Fallout Equestria: In The Beginning

Chapters

And Life Goes On *Fixed*
A Deep Thought
A Terrible Discovery
A Time Off
A Rough Trip
Home Sweet Home
Not So Sweet Home
A Memory Relived
A Bleak Awakening

And Life Goes On Fixed

The sun started to shine through the broken shutters as all the stallions in the dorm started to rustle awake. I had just managed to break open one eye to see if anything changed, the mood seemed to be a bit more uplifting but nopony dared to speak a word still.

I slowly pulled myself out of the bed that I was trapped, after I managed to pull myself out I started for the door like the rest of the ponies. As I approached the door, a loud ringing was heard which told me that first period was about to start, I started to hurry as I knew that if I was late I would receive a demerit, Celestia knows I don’t need more of those. As I arrived to my first class I looked in my saddle bag for a piece of paper, I dug around but eventually noticed the snickering, I looked up and saw a dull brown pegasi hovering just out of my reach, holding a pile of blank paper..

“Storm, give them back!” I shouted at him to no avail, instead he just teased me putting them just out of my reach and pulling away as I tried to reach them, sadly I was just a mere earth pony or I would have done something about this. We all started to be quiet as Thunderbolt started to quietly say, “Teacher, wrap it up!” With that, Storm threw the papers on the ground and stomped on them, “Nice job Viren,” he snickered as he flew past me.

I slowly picked the papers up, they were covered with hoof marks but I didn’t care, this was better than their usual treatment of torture. We all sat down as Mr. Slew entered the room, he was a yellow unicorn, his profession was Equestrian History.

“Sorry about the delay class, I had to go to a meeting with some other teachers about last night’s incident, ok, can anypony tell me how a war is started? Anypony?” Said Mr. Slew in his upbeat attitude. One of the brainiacs raised their hoof and said, “When two nations disagree and fight over their disagreement.”

“Yes but that is not the answer I’m looking for!” He replied in a happy pattern, Thunderbolt raised his hoof and shouted, “When we have to protect our honor!”

“It could be the case but no, that’s not the answer I’m looking for, can anypony tell me what causes it?” I decided to throw my hoof at it and raised my hoof, “When two ponies in high positions are stubborn and refuse to work things out” I figured he would like that answer since he is has an anti government persona.

“That’s correct! Good job on that Viren, class, take note on what he has just said!” Everypony in the class started to scribble down words on their paper, the unicorns always finished first using their magic to finish. As I had finished writing down the events that just transpired I noticed that the board was filled with a chalk drawing of the school the Zebra Nation attacked.

“Class, What is on the board is what helped transpire the war to new levels, does anypony know what happened at this school?”

“OOOH I KNOW!” Shouted Rift, he was more energetic than anything else. “That’s where the Zebras sent a group to kill everypony at the school!” And after saying that he started to look depressed, he had family at the school, he lost his cousin at the incident. Everypony in the room lowered their heads in respect to the school and all who were lost.

“Ok, now that we have that done with, the teachers have had a couple of meetings the last few weeks and we all decided that we should prepare, the school you are looking at was unprepared for an assault from the Zebras, we here at Lunar Boardings are faced with the fact that we are a target, we are near the closest border to Zebra controlled territory so it is safe to prepare for the worst, as a school in the name of Luna, they have warned us that the Zebras are against anything that has Luna on it, they believe that she is still the Nightmare Moon we have seen many years ago, this is why our school has been selected to have an underground escape route that is ten miles long, it leads to Manehatten, in the event of an emergency, we will soon have secrete hatches in every room that leads to the soon to be finished tunnel.”

One of the class geniuses raised their hoof and replied, “What do you mean soon to be finished? Shouldn’t something like that take years to construct?”

Mr. Slew grew grim and remarked to the class, “Yes, it would take years, and it has, Luna herself, a few years back when things started to escalate, decided to have an underground network constructed for this and a few other schools near the borders this is for our safety.”

Mr. Slew looked even grimmer and finally said, “Students, I don’t like the fact that this is happening either, if we hold together, we can get through this.” As if on cue, the bell rang and everypony in the room packed up to go to their next class.

I walked out of the room and started for my locker. As I reached my locker I started to think of why our school would need a ten mile tunnel, could we already be targeted? If we were, they would never tell the students, it would cause pandemonium.

As I grabbed my mathematics book and dashed towards class I saw Cherry Pint, she never noticed me though, they mostly separated the schools opposite sex but since we were one of the more poor schools, we had to use the same building as them.

When I arrived to class the lesson had already started, Professor Rine had a stern look on his face looking at me as I entered the class.

“Late again are we Viren?” Everypony in the class all just looked in the direction, they all had gone through the same speech that I had only moments ago.

“Do you have an excuse?” I slowly shook my head and sat down, “As for the circumstances of earlier, I guess I can let this pass for now.” I slowly felt relieved to know that I was not getting another demerit, I have had around twelve this quarter alone.

How could they just start a war like that? It seems so unfair on how this works out, why couldn’t conflicts be solved by more conventional measures, I could think of a million different ways to solve this other than war, of all things that it must be, why war. Why does it have to be war! I just can’t stand the fact of ignor- Ding Ding Ding! What the hell? The bell already? How could that! You know what, just forget it.

I slowly got out of my chair and picked my stuff up, the class looked like they had recovered from last periods incident. I put my books in a bag and departed, since we were on a block schedule, we only had four classes each day, I headed for lunch after I had put my stuff away.

A Deep Thought

I slowly entered the dinning hall to notice that Royal Guard pegasi were guarding every door that led to the outside, what was going on? I knew something had transpired to cause something like this, the students who were at the tables slowly ate nervously, I trotted to the line and grabbed my food, the lunch ladies looked their usual grub self, lunch was one of the only times of the day that both sex’s were allowed in the same room to converse.

Cherry Pint was sitting with her friends, she never noticed me, what would a unicorn like her want to do with an earth pony like me, my dad was a pegasi but I took on my moms end of the family, I also adopted her same gray coat, such a bland color compared to others.

I felt a tug on my shoulder as I heard somepony say, “Hey, Viren, you doing ok?” I looked in the direction of the voice to see Shrew to my side, he was one of my close friends, I pretty much trusted him with anything.

I took a deep breath and said finally said, “Na, nothin that should be bothering you.” With that he looked at me with a more concerned face, “Listen man, I know about this whole situation and your dad, just lighten up, things will calm down in a week or two, we may not even have to deploy troops if it ends soon enough,”

I took another breath and replied, “I just wish it worked like that Shrew, if only it did.” I slowly walked away from him while he stood there with a grim look on his face. I didn’t want to talk to anypony right now, this was something that I have to work out on my own.

I sat down at an empty table and started eating, today was hay strips and salad, the same as the day before that, and the day before that, and every other day I’ve been at this school. As I finished my salad there was a loud marching being heard outside, the doors opened and what I saw I couldn’t believe, Luna herself was standing there, her two night guards were by her side looking even more fierce than the Royal Guard.

“We have made a decree that this school be put under the protection of the Royal Guard, some of you may have already noticed that the exits to the school are protected by them already, due to recent movement in the Zebra Insurgent Forces, we have decided that this school shall house no less than fifty Royal Guard day and night.” The principal of the Boards walked up to Luna and whispered something in her ear, I couldn’t make it out but Luna just nodded.

The principal started to state something, I just ignored her, this means that the conflicts have already escalated, I was right, we are a target, why else would we house fifty Royal guard, the worst thing about it is that we can do nothing about it!

I knew I was going to regret this but I needed to know, as the principal finished speaking, I stood up and spoke out, “Princess Luna, is it true that this school is already a target of the Zebra Empire and if so, why have we not been evacuated?” Everypony in the room became even more dead silent than ever, the staff of the school just gasped.

Luna had a grim face, she looked down and said audible, “Yes, we have ensured that you all are safe inside the school, we have no idea when or even if they will attack, the tunnels are three days to finish, tomorrow we will have the school a day off to finish the safety hatches in every room. The reason why we have not been evacuated is because it would cause widespread panic.”

I couldn’t believe what I had just heard, she is afraid of panic more than the lives of the students and staff! I would have jumped at her if it weren't for the night guards giving me a fierce look.

The principal rushed onto a table and yelled “Lunch is over, all students report to your dorms, all classes are canceled for today!” The students started to depart with scared looks on their face, Luna slowly walked out of the hall but most of the ponies that entered with her stayed and guarded every door available in the room, they had armed pegasi guards at every entrance, it was actually quite intimidating.

“Wait right there Viren, What was that about?” I turned to see the principal scolding me.

“Well, I needed to know, everything pointed to it, everypony was thinking of that question, I just decided to ask it.” I replied with a careless manner.

“Well now we have a whole school full of small fillies and colts that are worried to death, how do we fix that?” The principal looked very angry.

“Not my problem now is it, I just asked a question, I didn’t do anything wrong, what are you going to do, put me in detention?” I said with attitude.

She looked at me and seemed like she was about to blow, “Aghh! Viren you are impossible to deal with! Forget it, just go to your dorm!” She stormed off after saying that.

I slowly trotted back to my room trying to figure things out. At least I know we’re targeted, I have answers to a lot of the questions that I could not stand any longer. I trotted around the school for what felt like a few minutes.

As I got to my room all the other ponies were already dead asleep, how long was I trotting around? I looked out the window and noticed that it was already night! I should really stop dwelling on subjects like this.

I slowly trotted towards my bed and fell asleep almost instantly, today had really taken it out of me.

I woke up the next day and everything was quiet, everypony had left the room, how long had I slept in? I got out of bed and remembered that today was a day off to finish the work on the tunnels, I saw that there was a hatch already placed next to our door, I slowly approached the hatch, to test it, I tugged on the handle, it didn’t budge, they must have been locked.

I trotted down the hallway and tried to exit to the playground, the two only looked at me, they were preventing me from passing!

I screamed out in anger, “What the hell! I’m trying to get some fresh air!”

The guard on the left said, “As part of protocol, nopony is to leave the school, we cannot cover the outside of the campus, it is too dangerous.” I stormed off in anger, they are basically putting me under military arrest!

I trotted towards the dining hall to hear loud talking going on in there, everypony had gathered there and were socially conversing with each other, the last thing I wanted to do. I started to trot away as Shrew yelled across the room, “Hey Viren! Wait up!”

As he caught up by my side I looked at him and said, “Go away, I just want to be alone.” After saying that he refused to budge.

He replied happily, “Exactly why you need me, you can’t just deal with this on your own, what's bothering you, it about your dad?” I only looked at him with a threatening look on my face.

He tried to laugh it away but I could tell it bothered him, “It’s ok man, you gotta just chill, what’s done is done, not like it will affect us, we got a year of school left before we are outta this place, the war will finish up by then!”

“No Shrew it won’t, this isn’t a war with the Griffon Nation we’re talking about, this is war with the Zebra Empire, they have weapon just like us, they can do just as much damage to us as we can them, sure we have unicorns and pegasi, but what good are they against a force that is over ten times our population? This is not a short war, this is going to change the face of Equestria, probably the world!” He backed off after hearing that, I knew I hit him harder than I should have but he should have stayed in his own business I didn't ask him to bother me constantly about what I have been thinking about.

He slowly left my side and returned to the social event in the other hall with a more humdrum look on his face. I just trotted around school dwelling on my thoughts.

What could I do to help this conflict? Nothing, absolutely nothing, this could easily been avoided, why does this have to happen now of all times, I’m going to graduate soon, I’ll be pulled into this mess, thank Celestia that the school year has just begun .

As the day dragged on, my morale diminished and I had nothing to really live for anymore, I eventually just dragged myself to bed before the sun even went down, I wanted to get this over with as fast as I could. I slowly fell onto my bed letting the world dissolve around me.

A Terrible Discovery

Everything was dark and blurry, I couldn’t make out anything! I heard hundreds of voices, not happy voices, these voices were screaming for mercy and help. What was happening!

I eventually managed to open one eyelid to see the world clearly, what I saw I couldn’t believe, there was fire everywhere, ponies were running around in terror, where was I? This wasn’t the bed I fell asleep in! I slowly got up and found that I had a terrible headache, I saw a pony in a standard military outfit, this wasn’t the Royal Guard.

He looked in my direction and as soon as he did, his head exploded into a thousand bits and pieces. I need to get the hell out of here, and fast. I immediately had received a rush of adrenalin and started to dash randomly, I didn’t have a destination, I didn’t know where I was, all I knew is I wanted to get out of there.

I eventually saw a deep ditch in front of me and jumped in, what I saw I couldn’t believe, there had been a line of ponies with grim faces and guns at hoof. They looked at me with no emotion but pain, to their left, a dead zebra.

I tried to speak but I couldn’t, my voice didn’t want to work, they didn’t talk either, instead, one of them just threw their hoof in the air signalling the line of ponies to start a rush, towards the enemy line.

One by one they jumped over the pit wall, I slowly stuck my head up to see that hundreds of bullets were flying in their direction already and the whole line fell in a matter of seconds, I looked back to see that another row of ponies had already lined up and were ready to rush again. Are they crazy! I tried to tell them to run but it happened again, one hoof thrown, a rush, then nothing.

I was starting to get jittery, how did I end up here! I slowly navigated the pit only to find a small door heading into one of the walls, I slowly opened it and saw two ponies in their, one was a light blue pastel color with a rainbow mane, the scary part was that she was in a antagonizing suit of black armor, the second one, was a huge red pony, he had a large green apple with a cut in it as his cutie mark, he was highly decorated.

The red pony yelled, “We can’t just send in troops by the dozens to die!”

The blue pegasus replied harshly, “Big Mac, I know you don’t want to fight this war like this but we simply have no other way right now, we have to capture this city, it’s the mark for the war! This will be a huge mark!”

The red ponies name was Big Mac? Big Mac slowly sighed and replied, “I know Rainbow, Ah just don’t like this one bit, we...” He continued to talk but I couldn’t make out the words anymore as an explosion had hit right next to me, the world started to quickly fade away.

I jumped up and found myself awake on my bed, it was daytime and everypony had already left for class, wait, oh shit! I’m late for class! I jumped out of bed and immediately grabbed my saddle bags, dashed towards the door.

I ran around the corner to see that the same two Royal Guard were guarding the exit, or at least I think it was the same two.

I trotted up to them and gathered the nerve to ask them something, “What hour is it?”

They both in unison replied, “Third hour.” I immediately started down the hallway, I had to get to the other side of the school. I noticed that even more guards were around the place, they were even positioned next to some of the escape hatches now. The hallways had a more grim mood than usual, I couldn’t place it.

After a few minutes of running around I found my class, room 204, English, I enjoyed this class the most since it allowed me to express myself. As I entered the class everypony in the room looked in my direction, their looks told me that they didn’t care, the teacher, Mr. Royal, instantly had a smile over his face.

He noticed I was tired, he jokingly said, “You just get out of the hay?”

That was one of the most cheesiest jokes that I’ve heard from him yet, I replied, “Ya, had a bad dream.” He nodded and as his usual attitude, started to ask me what it was about, in front of the class.

I slowly shuffled my hooves, it wasn’t something I wanted to talk about in front of the class. I spoke up after a few minutes of silence, “It’s nothing, trust me.”

He simply shrugged and went back to the board, I sat down in the back of the class, it was the only desk available. I did my usual routine and pulled out a piece of paper, the difference in this class that was apart from all the other classes is the fact that I had the freedom to write what I wanted, I wasn’t bound by the common rules that the other classes enforced.

As Mr. Royal gave a lecture to the class about old poetry, I sat down writing down my thoughts, I was trying to write down as much of the dream as I could remember, I didn’t want to forget a single thing, at the same time, I wanted to forget it all.

I wrote down every detail to the last mark, as I finished the memory, I looked up to see something I really didn’t want to see, Mr. Royal had been reading my story the whole time! How could I have been so oblivious!

He was only smiling, I put my hooves over my head trying to hide the shame. He picked up the paper and looked over it again with more thorough eyes.

He looked at me and then said happily, “Where in the world did you get an idea to write a story that was so in depth on this subject! It’s purely amazing! The shear detail, the reality, it all seems so real!” I looked up at him and tried to smile, it looked more like an attempt to get out of the room, in reality, it was.

“Now please tell me where you had the inspiration to write this masterpiece!” He happily said while walking around the room examining it, using his magic to levitate the paper at different angles.

I replied with attitude, “It was nothing, can we please get off this subject now?” The class’s attention had been gathered on the paper.

He started to read the paper out loud to the class, “As I awoke, the shouts and screams were overwhelming, the sheer power of the scene unfolded slowly in front of me, the ponies around me were dressed in standardized military uniforms, I had no idea where I was, what was happening, or why I’m even here, the damp cuts in the wall told me that it was freshly dug, this was chaos in its purest.” Some of the class looked mesmerized while others seemed to not care and tittered in their seat.

I couldn’t believe what he was doing, he was reading the paper in front of the class! Why does this have to happen to me of all ponies! I simply shoved my head under my hooves even further to block out the world.

As he finished the paper, everypony in the class had been listening, some had pencils still in their mouths, others just speechless. What has just happened? This of all things, why this!

I was dwelling on my thoughts until I was snapped out of it, “Viren?” I looked up at Mr. Royal and he had a more confused look on his face than his usual happy self, “What did inspire you to write this anyways? This doesn't seem like your usual literature, nor any ponies if I am correct?”

I sighed and gave in, “Well, I was just writing down my dream, that right there is the dream to the exact crack, can I please just be excused now?” He looked at me with a concerned look on his face now.

He nodded his head to the excuse but said one last thing, “Viren, we should talk later after school, if you may, can we meet in the commons I dunno, say four?” I nodded back, grabbed my paper and left the class.

I had thirty minutes to kill still so I decided to give the school another look through. Ok, so if there are guards at every exit and majority of the hatches, what would happen if they we were actually attacked? This whole thing is like a giant puzzle! Are we supposed to calmly walk down the ten mile tunnel while our school is burned to the ground? What keeps them from following us down the tunnels! How could we open the doors for certain ponies, would we leave the ones that could not make it to the tunnels fast enough behind?

I slowly trotted towards one of the hatches and on top of one of them read “Stable Tech” in big bright letters, now where have I heard of that before? That makes no sense, why wouldn’t we be able to go down them now and just leave this place for good!

As I trotted around I noticed a new door in one of the less traveled hallways, I slowly trotted up to it to hear voices in the room, shouting voices.

A mare’s voice shouted out saying, “The stable is not going to hold everypony at this school! Its, its, its just too big of a number!”

Another mare’s voice replied in a southern accent, “Now Scoots, you know we have to do what we can, if we can’t save them all, at least we save some. You know Luna wants this school’s inhabitants to be safe, let’s just hope we don’t even have to use it.”

A third mare’s voice spoke out, “Well girls, we already have majority of it constructed, why don’t we just finish the job and go on to another place, we don’t have the budget to expand the stable size now.” That voice, it was, I could swear I heard it before, wait a minute, is that Sweetie Belle? The singer! What is she doing here!

Scootaloo yelled out again, “Fine! We still have to be in Canterlot by next week, you know, the demonstration to see if we can install a stable within their grounds?”

Sweetie Belle replied calmly, “Yes, I know, but this is a huge deal for us, it will help fund us build stables all over Equestria, if this succeeds, we could save millions!” After hearing that I started to fall back, I could not believe what I am hearing, the hatches are not an entrance to a tunnel, it’s the door to a stable!

What does that even mean, why are stables even being built here, are they storing money? That couldn’t be it, they were talking about saving millions of ponies, what could possibly be so bad to lock away ponies? Do they really think the war could escalate that far?

Why does Luna want stables installed in this school then? Why does she need a stable here of all places? What are we being targeted by, this can’t just be Zebra Militia, this has to be some sort of bombing target!

I ran as far away from the door as I could, I didn’t know where I was going but I just wanted to get away. As I neared my room, I started to forget about everything else, I was solely focused on that conversation.

What is going to happen to this school, the students, the staff! Are we just toys to be messed with? A horrid game of chess? Does my dream have anything to do with what is happening at our school? Who exactly were the three ponies that I heard arguing? I should have stayed to listen to them.

I really ju- *Ring Ring Ring Ring* Fourth period, I should really get going, who should I tell about this, should I just keep it a secret? I slowly started to trot out of the room and towards my locker, going to it I noticed that not just one of the hatches, but every single one of them had Stable Tech printed on them, so this is what we're supposed to live in?

I grabbed my science book and shut the door, I slowly trotted to class as I dwelled on my thoughts again. They really are doing this, and I’m smack dab in the middle of it. What did they mean by install multiple stables? What kind of war are we getting into?

I arrived to class early, Mr. Arthium was waiting with goggles, an apron, and some rubber gloves, he had a stack of them on the table next to him, as the students walked in, they put on the safety equipment and sat by their designated lab partner, I was stuck with Rift, the overly energetic pony. He had a happy look on his face, he looked straight at me with a beaming smile, I returned it with a distant look.

As I sat down next to him Mr. Arthium had already begun the lesson, he started to mix two chemicals that I couldn’t make out together and they started to bubble over, he looked at it with a curious eye and then someone in the class yelled “Hit the floor!” and with that, he dropped the two test tubes into the sink and hit the floor, like everypony else in the room.

He was a nice teacher and all, but he screws everything up, this was a regular routine with us, it was an odd day of class not to be ducking or keeping our eyes on alert. The class slowly got up and sat back in their seats, the front desk was covered in this dark green goop that seemed to solidify like jello as it cooled.

He got up with a smile on his face looking at the goop, he got out one of his pencils with his magic and started to poke at it, as it jiggled he started to speak, I just ignored his phrases due to the fact that one of the pieces of goop landed on our desk and Rift was poking at it with his hoof.

Why am I stuck with a bunch of idiots? As Rift pocked the blob for the hundredth time, I started to become even further irritated and knocked the blob onto the floor. He looked at me with questioning eyes but my return look was enough to tell him not to speak.

I looked back at the front and noticed that Mr. Arthium had already pulled out another two vile’s of chemicals, “Ahh, thats were we went wrong! I mixed up the sulfur with the hydric acid! Oh boy, its a good thing I did too! If that acid were to react, we could be in some big trouble!

He slowly put down the two vile’s into a tray, he looked at the class and started stating random facts, he always rambles on when he messes an experiment up. As time began to fade I noticed that the door had multiple Royal Guards in front of it, were they here because they heard an explosion? Whatever, it doesn't matter to me.

As class ended I immediately left the room, I had an hour to kill before I was to meet with Mr. Royal in the commons. I started down the hallway as Shrew pulled up by my side, this time more careful than last time.

“Hey whatcha doin?” I looked at him with an even more threatening stare than before, it didn’t faze him one bit.

“Was wonderin what you have been up to, we haven't been able to talk since that incident with Luna!” He bumped into me trying to cheer me up, it only angered me more.

“How many times do I have to say, get the hell away! I need to think right now!” With that he immediately stopped in his tracks, he didn’t follow me nor looked anywhere else, his stare locked on the wall where he was looking when I uttered the statement.

I continued trotting down the hall, ignoring him. As I reached my room, I decided to just rest on the time that I had left. As I slowly pulled myself onto the bed and quickly fell asleep.

As I slowly got up, I realized that I was hearing the loud shouting and screaming again, but I wasn’t in the same place as I was the last time, this time I was on the ground, holding a semi - auto rifle in my mouth, I was looking around and noticed the same big red pony from the last dream, what was his name? Big Mac!

He was standing next to a soldier, what happened to him! That is terrible, how did it, forget it, he was blown in half, talking to the Big Mac, he was saying words I couldn’t understand at all. This was terrible, the blood had filled the trenches up to my hoof, I decided to look over the wall and noticed that there was little to no fighting going on right now, it seems as if the battle has already ended

As I saw a yellow pegasus walk into our trench, she started to order a group of unicorns around, what were they doing? She said something I couldn’t make out, wait, what? Are they glowing!

Slowly the illumination grew, it became so powerful that I had to look away, all of a sudden it vanished, I looked around and saw ponies getting up, everywhere, that rainbow pony from the last dream had been staring at her in complete awe, they started to say something but I didn’t pay attention.

Shouts were heard from both sides, all of a sudden, the stallion to my right fell down, a bullet had struck him in his head, what? This couldn’t be, the battle has started again! As if instincts, I pulled the rifle over the trench and shot randomly, I wasn’t in control of my body anymore!

A Time Off

I instantly jumped from my bed and fell onto the floor, oh thank Celestia, it was all a dream! These dreams have to mean something, they seem so realistic, I looked at the clock in the room and it read at four thirteen.

Where was I supposed to be? Crap! I need to get to the commons right now! I sped down the hallways of the school in an attempt to make it without being too late. As I arrived I saw Mr. Royal sitting at one of the desks in the commons.

“Late again are we Viren? Sit, sit, I have so many questions to ask you!” I sat down next to him and started to retrace my dream, I had to write it down, fast. He was about to say something as I grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and wrote down furiously, he could only stare in amazement as the scene unfolded before him.

As I put the pen down and looked at him ready to speak, his jaw was slack, he had his eyes locked on the piece of paper.

After a few moments of silence he finally said, “How did you do that?”

I looked straight at him with the most serious face I could muster, “That’s what I dreamed about with my free time.” He picked up the paper with his red aurora of magic and started to peck through it.

“This, this work, it seems so real, how could you even muster the thought to even think of this?” He had his eyes locked on the new piece of paper, its detail was just as exact, if not more, than the last piece of paper.

I looked and mumbled, “I’ve been having these weird dreams, I don’t know what they mean, but they seem so realistic, I just don’t understand anymore.”

He looked directly at me with a concerned face put on and said, “Now Viren, you realize that if that is the truth this is nothing to joke about. What is going on inside of that head of yours recently?”

I looked down and started to think, it only took me a second to figure out where these dreams originated.

I slowly looked up and answered, “Well, I guess it all started when the war did, I’ve been thinking a lot more recently, more than I should have. That’s not the worst part, it's not getting better.”

He looked at me deeply and eventually spoke up, “What are these thoughts you’ve been having then?”

I took a moment to prepare myself, “Well, it started off just being something simple as knowing my dad’s in the guard, but it's progressed much more than that now. I am starting to think more about the outcomes of the war, why were under protection, the...” I stopped there, I didn’t want him to know about the hatches yet.

He changed his posture after absorbing all that I had let out to a much more upright attitude and said, “Well, I suppose you should just try clear your mind. Why don’t I schedule a short vacation for you? The mind of a student is much more than just a couple weeks of class, you seem to be in no condition to go to class. Would you be alright with this?”

I shrugged and looked up, “I don’t know, what would I do during this time?”

He smiled and replied, “I dunno, why not see your family? We are only a few weeks into the quarter, it won’t make a big difference?”

I nodded and in a happier mood than before replied, “I think I just might take you up on that offer.”

He confirmed, “I don’t see why you wouldn’t! Now let me see, I’ll be right back, don’t hold tight while I’m gone, have some fun!” He trotted off towards the office on the other side of the school.

I slowly pulled out a pen and pencil and tried to think of something to do. As I was tapping the pencil I slowly started to fade back into the thoughts that I should be avoiding. Where am I heading in this world. How can I just sit and let it happen. How can they all just sit and let it happen.

It makes no sense, we don’t have to be doing this, and to think everypony in Equestria probably doesn’t even care about this war anyways, it probably won’t affect them until it’s too late.

I started to hear rushing steps in my direction, Mr. Royal was sweating and as he arrived to the table he dropped a few papers on the desk.

“This is what you will have to study if you do decide to go on vacation, I talked to your dad and he is arranging a chariot for you, fancy one he is. Ok, about the vacation, you will have two weeks off starting tomorrow, I want you to try to clear your mind, immerse yourself in familiar surroundings, don’t let this junk about the war disrupt your life. If I were you I would get a good night sleep, long trip ahead of you!”

He quickly left the commons leaving me stumped with a stack of papers. What is all this? They expect me to self learn this in two weeks? Well, it can’t be that hard, it beats being stuck in a classroom all day long, now what is this, mathematics seems easy, all you have to do is just... Hrm, I may be in a bit of a rough spot, oh well.

I sat up and started to slowly trot to my room. As I started down the hallway it occurred to me I should go tell Shrew where I’m going, he is going to be wondering after all. I guess I have been kind of an ass to him lately.

I took a right instead of a left turn to the rec room, I saw him in the corner alone, he seemed to not be enjoying anything at the moment. I slowly trotted up to him and he looked at me with a bit of a pained look on his face.

I asked him cautiously, “What’s wrong?” He only shook his head slowly, I wouldn’t take that for an answer.

I nudged him and asked again, “What’s wrong Shrew?” He proceeded with the same response. I wasn’t getting nowhere with him.

I asked him with a bit more sympathy, “This about earlier?” He started to tense up after I said that, he didn’t even shake his head this time. This is getting nowhere.

I told him with even more sympathy, “I’m sorry dude, I’ve just been goin through a bit, I’m gonna be headin home tomorrow, I got a two week vacation, supposed to help me clear up my mind, just wanted you to know.” After I said that he gave a slow but thankful look on his face, he still refused to say anything.

I slowly started to trot back to my room as I heard a loud, “Wait!” from behind me and then trotting. I turned around and as I did, he was right behind me.

He was panting a little bit, he wasn’t the best runner, and said, “Take this before you go.” He opened one of his bags and held out a small but unique marble.

“It was my grandpa’s, he said it helped him concentrate, take it.” I could tell that it meant a lot to him, you could tell it hurt him to give it to me, he dropped it in my bag and gave me a nudge, his equivalent of saying he’ll miss me.

I nodded back to him and trotted back to my bed, as I entered the room I noticed that I decided that I might as well get some extra rest like Mr. Royal suggested.

I slowly trotted to the bed and jumped right in, I fell quickly asleep.

I awoke instantly to a large blast. I sat up rubbing my head and realized I was dreaming again. I saw zebras all around me, I was in, a cage? What the hell? How did I end up here? This has to mean something.

I wonder if, yep, I can move. I slowly got up and tapped on the cage. The zebras looked at me and one of them smiled, it was something to fear, it wasn’t a happy smile, nor a sad smile, this was a smile of pure evil.

The zebra slowly trotted up to me, I couldn’t tell if it was a boy or a girl, how should I know, I have never seen a zebra before!

The zebra looked right at my eyes and said, “What was your mission?”

As if by instincts I said, “None of your knowledge to know.” I didn’t mean to say that! Wh- AGHH that hurt! What the hell! Dreams aren't supposed to hurt! I immediately sat up again, I was losing control again, the pain didn’t fade with the control.

The zebra looked with a smirk, “Now I said again, what was your mission?” I looked at him and spat, I didn’t mean to do that! I was sent flying across the cage and felt an agonizing amount of pain, how could anypony live like this!

As I got up I noticed the coat of the pony I was, it was me, but, older. This couldn’t be, this just can’t be! I slowly trotted up to the zebra again without control and said two words, “Fuck. You.” I was screwed, he turned around and bucked me in the face. The world around me started to dissolve into nothingness.

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Sorry for the delay on this chapter, I might start writing them a bit slower, I am the only one reviewing and editing them currently so that doesn’t help at all, if you have Skype add BronySinc, I need a few people to help me fix errors before I release since I can only do so much. I also make PMV’s and Music so I may not release chapters on other days and I might just be taking a day off and playing games or dealing with the plugins on my Minecraft server, as you can see I’m usually loaded to the top, so sorry if it takes a day per chapter to release but thats all I think I can muster for now unless I can get a few editors that are good at what they do.

A Rough Trip

I slowly started to drop back into the real world, I had a massive pounding headache. I sat up and looked at the clock, it was about time for me to go. I jumped out of my bed and grabbed my saddle, I had to pack up my things.

I went around the room looking for all my crud when I noticed something, the right side of my face was bruised, and it hurt like hell! That dream couldn’t have been real, could it have been?

I picked up a few school books, the papers that I would have to study, and a few other pieces of misc material that I cared about. As I finished up Mr. Royal entered the room.

He looked at me and said, “Your driver’s here Viren, remember what I said, just get all that nonsense out of your head, thinking like that only does damage.”

He guided me towards the front of the school and I saw our personal driver standing there, his name was Sky Chaser.

Sky Chaser looked at me and said politely, “Are you ready for departure sir Viren?” I nodded and he started towards the door. I looked back at Mr. Royal and he was waving goodbye.

I looked at the chariot and noticed it was different, this one had actual battlements on it, not to mention a pegasi guard with a battle saddle!

Sky Chaser looked at me and noticed I was staring at the weapons, “Your father has asked for your safe return, the countryside is too dangerous to be transported unarmed, hopefully we will not have to use them though.”

I nodded and slowly entered the chariot, this was going to be a long ride. I set my saddle on the seat and sat down in the middle, I always hated traveling by air, my dad always chose it when possible though.

The chariot slowly started to take off and I was stuck sitting in the back. I watched as scenery started to go by slowly, such a boring ride. The guard behind us kept speed easily, even with that huge battle saddle mounted! This seemed like it was overkill just to get me home. Not like I was going to have to deal with anything.

I noticed that we were flying lower than usual, I ignored the fact of it. I took note of how high above the treeline we were, how cou- Ding! -What the hell?- Ding!Ding!Ding! -What the, no, no the odds are not possible! I looked behind us to see the pegasi guard screaming something, I couldn’t understand him at all.

I noticed that Sky Chaser was looking at me, he shouted out, “Get down!” I did as I was instructed, he instantly took off at a near 180 degree angle! I noticed that the guard separated from us, he charged towards where the gunfire was, he disapeared into the tree’s and I heard a loud chain sound that seemed as if a chain was spinning against metal. I could hear loud screams below but I couldn’t see anything past the tree’s top.

The chariot all of a sudden righted itself up to its normal angle, it was still going faster than it should be, Sky Chaser was yelling things over a radio he had, I couldn’t understand a single word.

I know my mom’s in a high place but what would they do with me! This was making no sense, my heart was pounding at speeds it's never raced before. Why me out of all ponies! How would they even know about my transport, it has only been scheduled for a couple days!

After ten minutes of flying at top speeds in the same path we started to slow down and lower our altitude, Sky Chaser looked as if he was hiding something, I knew better than to ask questions in times like these though.

As we neared the next city we slowed down to even slower speeds than before, Sky Chaser didn’t even look tired though. As we flew above the city, I couldn’t identify it sadly, four pegasi guards flew up and joined our formation, all wearing battle saddles.

Sky Chaser finally looked back and said, “I think we won’t have to deal with any other problems, your dad asked that we have more guards though, we shouldn’t have to deal with them this far in but it’s better to be safe than sorry.” He looked back to the front and started to pick up speed back to normal.

The four pegasi guards behind us were all Royal Guards, they looked as if they were willing to die to ensure our safe ride. As the day dragged on I decided it would be best to get some sleep. I laid down and let the world evaporate before me.

I slowly looked up to see that the world around me was burning, this couldn’t be, what happened? I slowly stood up and everything hurt, I looked at the left side of my body and it was scorched!

Every small movement hurt like nothing I’ve felt before! I looked around and I was in this deep trench. everypony around me was dead, I looked over and noticed that I was nowhere near Canterlot, this looked like the middle of nowhere. On the far end of the field of scorched earth were zebras, all lying dead to.

What had happened? How could this many ponies die at once! I can’t make any of this out! The worst part about this, was the smell, it smelled like nothing I’ve experienced before, it was one of the most grotesque things I have experienced before, scratch that, it was the most grotesque thing I’ve experienced.

I slowly started to look around, something around here has to help my burns, this is a dream after all, or at least I hope it is. I trotted down the long trench and saw a pony in full steel armor lying dead on the ground. What the hell is on him?

Everything felt different to me, I couldn’t even explain the feelings my nerves were sending me. Nothing made sense anymore. This was sheer agony I was experiencing. I slowly picked through the scorched bodies, it was as if they already used all their medical supplies!

I eventually found some special type of anti burn cream, I gently applied it to the wound, it hurt like hell but after a few seconds it started to feel soothing. I started to explore, I realized I was in a standard militarized uniform, or was, until majority of its side was burned off.

Why did my dream take me here of all places? I don’t understand any of this! I started to trot further down the trench, the quiet world was even creepier than a noisy battlefield! All of a sudden I lost control of my actions again and my body picked up a rifle that was sitting next to another dead pony, how could I even think of wielding a weapon right now!

My body started down the trench at even faster speeds and as it reached the end of the trench, an abomination was waiting for me there, it was a pony, but grotesquely mutated! My body dropped and instantly fired its rifle into its head, sending gore everywhere. As the head exploded, the world evaporated around me.

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Sorry for the delay yesterday, had an interview with IBrony radio, killed most of my free time of that day on that, I also need artists for a PMV if anybody who can draw as if its from the show read this, comment if you wish to help. Back to the topic, I am debating on releasing chapters every day or every other day still, I know I only release a thousand or so words per chapter but it’s all the time I can spare as for now, I am also probably going to be upping my PMV production so that would take time out of making this fic, I will continue writing it though so don’t worry about that, just that I have a bunch on my plate so chapters may release a bit more slowly. Again, if you can draw as if its’ from the show, comment below, really, I need help on this PMV, there will be credit given if you help.

Home Sweet Home

I slowly faded back into the realm of reality. I looked around and saw the air flying past me, I looked around a second time and realized I was still in the chariot. I poked my head over the edge and saw Canterlot down below, we were just a few minutes from landing.

“Decide to join us in the real world I see?” I looked and saw Sky Chaser speaking to me.

I replied lazily, “Ya, just another bad dream.” He looked oddly at me then decided to ignore it. The pegasi guards behind us started to go back the way we came, their job was over.

As we neared the ground I saw my dad standing next to the runway, as we touched ground he started towards the chariot. As he neared, Sky Chaser dismounted and opened my door for me.\

I jumped out of the chariot and straightened up, slowly trotting over to my dad, only to see him looking at Sky Chaser sternly.

Dad looked at me and said, “Viren, go inside, your mother wants to see you, I’ll have to talk to Sky Chaser for a minute.” I knew better than to disobey him, I ran inside at his command. Sky Chaser was going to be in deathly trouble, the look dad gave him could kill a pony.

“Viren! I’ve missed you so much! Come over here and give me a hug!” I looked and saw my mom, I honestly hated it when she was like this but I decided to ignore it for now and trotted up to her and hugged her. She probably had no idea what had happened on the flight, dad has always tried to protected.

I looked at her and finally said after being hugged to the point of near death, “If you keep hugging me like this I’m going to die!” She instantly let go of me and had a caring look on her face.

She looked at me caringly and said, “I’m sorry I just missed you more than you can imagine! I can’t believe you’ve only been gone for a month now! Not only that, but you're only a few months away from being eighteen!”

I looked at her and knew it was hurting her from me being out of the house, she had enough stress as it was, I decided to indulge in her feelings and hugged her back. From the look she put out, it looked like that helped her out mentally more than anything could right now.

As we finished, we both straightened up and as usual, she rushed off to some unknown part of the house. My mom was always busy just as my dad was, they were very important ponies to the government, my dad being not just a Royal Guard, but a Field Commander and my mother being one of the head advisors to Luna.

My family was pretty much broken apart by the lives we lead, there was no way to turn it for the better, because they were important, so was I, I usually kept my actual life a secret, it was by my father's request that I go to a school anonymously, he said it was too dangerous for me to board at a school by my real name. No pony at the school knew about it but me, it was a harshly kept secret.

As I was left alone in the main hall I decided to check my room out, I started towards the stairs at the other end of the room to notice that there were much less servants in the house, usually this place was bustling with ponies trying to clean up.

As I trotted up the stairs I realized that the tension in the house seemed extremely different, the lack of servants had been one thing, but they usually greet me as I trot by them, odd.

I opened the door to my room to notice that nothing in it had been touched, dust had gathered on the bed, the couch had the same indent marks where I usually laid on it, and the tables of my drawings were all still scattered.

I slowly walked into the room and had a strange feeling, it didn’t feel natural to be in here, I didn’t like it but I ignored the feeling and laid on the couch, now what should I do for the few hours I have before dinner.

I grabbed a ball and decided to bounce it against the wall. I threw it on the ground halfway towards the wall, it bounced up and hit the wall only to recoil back to me, I repeated this a couple hundred times as the seconds turned to minutes, and the minutes to hours.

Nine hundred and ninety eight, nine hundred and ninety nine, and ei- shit, I missed it. The ball hit the bottom of the couch just out of my grasp, I decided to quit that and was bored out of my mind!

I knew I was going to regret this, but I pulled out my papers that Mr. Royal gave me, I looked at his assignment, in bold letters it said, “Stop Thinking, Be Free” The type of thing he would usually do.

I threw that over and looked at the next one, math, what the hell does that sign even mean! Forget it, I threw it over in the stack with English’s. I pulled out Equestrian History, hrm study the Lunar rebellion? Chapter fifty two through sixty five, I think I’ll do that for now.

I slowly pulled out my Equestrian History book, flipped to chapter fifty two and started reading.

Chapter 52

The Lunar Rebellion

This was a dark time in Equestria, two sisters who once ruled in peace and harmony were broken apart. The reports of the cause of Celestia’s sisters transformation was unknown, some say it was a taint from Discord himself, others believe it is a celestial mark, one thing that they can all agree on though is that something had created the dreaded Nightmare Moon. This mare refused to lower the moon for the sun and had converted thousands of ponies to follow her essence. They were forced to battle against one another in a bloody civil war, the technology at this time was not sufficient as they are today, their weapons consisted of magic spells, helmet blades, and tridents. Thousands of ponies were injured and lost due to these battles, the economy during this time was at an all time low in the process and all production of technology had halted. Th-

I looked up at the clock, still a couple of hours left, eh, why not get some sleep. I trotted over to my bed, put the book down, and fell quickly asleep, god I missed this mattress.

“Corporal, Get up! Corporal! Now!” I slowly looked up to see that the world was an even darker shade of night than usual, I looked up to see four night guards chasing down some Royal Guard pegasi, but they were in the out of date issue armor, where was I?

“Corporal! Finally you’re awake! Luna’s forces have made a pour through the ravines, there going to overflow this area any minute! We have to get out of here!” I looked up and saw an officer of the old guard. What the fuck?

He started out the door and I noticed I wasn’t hearing any chain rattling, but explosions, those were magic spells being cast! I instantly jumped and started to follow him. I looked down to see a white but mud stained coat on me, who was I?

I ran around the trenches dug in the ground only to hear more explosions nearby. this was going to be a terrible dream. I realized something even worse, I was lost. I looked around and started to hear a loud roar of battle cries coming from over the wall to my left, I knew that was what I was avoiding.

I instantly started off running to the pathway on my right and it seemed as if I would never escape. all of a sudden realized something, I looked at my sides and couldn’t believe what I saw, wings!

I instantly tried to jump up and fly but fell down flat on my face, I had no idea on how to use them! This completely sucked! I pulled myself up as fast as I could and started to run again, I decided to get daring and look behind me, I saw hundreds of ponies with a deathly face put on charging towards me.

No matter how fast I ran, they kept up at a perfect speed, this was terrible! I looked ahead and noticed that there were other Royal Guards running in the direction I was going, the ones that couldn’t keep up were engulfed by the army of bodies chasing us down. I heard a couple of agonizing screams behind me but that was all, how was I going to escape this!

I was trying to run my fastest when I tripped, as I tumbled forward it was as if I was flying out of my dream, the world dissolved around me.

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I wrote this chapter really late at night so if it isn’t that good then sorry. Was busy building a Big Mac rig for a video, may or may not release a chapter tomorrow since I might get my Tombstone and Glaze rig to animate in the PMV so sorry!

Not So Sweet Home

I jumped off my bed frantically, I immediately looked around for any signs of danger. Wow, that was definitely not the same as any of the other dreams. I looked up at the clock and noticed I was late for dinner!

I immediately ran out of my room, I turned the corner and nearly fell down the stairs in an attempt to skip most of the steps, avoided the staff, and ended up in the kitchen,both my parents staring at me with angered looks. I messed up big time.

Dad looked at me and finally said, “What took you so long to arrive for dinner? It is over ten minutes past.”

I dryly replied, “I was asleep,” They both only shook their heads in disappointment. I trotted over to the table and sat down, staring at the large pallet of salads in front of me, I started to select one.

I had savored every flavor counting the fact that I had been eating the same food every day for the past month or so. As we had dinner I started to wonder in my thoughts again. I wonder what it will be like when I get back, if it is a targeted school then what happens if it, you know what, I’m just going to get off this topic.

I looked down and realized I had but been picking at my food this whole time, my parents were just about finished. I immediately started to engulf the food until I couldn't take anymore. As I finished my parents looked oddly at me, they were not pleased by the fact of how I ate.

My mother looked at me and said, “Something troubling you?”

I looked up at her and shook my head side to side. My dad put on a stern face, he knew I was lying. He seemed to ignore it and left the table, my mother followed shortly after him. I looked around and noticed the servants already cleaning up the meal, I jumped out of the seat and slowly trotted around.

I noticed that a lot of the plants around the building are gone now, the ones that were left had been left to slowly rot. Something was wrong, is the war affecting Canterlot too?

I decided to go out and get some fresh air. I started towards the main hall and while I was cantering towards it, I noticed for the first time that there were Royal Guards stationed in our home, how could I miss that?

I opened the door and immediately took a fresh breath of air. This was what I had been missing for so long, fresh air. Well, as fresh as Canterlot air can get. I looked around and noticed that there were even more Guards outside, they were patrolling our lawn, on our balcony, everywhere!

I noticed that an even larger chariot had been parked in front of our house, who owned that gigantic thing! I realized, it must be from mothers work, there were Night Guards near it.

I slowly trotted down the single pathway down the lawn to get a fresh sight of everything I had missed, the place used to have a happy and brightening mood, right now, it only had an ominous mood.

I was about to reach our gate when a Royal Guard stopped me. He stated, “Nopony shall pass beyond this point without authorization.” I looked at him with a more stereotypical face, I decided not to fight it and turned back.

This time as I walked back to the house, it felt like every single guard was watching me, making sure I was safe, I didn’t like the feeling at all.

As I got to the door, a dark blue magical aura engulfed it and opened it up, I moved out of its path and noticed that Luna was opening it.

She looked at me happily and said, “Nice to see you again Viren, it would have been better if you didn’t cause panic in the school a few days ago, but still, nice to see you again.”

I replied casually, “Just wanted to know what was up, was surprised to see you at the school is all.” She giggled at the statement. I may not be royalty, but I had talked to Luna on many occasions, she usually was at our house to talk to my mother.

I let her pass by and she was followed by two of her Night Guards, they gave grim faces everywhere they looked. I noticed my mother looking at me sternly.

“What was that about you causing panic?”

I looked at her and rubbed my hoof on the back of my mane, “Well, I was curious and all about that school being a target, all the facts added up, she even agreed!” Mother only made a loud *Tsk Tsk* and trotted away. Well that went better than I thought it would go.

I slowly cantered into the house and towards the stairs, as I reached my room, I noticed it had been cleaned. I entered the room and started to look for my school work, it wasn’t where I left it. I decided to leave the room and ask the nearest servent.

I approached the closest one who was cleaning one of the rails and asked, “Do you know who the pony was that cleaned that room over there?”

He looked where my hoof was pointing and replied, “Yes, I think that was Miss Sunshine who did that. Was there a problem?”

I looked at him and said, “Know, just wondering is all, any way you can direct me to her?”

He looked without emotion and said, “Yes, follow me.” I followed him as he started towards the stairs. As we went down, the servants in the room all of a sudden stiffened like they had been earlier, were they just relaxed a few seconds ago? Something must be making them nervous.

As we trotted down the near neverending hallways, I noticed that the place was starting to fall apart the further we went from the main hallways. He opened a door at the end of the hallway and pointed at a younger yellow mare, I entered as he left the room to return to what he was doing.

I trotted over to her and ask, “Miss Sunshine is it?”

She looked at me and instantly straightened up noticing my presence. She sputtered out, “S s s sssir Viren! Did I do something wrong with your room?”

I shook my head no and replied, “No, I wanted to thank you, but one thing, do you remember where you put my schoolwork on my floor?”

She got a grim look on her face and replied, “I’m sorry, I threw it away thinking it was things from before you arrived, I didn’t think you had been in your room yet.

I nodded and said, “Calm down, it’s okay, I’ve been in worst situations.” With that she took a deep breath and relaxed, I then left the room thinking about what I was going to do.

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Sorry everypony that it took so long to release this, I’ve been working overtime on my PMV right now and actually designing a bunch of rigs manually, haven't the time to write this like I used to, I’ll try to write more chapters than I have been, but I can’t guarantee chapters to release but every few days.

A Memory Relived

I slowly jumped out of bed and trotted over to a paper stack in my room, thank god I didn’t have another one of those weird dreams. Its been about three days since I had returned home and I have a bad feeling, something is nagging at me, something I’m missing. Whatever, I’ll figure it out eventually.

I looked at the papers and realized they were all blank, how did they even get in my room? I slowly looked out of my room and noticed that the hallway was empty, I trotted out of the room and started searching around. Where is everypony?

I started to the main lobby and when I had gotten to the stairs, the ambients of the house was overall intimidating. There was not a word to be heard. I slowly and cautiously trotted down the stairs and looked around, same as I had suspected, empty.

I took a left to the servants quarters and trotted down the dark hallway. As I passed door by door, none were opened and the eerie silence was deafening. I finally reached the end of the hallway and heard static in the last door. I slowly trotted up to it and put my ear on the door.

Nothing but static, I slowly opened the door to see every single servant gathered in the room around the radio, this was exactly like my school. This couldn’t be good.

As if in a flashback, the radio slowly crackled to life.

The words were crystal clear, “It is now that I regret to say that the Zebra’s decided to finally strike, a school that went by the name of Lunar Boardings has been assaulted, it was as if all the life in the school suddenly disappeared out of nowhere, we have no word of any survivors. There has been armed forces dispatched to the area, we have received reports from locals saying they had seen an armed chariot fly across the sky a few days ago, could our government have known and not done anything about it? W-” Somepony had shut off the radio, the servants in the room all had the same looks as the students at the school had a few days ago.

If they disappeared out of nowhere, couldn’t they be safe in the stables or whatever they are? I just don’t understand, a whole school, gone. How could they even target a school full of foals! And our government DID know about it! They did nothing to evacuate them, it must have been a big experiment. How could they do that to ponies, no, innocent kids!

The room quickly emptied and I realized I was the only one standing in it anymore. This was terrible, even if they did make it out, would I ever be able to even know if they are alive? They made that project seem like a huge secrete.

I ju- “Son, follow me.” I turned around to see my dad, I trotted over to him as he walked out of the room.

I looked at him and said, “Dad, wh-”

He quickly looked at me and replied, “Not yet, I have to tell you something, just follow me.” I listened and started to follow him to wherever he was going. As we walked past door after door I noticed we were in a part of the house I usually am not supposed to be in.

He walked up to a bookcase and hit four books in an odd order, all of a sudden it slowly slid to the side. What has he been keeping from me! I peered in and noticed that it led down a small metal hallway to an even larger door.

He slowly trotted down it and I followed, as we hit the end of the hallway, the bookcase closed behind us and it was pitch black, all of a sudden we were showered in bright lights from panels in the ceiling. he slowly opened the door and it led to a small room with a table, I walked in when he motioned me forward.

He looked at me and motioned me to sit down, I did as told.

He trotted over to his chair and ran his hoof across the head of it, he then said, “Son, I know things are happening, I know you want me to stay but, I have to go in for duty. I wha-”

“Dad! You can’t be serious! You know what they do out there, you ha-”

“Listen, I wanted to say something to you, I want you to know that it was only a matter of time before I was asked to be a part of this, you and I both knew this even if we didn’t want to. I want you to know, things are changing. I can’t say this in front of anypony or I’m in trouble, Equestria is going through a dark time, darker than when Luna was the antagonist. I don’t know when or even if I’ll be back, I just wanted you to know that I love you, when you get older, stay out of the war, I want you to be as far away as possible from it.”

I looked at him while deeply thinking and nodded, he had a saddened look on his face. He trotted up to me slowly and then he did something I wouldn’t see him do in a million years! He hugged me! I couldn’t even remember the last time he had been emotional, let alone broke his usual stature. He looked at me and I noticed his eyes were slightly red, he smiled and started to leave the room.

He left me staring into the wall, that was not what I was expecting, he has never been like this before, he knows something he doesn't want to tell me and I know it. I have to find out. What is this room even about?

I looked around to see it was just an empty metal room with a table and a light, nothing more.

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I know I’ve been lazy on writing chapters latley, sowwiez! I am just VERY busy right now on Youtube and have to design rigs for my next PMV, if I can raise my view count by Friday, I might get a Fullscreen Partnership. This story will continue to be updated, just not at that often. I honestly rushed this chapter because I just wanted to get the word out that I will try to continue writing every day or so but so far my schedule is maxed out, I also have to finish my summer projects for school still and it starts in two weeks so who knows how things will turn out. Had a massive brain fart for this chapter sooooooo yaaaaaaa.

A Bleak Awakening

The sun was low and everypony was gathered in the dinning hall. Teachers were telling everypony to stay calm as we gathered around the single radio in the room, it was dead silent.

The radio crackled to life and a stallions voice appeared over it, “Due to recent conflicts with the Zebra Empire, the Equestrian Nations have decided to declare war, we do not know how this will affect our peaceful nation after a thousand years of peace but we are sure that it will not be good. It is now that I would like to declare that the Equestrian draft has been put into effect and any stallion over the age of eighteen is eligible to be pulled out, may Celestia be with us all in these dark times.” With that, the room became silent, nopony wanted to be the first to talk after hearing that. There was a few fillies starting to tear up from the news.

“What just happened?” said one of the younger mare’s of the school breaking the firm silence. An older stallion to her right whispered something into her ear that was too low to make out, it was easy to tell what he said though from the look on her face.

Professor Mint stood on a desk and started to speak to the room, I just looked down at the ground, my dad was part of the Equestrian Royal Guard, he would be sent off to war first and I knew it. I started to think of all the times I had been angry at him before he sent me to the boarding school, I should be there with him before he leaves, not stuck at this school.

I looked up and noticed that everypony in the room had already started to depart for their rooms, they all had their own feelings for it, some looked hyped, it was mostly the older stallions, they thought war was a game, I knew what it really was, my dad told me stories about the last war, how Luna had caused a civil war throughout all of Equestria.

As I slowly trotted towards my room I noticed that the teachers were all gone, I assumed they were in a meeting at the time so I just went back to bed hoping for this to be a misunderstanding.

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