The stale tale of Cake, the dumbass!

"Dreaded Days"

It was only four days until a Royal Chariot arrived to pick Cake up. She gathered what little things she was allowed to take and left, telling her mother how much she loved her and that she would return as soon as she could.

The ride to Canterlot was long and uneventful. The guards pulling the chariot were quiet and so was Cake, as she realized just how hard the next couple of moons would be for her.

When she arrived in Canterlot Cake’s mane began to itch. Everypony had their noses in the air and only glanced at her to quickly snort and look away. Her mother had told her about Canterlot before, but she never knew things would be this bad.

The guards led Cake into an auditorium where she and several other candidates were waiting. All the other foals looked at her hard like she was late to class or wasn't wearing her uniform. She was guilty of both.

Cake sat down on the floor next to a stallion who took one look at the young mare and shook his head, then looked away. She sat there waiting for a while, other foals and guards came into the auditorium, either sitting on the cold floor or standing up. Eventually a stallion came onto the stage, wearing ribbons all over his chest.

“Greeting cadets and seniors, welcome to your first day of drill training. Consider this to be your orientation to the daily life of being a Guard. Each row should have a Senior who will walk you through the basics of wearing your uniform and following basic commands. Your senior should be at the end of the line to your left. Except for line 6!”

Suddenly the stallion on the stage pointed straight at Cake, who began to sweat as every pair of eyes in the auditorium turned to stare at her.

“Lieutenant Hard Tack, swap places with that mare!”

The stallion beside her stood up and shouted, “Yes, Sir!” Then he quickly turned and stared at Cake, who sheepishly took his spot as he took hers. Just like that it was over, but Cake was still shaking a little.

She turned to her right and saw a white coated stallion who reminded her of herself, only his mane was blue instead. He turned and gave the mare a comforting smile before turning back to the stallion on stage.

“Squad leaders, take the cadets outside and teach them basic drill, understood?”

Suddenly all the ponies to the left stood and shouted, “YES, SIR!” Then everypony began to get onto their hooves, so Cake followed as Hard Tack led them back outside and into a courtyard where they were put into rows by age. Cake was at the end of the line.

She learned all the basics of drill without any hiccups or much difficulty, her mother's loving discipline having taught her well to remember the commands and military slang. Soon it was sunset and the cadets were led to their quarters. Cake sat down, and immediately began to write a letter to send back to her mother about how the day had gone.

Dear Dark Oak

I already miss home and it's only been the first day of this place. Every wall here is white or grey, and there doesn't seem to be a single drop of color anywhere besides a single banner to Celestia I saw when I arrived. All the cadets in my room are unicorns and we seem to be separated based on race. I'm thankful for that since maybe I can finally get better at magic.

I have yet to talk to any of the other cadets, but they seem to be much more at home here than I ever would be. Might be due to the fact a majority of them seem to hail from Canterlot or other high class places like Manehattan, ones even from Las Pegasus going off his accent. Please write back to me soon.

Your loving daughter, Apple Cake

After she sealed the letter she went to bed, carefully tucking herself in like her mother always had, until the snoors of a familiar white stallion got her attention. He was sleeping on the bunk parallel to hers. Before she knew it, another one of the cadets threw their pillow, smacking him in the face and causing her to giggle a bit at the unexpecting stallion. He woke up dazed, and before returning to sleep tightly hugged the projectile. But at least he was no longer snoring, and with that Cake began to fall asleep herself.