I had been cooped up behind the door, hiding away form the world for a week; now it is time to face the world and its horrors once and for all. Twilight deems me well enough to take the walk and face what is before me.

I am not sure, if I could face this. Twilight said that I had recuperated enough, to step outside the room.

“I take it, you are done with your breakfast!” Platinum Dagger pronounced.

“Yes, I am!” I responded.

“Good, then I can take you to the observation theatre!” she continued, in response.

“It was bad enough, to live through this myself!” I pondered; “And now I will have to suffer it all over again, to see a fellow Stallion go through what I just suffered; just a few days ago!” I mumbled, in horrified disbelief.

“While this will not be pretty, but if you can take it, you could prevent others from suffering; once this is the living truth before your eyes!” she promised me.

“If I can’t even take it, watching this, how could I be worthy of my title?” I pondered.

“While I would prefer to stay in my ivory-tower, what right do I have to be looked up to?” I added.

She opened the door, and I followed her out. She closed the door, locked it and started down the hall towards the flight of spiral stairs up to the tower. Round and round, I follow her up the flights of stairs. It is a bit dizzying, when you consider where we were going.

“What a sadistic bastard, designed this part of the barracks?” I grumbled.

“Not Pinkie Pie!” she agreed.

“No, I am starting to miss the insistent balloons all over the place!” I pointed out, already hating myself for admitting this.

“Just a few more flights of stairs, and we’re there!” she pointed out, her voice betraying her feeling for these long spiral stairs we had been forced to traverse.

“Do I feel pity for the once following us, or do I try to take joy from their shared hardships?” I inquired, quietly.

“It is indeed a shared hardship, for what it is worth!” she responded.

“Did she just tell me, more would come after me? Were they behind me now, or was it more of a part of the training? Would every initiate have to endure this?” I pondered.

“Welcome to the tower of horrors!” Princess Twilight Sparkle greeted us, once we entered the small observation chamber.

I noticed a rather haunted grin over her features, as I saw her. While I did not know of it, her se; she had been watching this scene, over and over again. Her brother had performed the deed, each time; but to a new stallion, too. The stallions that came after me, bound to traverse the flight of stairs, as my living shadows. One by one, each haunted by the same moment as I had endured, just a week ago.

“Can I truly take solace, from seeing another stallion going through the same hardship?” I pondered.

These stallions are aspiring to stand by me, when the Queen of horrors came back. She had after all promised to come back, even if I had never been there to hear her pronounce the threat.

While the stallion I am about to oversee, is below me in rank, he is not beneath me and certainly not asking anything of me.

Of course, the stairs are steel; while the room is solid stone like an old castle. Yet, neither had given any of the expected creepy echoes. Maybe I should be gratefull?

“I suggest you turn your attention towards the window on the right!” Twilight pointed out, with grim resolve and sharp steel in her otherwise pleasant voice.

“Excuse me, I have a small issue to attend to!” she excused herself; as she slipped out of the room, through a hidden door behind me.

“Where did she go?” I inquired, puzzled by her sudden disappearance.

“A stallion needs to be put into his proper place!” my guard pointed out.

“She does not have a Changeling, perform that part? I would have sworn, that is how it felt; even if I had never seen a genuine Changeling before!” I pointed out.

“Twilight learned to perform this spell, at the wedding!” she informed me, while carefully hiding a giggle.

“Twilight was at the wedding! Just as Shining Armour and Princess Cadance were!” I added, realizing just where this was about to go down.

“Look at the white unicorn stallion before you, and remember him. He is about to go through exactly what you suffered, just a week ago!” she enlightened me.

I could feel a sharp jab to the sign of my ribs, with each word she poke. I had become pretty sore, before she had finished the reminder.

"Ouch, you had to jab me so hard?” I snapped back.

“Yes, but of course!” she merely cooed, in response.

Only this time, she did not put any effort, into hiding the giggle.

I could not help myself, but felt a sting of pity for this stallion of Manehattan. I had not seen him suffer yet, knowing what befell upon me, just seven days prior. He was about to have it rougher than he had ever imagined possible. Of course, a white stallion like him, could never have imagined anything rougher than falling out of bed on the wrong side.

While I could not quite see it, the stallion had already had the tube inserted. The accursed tube that would make it easy for Shining Armour to perform his duty. I certainly had experienced this before.

“I hope this will not bring up too much pain, from your past!” the guard put forth.

I followed the stallion, with my gaze; as he walked up to the pulpit, facing the window. Thankfully, he could not see us, as we are watching him. He placed his hands, just where I had placed mine, just seven days before. I could imagine a never-ending stream of stallions; standing in line behind him, just waiting for their turn.

Shining Armour was clearly seen, standing behind him; as he was stepping up and placing the palms of his hands onto the pulpit., before him.

Twilight Sparkle stepped forth, her horn clearly aglow. I see the glow grow brighter, as she is reaching forth; applying the green Changeling goo to the hands and hooves of the stallion I was watching. Little by little, the substance was coating and covering the hands and the hooves; holding him in a firm grip he could not pull out of.

“Lift your right hand; if you have a question, or feel any discomfort!” Twilight Sparkle prompted, looking intently at the stallion by the pulpit.

I noticed, how Twilight Sparkle stepped back; making more room for her brother, Shining Armour to perform the test of the next recruit before us.

“What in the name of Celestia, is this; I can’t pull my hand off of the surface of the pulpit!” the recruit pondered, in reaction to what he had just been told.

“Why can’t I lift my hand?” he promptly inquired, when he blatantly failed to raise his hand.

“This is how the Changelings capture their victims! We feel it is prudent for you to experience it first hand!” Shining Armour responded.

“Now, since the point has sunk in; it is time to start the test!” Twilight Sparkle proclaimed, applying goo to his muzzle and thus muting him; for the duration of the test.

“Guess I am thankful, I do not have to suffer to hear his moaning and complaining; throughout the entire test, since I fear he will not be taking this quietly!” I pondered.

“The experience is his, and his alone!” she merely pointed out; upon noticing my expression, as I reacted upon what I was just seeing.

“Oh!” I merely responded, quietly acknowledging the point made.

“Exactly!” she giggled.

The stallion struggled, for a moment longer; before giving up, on the futile endeavours. Shining Armour stepped forwards, preparing himself for what he was tasked to perform. Not because he liked to do it, but because it was his duty. I imagined him, imagining the target being someone he deeply cared for.

I imagined the Captain rubbing himself up and lubricating himself, before he placed his hands on the waist of the stallion before him. The stallion instantly turned rigid and stiff, under the hands of the Commander. There was no point in struggling now, with his hands and hooves firmly stuck.

“Consider yourself lucky, I am not an actual Changeling!” the Commander enlightened the stallion, before him.

“If not for the implications, and what it is representing; this could have been interesting, and I could have been enjoying the show!” I pondered.

Aside from the obvious aversion, towards the symbolism and how it reminded me of the experience I had, just a week ago; feeling more dead than alive, I guess I could have been enjoying this. There was always the obvious fact that it was a stallion only too similar to me, ruining the mood a bit further. I did not want to consider how he was torn between his duty to test the new recruit, and his love for his wife.

Do I expect to learn any tricks, worth remembering; or is this merely for me to see the process, from outside? I was not quite sure I cared enough to consider at the moment.

There was no foreplay, but if he is representing a Changeling; why do I expect any innuendo or pleasantries? I never asked my salad; if it accepted that I ate it, or even considered the point. Why should I; it is merely food, prepared for my pleasure. The perspective made me uneasy about the entire thing.

“I hope this will not ruin my appetite!” I pondered, making a foul grimas at myself.

I could clearly see the Commander holding the stallion in a firm grip, as he performed the duties and tested his new recruit. I was looking, my eyes glued at the scene, while I was not exactly enjoying the situation, just as I felt very little for the stallion or at all.

I just could not make myself feel, in fear of how it could affect me and the life I still had before me. Yet, I looked at the scene with obvious fascination.

Strangely enough, I found myself just as still as the stallion I was watching; only I was never restricted or restrained, I was merely torn between the fascination and excitement on the one hand, and the repulsion and disgust on the other. I guess I still do fear, what happened to me these days ago. Could you blame me?

“While I had originally accepted taking the test, mainly out of duty; I am now torn between regretting it and being proud of making it. It is obviously pointless to regret accepting the test, it happened and I survived. For what it is worth, for better or worse!” I pondered.

If only I had known of the true consequences, of what I had accepted that day. Had I been more repulsed by the offer, or would I had been more eager to take his test? Even if I could not know if it would hold, and if I could carry through the tests and still be there; when the final revelation was coming to terms? There is a price to pay, and I am not yet ready for that.

How strong am I? Could I take everything my Commander was to throw at me, or would I collapse somewhere along the way? Would it still be me, once I have passed his tests? Is his test truly the last test I will have to endure and suffer, before this ordeal was at an end? Was it all worth it, when I can go home? Assuming I can actually go home, and graduate from his test?

I had been watching my commander performing the test; he had put just as much into it, this time. Maybe he did not have it in for me; as he had done just as much to this one, as he gave me.

The stallion had been just as torn down as I had been. Maybe I am better and stronger than I had originally thought? Should I be proud?

In the end, Twilight Sparkle released the stallion, once Shining Armour had stepped back. The guards stepped forth and carried him out of the room. Just as it happened to me, it happened to this one stallion. Shining Armour is an exemplary and excellent stallion. I know I don’t want to face him in a dark alley, if he would have it in for me.

Once the test was over, my companion guard turned to me, smiling.- At least, I had passed this test, as well.

“You have seen and endured enough, for one day; time to go home!” she proclaimed.

I followed her down the flights of spiraling stairs. The spirals made me dizzy. Yet, I managed to get all the way down and followed my companion to my room. She opened the door and followed me in. I was quite grateful, for her helping me to the bed.

“Rest, now!” she cooed, and I slipped in under my quilt.

“Would I survive, what the Commander had in mind for me?” I pondered.

I lay my head down, onto the pillow and closed my eyes.

“I think I will need that, thank you!” I responded, in a quiet, hushed voice.

Author's Note

Recruit Prince Bluebloods's POV