal guard armor and their corresponding enchantments." He corrected, "I wasn't called Night owl for nothin'" he smiled before trotting off, his rucksack saddle bag already clipped on. "And besides," he said over his shoulder, "At least i'm not guarding Twilight sparkle."

"Oh shit, that's right!" the unicorn pointed at one of the chattering cadets, "You got the newborn Alicorn!" he teased

"Shut up, don't remind me!" A voice groaned.

Midnight had long left the conversation as he hurried out of the barracks, He could hear a train whistle as he went for the station. He was only a speck among the crowd of Cadets that flooded towards the collection of trains. Steam from the funnels plumed into the blue sky as he hoofed his way through the large swath of bodies.

When he was close to the train station, he read the billboard for departures and arrivals. The first departures where for the cadets assigned to Princess Celestia, They where already boarding. Midnight scanned for Princess Luna's trains, but huffed with annoyance when the clerk on the ladder had slid a red "delayed" sign over the arrival slits of that particular set.

"Oh great, we're going to be here for Celestia knows how long!" one of the night guard cadets whined. Midnight sighed with a wry smile, "Hurry up and wait." "Hoo-ha." another voice agreed glumly , he looked over to see it was one of the cadets he had trained with. She was an earth pony like him, a cream like fur with a fiery red mane and tail, her cutie-mark was a black-n-red shield decorated with silver and red pedals.  "Ouch that sucks." A crystal guard cadet murmured as he and a few others passed the gathering cadets.  Pedal blow was looking at the billboard like the rest of the Luna bound cadets, "Hey Jerk face!" She called out to the train clerk as he was climbing down the ladder. "How long till those trains show up?"

When the clerk got down, he simply shrugged, "Who knows cadet, I simply change the signs and apparently, there has been a delay with Luna's trains."

One of the nearby cadets frowned,

"Buckers are probably sleeping on the job."\

"Oh, how ironic," Midnight hoofpalmed quietly, watching as Petal blow growled and stepped closer to the train operative,

"I know that dick, but do you have an ETA?" Because we should be on our trains right after the others leave!"  She wasn't her instructor-given-nick-name sake at all, she was as fiery as the color of her short cropped mane. Mare cadets had their mane trimmed shorter while the colts had their manes buzzed. A handful of disdainful comments came from a few other cadets while Midnight simply looked at the nearest golden train as it tooted its final boarding call.

"Hey, if you got a problem with it kiddies, take it up with the conductor!" the clerk jabbed a hoof at the station house. He angrily took his ladder down with his levitation magic before weaving through the mess of cadets that crowded the station, almost hitting one of the changelings in Midnight's group.

"That son of a-" the head conductor emerged putting his pocket watch away, "Final call," He shouted, "Now boarding for Canterlot castle!" The remaining cadets exchanged hugs, hoof shakes and farewells before the Celestia bound cadets got on the trains.

The first train chuffed forward then slowly sped up as it went down the line, the next train pulled up, picked up the remaining passengers. "Good luck ya wittle Wuna guards, Don't get lost in the dark!" A sun guard cadet teased before getting on board.

In minuets, the trains where off and the station was less noisy, "Oh yeah? Make sure you don't get fried little goose!" was one reply sent after the leaving trains.

Next where the trains bound for the crystal empire.

"Hey catch a cold for me while your up there will ya?" A Twilight cadet cheered, "Don't freeze and mind your eyes gents!"

Midnight took his turn to call out to them, "Don't want to be KIA for gawking at the misses!" he then nodded, "Above all be safe and good luck!"

Lastly, where the trains bound for Ponyville.  "Have fun barrel scrappers," Midnight heard from the shrinking group of cadets,

"Don't loose your sanity workin' for the newbie!" was among the few other colorful comments from the Luna cadets while the trains began their departure, the Twilight cadets only responded with a few weaker comebacks or flying the hoof at them;  “May the power of friendship compel thee to not fail!” laughed a twilight guard before the doors slid closed.

Sure, it seemed harsh and childish to tease and joke to each other about their new positions; but, to be honest, the dark humor was a way of showing comrade. It was better to share a laugh and have mock wit battles with each other before parting ways, for everypony present knew, they wouldn't be seeing each  other again for quite a while.

Soon, the station was quiet with only the dull hum of conversations from the remaining cadets,  out of all the cadets only fourteen where assigned to Luna, adding to the probably eighty guards already assigned to the Princess of the night. Midnight took the time to meander about the station, this was their last day here in Guard Training, he wasn't going to spend it just sitting around bitching about the delay.  Midnight mentally concluded that it could be just be delayed on purpose, it even became more probable if their Princess had suggested the delay. Yet, he didn't a give tartarus bound buck about it if it was either an accident or the lady of pranks tricking the new crop of night guards.

He was brought out of his musings by a commotion inside the station, he looked inside to see a handful of the cadets having a "civil" talk with the station manager, MPs were backing the manager. "Now, now, I'll try to telegram ahead and see why your trains have not arrived yet." The manager only put his hooves up in front of the cadets, trying to calm the situation.

"Stand back rookies." An MP nudged a cadet back. As the manager was about to turn to the telegraph office, a clerk burst from the said office,

"Sir!" he hurried up beside the unicorn manager with a letter in his hoof, "This just came off from the wire!" He passed it to the manager who took it with magic and read it aloud, mostly for the cadet's amusement.

"Camp Anvil station - STOP - Train for Luna's cadets delayed - STOP - delayed at Princess Luna's request -STOP- Estimated time of arrival -STOP- Twenty minuets from original designated time of departure from Canterlot station -STOP- Train in route upon sending message -STOP-"

"Are you bucking kidding me?!" A cadet barked,

The station manager frowned, "I kid you not kid, this came from the Canterlot station, I'm sorry newbies but you have to wait till your train arrives." Before a Cadet could reach back to assault the manager, he felt a heavy hoof stop him.

"Whats the problem here?" the solid voice of drill Instructor Hearthammer filled the room. The hulk of a pony made his way through the crowd of cadets as he took center stage in front of the manager. Even the MPs backed up a few paces, mostly out of respect for the larger unicorn.

"E-E-Emerald Harthammer, sir" What bravado the feeble looking unicorn station conductor had, dispersed as he gulped down the need to shriek, "What brings you-"

"Give me that." He snatched the telegram from the clerk who squeaked from surprise.  The field gray furred pony frowned as he read the message. "The buck is this?" he snapped a glare at the manager in the split second it took to look between message and pony. "S-S-Sir, official telegram from the Canterlot-"

"Don't give me that s-stuttering bullshit Mister Knotts!" he crumpled the message and threw into his face, "You better pray to Celestia that that train gets here soon or I WILL have your ass little maggot!" Now, he had moved close enough to lock eyes with the manager, his knife hoof was pointed at him inches from his face, "Or more importantly, YOUR JOB!"

"B-but sir, I can't control the speed of the-"

"Cut the bullshit ass eyes, You best figure out a way to get those trains here sooner so MY Cadets can get to their posts on time or so help me, You will see the business end of my back hoof in your fat bucking ass!"

"I-I-uhh-yes-"

"what now?"

"Yes, sir."

The poor soul gave a weak salute before crumbling to the ground,fainted out of pure fear of the drill instructor.  "That's better, now," he turned to the rest of the cadets, "CADETS," he boomed, "Get your sorry flanks out on the platform ASAP!"

"Yes, sir!" they replied.  As Midnight filed out with the rest, he could over hear Hearthammer address the other clerk. "You, get your ass inside that office and send a message for me."

"Wh-what would it be, s-sir?"

"Relay to my dear royals, stop, this is Senior Drill instructor Emerald Hearthammer, stop, I would like to hear a proper explanation on why I or the Camp commandant was not informed of the change of train times stop, please respond soon, stop.."

"That is all sir?"

"That should be enough, they'll understand, once they see my name on there."

“Yeees, sir.” a confused telegrapher replied.