The sky was growing dark. Darker than usual. The sun was almost never seen anyway, due to the pegasi no longer being able to perform their weather duties. But I had only heard stories about what it used to be like… before the war.

My name is Scootaloo. I’m a pegasus. A normal pegasus. Except, I’ve been training to be a warrior. To fight against King Sombra.

It wasn’t easy growing up in the war. There was no play. Only work. Most ponies from recent generations don’t even have their cutie marks. There’s no time for special talents to be discovered. As soon as I was old enough, I began training. I was weak, but I’ve grown strong, and soon enough, I’ll become a real soldier.

The war has been going on for a several years. Going on ten now. I’ll be eighteen in the summer and that’s when I’ll be able to get out on the battlefield. My dad has been my personal trainer. His name is Thunderhead and he was a royal guard even before the war. My mom, Blue Skies, used to be a weather pegasus, but now she works at one of the military bases. She helps cook and clean over there with a lot of other weather pegasi.

My dad may be my personal trainer, but my real trainer is a pegasus stallion named Silver Blade. He used to be a royal guard like my dad. General Blade has been through a lot. He’s missing his left eye, but that’s only one of his many battle scars.

General Blade makes us work hard. There is almost no time for rest, and we get up early in the morning and we go to sleep long after the moon has risen. All of us are just waiting for the day when the sun and moon do not rise. When the princesses can no longer perform their duties…

The only pony besides my parents who I know well is an earth pony named Apple Bloom. She used to live near Ponyville at a farm formerly known as Sweet Apple Acres. According to the stories from her older sister, the place used to be beautiful. Thousands of apple trees grew across the orchards, growing delicious, shining apples. When the war started, the farm was transformed into a canning factory. The workers there transported food over to our bases.

Apple Bloom started training a while after I had, but I had lived on the battlefield my entire life. Apple Bloom was also born blind in one eye, due to malnourishment. No one expected her to be a warrior, but she fought her way up and proved them wrong.

Even though Apple Bloom and I are around the same age, she has a few more years of training left. I’m going to be heading to a different base so I can get out into the battle where I am needed. We are upset about having to part, but we know there is nothing we can do. There is no time for friends anyway.

The day was drawing closer. The day I would be shipped off to a new base so I could get out and fight. I was a little nervous, but I knew it was what I was meant to do. I may not have had my cutie mark, but my destiny was to fight until either I died, or the war had been won.

Until it was time to leave, I still trained with the rest of the ponies. There were a few others who were going to be joining me at the next base, and we all stayed together for some more advanced training. Most of the training consisted of strength tests, but there were a few that were more about endurance and agility. I actually enjoyed these, because I found that I liked to run and jump hurdles and go through obstacle courses. I excelled at it as well, and I had one of the best times in the base.

During our short break, I decided to take a quick walk around the perimeter of the base. The sky was a dark crimson. It looked like blood was dripping down it, spilling onto the earth below. There was not a cloud drifting through the sky, but I could see small glaciers poking out of the frozen ground. It wasn’t snowy here, but it was frigid, and the icy wind bit at me as I looked out on the horizon. The cold didn’t bother me; I had become accustomed to it.
I squinted, gazing out on the land. I hoped to see some sign of a battle, but I knew I wouldn’t. The base I was living in was very far from the current fights, so we were separated from the action.
I sighed, wondering where my parents were and what they were doing. My dad was probably in a battle right now, and my mom was most likely at one of the bases working.

“Scootaloo.” I turned around to see Apple Bloom approaching me. I hardly recognized her voice because her country accent was starting to fade.

“Apple Bloom.” I said her name. The yellow earth pony came up to me.

“What are you doing over here?” I was asked.

“Just… Looking.” I replied. “But I was going to head back. The next training block will start soon, I believe.”

“Yeah, it does.” Apple Bloom replied, looking at me curiously. “Is there something wrong?”

“No… Not really.” I answered shifting uncomfortably. I was a warrior in training. Sharing ‘feelings’ was not important. “It’s just I’m a little worried about how my first battle is going to turn out.”

Apple Bloom smiled weakly. “You’re going to be fine Scootaloo. You’re a strong and brave pony.” My friend said this, trying to sound confident, but I knew she was just as worried about it as I was.

“Thanks.” I smiled back as we went back to the training area. “You’re probably right. I’ll be fine.”

But little did I know, I was about to experience something that would change my life forever.

Author's Note

Hey everyone,
Hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! I write really short chapters so they probably won't get much longer than this. There will just be a lot of them. XD Anyway, I hope to update this story soon. See you all in the next chapter!