An Equestrian tale!

As the night cleared out, and morning arrived, Artcraft woke up inside of what appeared to be a small room with a caged door. Adorned with everything that one should expect from inside of a cramped room. It didn't leave much to the imagination at all. Just a table, a chair, A bookshelf containing a wide assortment of spell books as far as anyone else can see, and a small wooden picture frame containing a picture of both Artemis and Julie Bruner.

Suddenly Artcraft heard footsteps approaching the cage door, two armored figures opened the door grabbed Artcraft out of there, and pushed him into the main living quarters of what used to be his house. Everything was mostly knocked off of the shelves, soldiers moving in and out of his home. One of them gestured and then bowed to that tall, menacing figure that took Artcraft hostage, and for what reason, Celestia only knows.

He took a seat at the kitchen table and motioned for his two soldiers to push Artcraft towards him so he could address him.

"This village will do nicely for us, for the time being, until we have to move on to the next one!" Said the ominous figure who was now looking at Artcraft's quivering form. "Just so we're clear, you obey me and only me, is that understood?" Asked the ominous figure still giving Artcraft that cold calculating stare from before.

"Y-Yes I understand p-perfectly." Said Artcraft returning the look in fear. Artcraft was unsure of what this man was capable of, but he'd rather not test it for obvious reasons.

"Very good, now what's your name little one?" Asked the ominous figure.

"A-Artcraft sir, it's Artcraft." Responded Artcraft as he waited for his captor's next move.

"My name is Commander Starboom, leader of this pack, and now to be your new mentor and owner, is that understood?" Asked Starboom as he looked back to Artcraft for his answer.

"Y-Yes Starboom, I understand." Said Artcraft.

"No no no, that won't do at all, to learn the ropes, you'll need to learn how to be more formal to your superiors. From now forward, you will refer to me as master; is that understood Artcraft?" Said Starboom.

"Y-Yes m-master, yes I understand." Said Artcraft as he waited for Starboom's next order.

With a hearty chuckle, he replied, "You'll fit in here just nicely Artcraft, with that attitude. just remember to mind your superiors at all times, and keep to your studies, I cannot have a student who doesn't know how to tap into his magic potential." Said Starboom.

"Y-Yes master, I understand, t-thank you for your hospitality master," said Artcraft.

"We'll begin your training now Artcraft, you can start by going over to me what you've already learned from your parents." Said Starboom.

"Yes master, well where should I begin?" Asked Artcraft

"Try basic magic spells to me, show me what you're capable of!" Commanded Starboom. He stood up to tower over Artcraft's small form and looked down at him as if he were very unimpressed and bored. This was extremely intimidating to Artcraft for multiple reasons.

"Y-yes master, I'll do it." Said Artcraft as he charged his magic, he felt it flow through his horn and throughout his body, this was it, this was the moment he was waiting for, to hopefully cast his first spell. basic teleportation worked just about as well as you'd expect from a unicorn that's still wet behind the ears.

The spell tapered off and then disappeared—a complete dud; Starboom didn't look pleased at all, to say the least. "You have a lot of work ahead of you Artcraft before I would ever consider you to be unicorn material. Go back to your room and hit those books! Learn the fundamentals of magic and its properties. And then I'll see you back here tomorrow to show me what you've learned from them. Dismissed!" Said Starboom as he gestured his two soldiers from before to escort Artcraft back into his room for the rest of the night.

"You hear that you little runt, you better impress our commander because you don't want to know what'll happen to you should you disappoint him again." Said the first soldier to Artcraft as they approached his room, one of them opened up the door and the other one tossed Artcraft into his room, rather roughly for lack of a better term.

"Maybe we should give this little one a small demonstration of just how we do things in our troop. what do you say, Riff?" Said the first soldier as he looked over to his friend for his response.

"I couldn't agree more Buzz, and I was in the mood for a little bludgeoning tonight anyway." Said Riff as he and Buzz both entered Artcraft's room and barred the front door. They approached Artcraft's trembling form.

"B-but I did my best, I swear I did." Said a very shaken Artcraft as both soldiers got closer to him.

"Well it wasn't good enough for Starboom, and it won't ever impress any of us. I don't know why he decided to spare your pathetic hide and to be honest, I don't care, but you're going to learn the mind if you ever want to be one of us." Said Buzz as he picked up Artcraft by the collar of his shirt and held his small body in the air.

"Aaauugghhh!!!" A swift punch straight to Artcraft's side, a small crunch could be heard and Artcraft had fresh tears rolling down his cheeks. another punch, then another. The pain was burning and intense for Artcraft's small body to endure.

"Hey! Save some of him for me Buzz, you greedy bastard, I want some too!" Said Riff as he then took over where Buzz left off.

"Sure, not a problem Riff, just make sure you don't hurt him too badly, he still has to prove himself his worth to us." Said Buzz as he walked out of Artcraft's room and left Riff alone with Artcraft.

"Hey there kid, Buzz isn't usually that green with his prey, and neither am I. So don't expect any mercy from me." Said Riff as he slammed Artcraft's body to the ground and then started to kick him... right where Buzz had just punched him.

"My name *kick* is Riff fucking *kick* Razor you little runt. Yeah, this is what you'll have to look forward to *kick* every time you fail and I'm going to enjoy it for all that it's worth." Yelled Riff as he continued to kick Artcraft's side again and again, the pain was unbearable for him, he later passed out from the abuse given to him.

"What a pathetic waste of life. I can't believe that Starboom chose you to be his student, I swear he must be going senile on us. Well, I'm satisfied for tonight, see you around kiddo." Said Riff as he left the room.