The day began as it always did once again, before the sun was raised. Out of bed, remember the letter. Put the PT belt on on, remember the letter. Walk out of the barrack she inhabited, remember that damn letter. It was like a plague on her mind, the only thing she could think about was that the Princess herself had summoned her!

She made her way to the assigned track which she favored, and started the daily kilometers gallop with a few other equally motivated guards in various places around her. That Major she ran into yesterday... Major Shining Armor? He was an unknown, which was a problem. Most royal guard officers have at least some notoriety, especially ones that have managed to become Majors. They were given minor nobility status by then, and usually held some kind of public figure position. The really bad ones flaunted it, too.

But not this officer, it seemed. She hadn't had the time yet to do any substantial research on him either, and she was too busy falling on her face to notice any of the other figures who'd shown their faces yesterday. This must be seriously important if she had this kind of attention from simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time though.

Her thoughts kept her propelled a lot harder and faster than she'd intended, getting through her three kilometer minimum rather quickly at around six minutes. That was actually fairly substantial, and it left her out of breath as she snapped out of her trance, managing to get off the track and to the side to try and steady her breathing. That was certainly a good morning run, sun above!

She'd spent a bit more time letting her body catchup, then she had to make her way to the gym for a few more hours of maintaining her fitness. The whole time, she was getting more and more nervous about this meeting. The Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces and ruler of Equestria was taking the time out of her morning to have a meeting with her of all ponies!

Two rough hours of working and stressing passed slower than normal for her, eventually ending with her being even more sore than normal. Joy. She exited the gym, and slowly trotted her way back across the base to her barrack. Her roommate Solid Star should be back by now, getting ready for her own formation. That's the precise moment that out of the corner of her eye, she spotted the single figure she absolutely did not want to deal with, especially today. And he was coming straight towards her.

"Ah there's my favorite Private~"

Sergeant Barnes Raize. Ever since she'd been assigned to this duty post he'd been around the damn corner every time she went anywhere, how an elitist and sexist pony could get anywhere in this military was the single piece of doubt she had about the organization entirely.

"I'm not in any mood to deal with you today Barnes. Takes your tail end somewhere in my exact opposite direction."

"Awh don't be that way doll, and besides I know you like to stare anyways." His tone was laced with that sickly sweet venom she was accustomed to hearing. He stalked right up in front of her path, blocking her movement. "If I didn't know any better I'd say it was a hint..~"

"Barnes, get the buck out of my face before I get SHARP involved. Again."

He just grinned, that stupid maroon furred face of his seemingly glancing over every inch of her toned form. It felt gross. "Alright alright there Sapphy, but before you rebuke me once again I was sent to tell you your chain of command is looking for you. Hope you aren't in too much trouble~"

He was already walking away, elongating that last syllable. That pompous prick was the sole reason she had any doubts about this institution at all, why in Tartarus would a pony like that get promoted over somepony else? It was infuriating, and made her temples ache. Though, if her chain of command was looking for her it meant something equally as important was going to happen. She quickened her pace and made it back to her room for her armor, curiously missing one normally just as attentive roommate, but quickly tying her mane and tail back and slipping each gold plate onto place. Perfect.

Next, her uncontested favorite part of every morning. Morning formation. Like every day before it, and every day it would come next, it was boring. Just before dawn, waiting for everypony in her unit to assemble. Today it was actually their section sergeant they were waiting on, a pegasus stallion named Sure Shot. The gold-yellow stallion had been in the service longer than she'd been alive, been kicked from unit to unit and eventually busted down to Master Sergeant for 'unbecoming conduct.' He repeatedly bemoaned that decision.

Eventually, right as everypony was ordered to form up he showed his face, just as untrimmed as the day she met him. The platoon shot him a collective 'well come the fuck on' type of look before he sheepishly got into his assigned place, and the Sun was raised. Somewhere in Canterlot, Princess Celestia was doing her own morning ritual, and would soon meet with a random guard.

The assembled units saluted and bowed, praising the Sun and the princess they served. Eventually, they were dismissed to go to their various jobs, and Aurora was beckoned over to her Lieutenant, Shade Moon. As far as she knew, Shade was one of the very very few bat pony officers in the service whatsoever. Normally, they weren't allowed to join the guards at all, except for special endorsements from noble houses or the Princess herself. Shade kept it real quiet how she managed to get in, but everypony in her platoon learned to 'mind their own damned business' relatively fast.

"Private Aurora, good. I saw you earlier, just needed to confirm some things with you. Walk with me to my office."

She just nodded, and the pair of ponies walked into the Commander's building where most office spaces were constructed. They made their way to her particular space, which wasn't spacious or luxurious by any means, but they both sat and she picked up the conversation once again, setting her helmet on the desk prompting Aurora to set her own in her lap.

"Sorry, I didn't want this to be talked about out on the parade field. So, last night I was given a rather... interesting letter pertaining to you."

Aurora balked. "U.uh nothing bad, I hope ma'am.."

"No, not bad per-se... But, according to circumstances way above my head and paygrade, you've got the rest of the work day off." She had a knowing smile on her face, seemingly knowing more than the other pony in the office did.

"Oh! Thank you ma'am, I didn't realize I'd been given time off just for this meeting..."

"Yes.. I suspect it will be more than just a formal meet and greet though, Private." She snickered, then collected herself. "Oh, and when you meet the Princess, truly think carefully on what she's going to offer you. It has deep consequences."

Aurora was taken back, that quizzical statement making her eyebrow raise. "Uh, consequences ma'am? Do you know more about what's happening here?"

"Nothing I'm allowed to tell you. And judging from the time... you have to get going. Best of luck to you, Private. Sun and Moon be with you." The bat lieutenant dismissed her, and with a little salute, she donned her helmet once more and departed the small office.

Just what on Solis did she get herself into? She slowly trotted out of the base, and towards the Castle proper. It wasn't far, the Royal Guard Training Complex, Fitness Center, and Staging Area colloquially referred to as 'Fort Triple-Threat' was barely a kilometer away from the palace. That was by design, she'd been told. Approaching that massive wall, she spotted the guards at the gate waiting for ponies to approach. She sauntered her way up, gave them her ID, and they let her pass through.

There were other checkpoints to pass through to get to various areas of the castle, but she was expected apparently. Directly after dawn like this, ponies hadn't assembled for court yet, which would be in a few hours from now. She was led through the grand entrance of the castle to the throne room, the two guards standing watch at the door being the pinnacle of the armed forces, Celestia's personal House Guard. She got a nervous grin and stepped up to them, the pair nodded and opened the door to let her through.

It was honorific to become a House Guard, and extremely hard. They were the absolute top, the best of the best. She spared them one last glance as she moved into the long throne room, moving across the hall of stained glass portraits depicting the thousand years history of Equestria. Various conquests, important events, battles won, and more of the country's history was splayed out in glorious colored glass.

When she neared the throne, she had long since realized the Princess wasn't in the room yet. She was alone, for now. She took the time to inspect the area, never having been in this room before. It was... opulent. Marbled everything, silk tapestries and carpets, gold laced everywhere. It was the perfect capitol for the Princess of the Sun to reside in, and their nation of holy order and harmony was a perfect reflection of this room in general.

From behind the throne she heard a heavy door creak open, and the clank of metal shoes against marble. Two more House Guards stepped out and took places on either side of the throne, followed by the one and only Princess Celestia. She, as a guard, of course had been in her presence before. During graduation, the Princess attended the ceremony and gave her regards to all the new armed forces members, but she was never so close.

The sheer feeling of power and regality that Celestia radiated nearly made Aurora prostrate herself to the ground in a show of subordinance and respect, having to force herself to salute as per a superior officer instead. The Princess was Supreme Commander of the military, after all.

"Ah, you must be Private Sapphire Aurora. I'm very glad you could make it. Please accept my deepest apologies for asking you to be here on such short notice, but you made quite an impression."

"N.no ma'am, I should be thanking you for the opportunity! I am most grateful to even be in your presence, Princess."

The solar monarch adopted a small smile, projecting that warmth of the Sun she was famous for. "Please, there is no need to treat me a God. No, I have called you here to talk about an opportunity indeed, and if at any point you feel overwhelmed or unsure please feel free to leave or deny me."

Aurora was taken back. Deny the Princess anything? That wouldn't do. "Uh y.yes ma'am.. I must admit I am quite curious as to why I'm here.."

Celestia stepped closer to the mare and hummed in quiet thought. "Well, you managed to wander in to a very private test of an experimental airship. The... commander in charge of testing, Major Shining Armor, had specifically warded the door and hallway to the hangar it was being kept in with the strongest perception filter he and his team could make... yet you, an untrained guard could see right through it. Tell me, how could you see through Major Armor's spell?"

She looked down, and felt her ear twitch again. "Well.. for as long as I've been alive I've just been able to... feel and see things other ponies couldn't. I get a feeling, and when I get a feeling I know something is up. The door rubbed me the wrong way and I entered it to make sure it wasn't something incorrect, or something that wasn't supposed to be there Ma'am."

"Interesting. Why don't we take a walk, Private Aurora?" Though, Celestia had already turned and began walking back through the door she'd come from, the House Guards already following and moving in front of the Princess. Aurora followed behind, catching up with her apparent escort and moving through more hallways.

The assembled entourage moved farther back into the Palace's labyrinthian design spiraling far into Mount Canterhorn. Aurora would've been totally lost if not for her guides, showing her the way to some destination unknown. "Uhm, Princess? If I may ask, where are we going?"

"Well, Private Aurora, let me answer your question with a question. What do you think is the key to winning decisive battles?"

She took a moment to consider this before grinning and piping up. "Surviving longer than the other guy, Princess."

Celestia chuckled and regarded the younger mare. "Aheh, is that all? I should have no problem in winning these battles then, correct?"

"Well yes, statistically speaking that is true. But I think there's more than just a simple answer to winning, ma'am."

"I suppose that is true..." She seemed to reflect and ponder for a moment while they walked, and turned a corner before speaking once more. "Private Aurora, do you know why I strive to have my armed forces to be so excellent?"

"Princess? To protect the country and her citizens, protect the ideals of Harmony?"

"Yes... and to prepare. But I realized that I would need a flaming sword to do more than just protect Harmony's ideals.. I would need this sword to drive deep into our enemies, and to spread those ideals. Aurora, have you ever heard of the Wonderbolts?"

"Well of course, the Wonderbolt's are Equestria's finest fliers and most elite team of special operations commandos there is! How could I not hear about them?"

"Very good. What most don't know is that the Wonderbolts are merely the public half of the Equestrian special operations. There is a second, smaller operational team known as the Royal Raiders, or more colloquially the Firebolts. Each member of the small team has something they are particularly prized in, and are each vital to the missions they go on."

The escort halted and Celestia turned to face her, her eyes serious and seemingly searching Aurora's reaction. "You are being offered a spot on this team. Please feel free to back out, this is an optional request. Accepting would mean being removed from your current unit and being placed into a new one directly under my command."

Aurora, for her part, nearly fell over. This was simply not what she was expecting when she went into this meeting with Celestia. A more elite force than the Wonderbolts? What in Tartarus is happening right now? "I.. I cautiously request more time to think this over..."

"I'm afraid to say, I must have my answer soon. Good soldiers have to think quick, after all." She had a knowing smile on her face, her motherly features soft to Aurora's plight, but firm to her own requirements.

"Right... then I accept, given that I may apologize to the Major beforehand. I feel like starting off on the wrong hoof may be bad for my future among this team, ma'am." She was near shaking. This was damn near too much to process. An hour ago she was a simple royal guard in formation, now she was being offered an elite spot? This must be a joke, a cruel one.

Celestia grinned wider, and cleared her throat. "Aurora, from this point you are hereby promoted to Corporal in the Armed Forces, as a junior non-commissioned officer you are expected to uphold the morals and integrity of this force. Do you understand?"

Her heart skipped a beat and she nearly fell over again, a shocked expression adorning her features. "M.ma'am?? A promotion?"

"Yes, Corporal. But do you understand these obligations as I have laid them out for you?"

"Yes ma'am, I understand wholly and fully, I j.just wasn't expecting to be personally promoted by you, Princess."

"Good, and yes I apologize for the sudden nature of all of this. Quality guards like you are in critically short supply afterall." And with that, she turned and nodded to her House Guards, who opened the door they'd come to stop at. Celestia moved to walk into the opened room, with Aurora following behind shortly.

The room opened and immediately descended into a stonebrick lined room furnished like an open dorm room. A stone staircase led from the door down into what can be described as a common room, with an open kitchen to the back. There were multiple doors that led off in different directions as well, but to where she couldn't see.

Somepony Aurora hadn't seen shouted 'The Sun is Raised!' and in relatively quick order, six ponies were assembled loosely in the middle of the stone room, with those doors she presumed were other rooms opening and letting their respective ponies file out. Celestia smiled and walked down the stairs in front of the gathered ponies, and Aurora followed. "Gentlemares, this is Corporal Sapphire Aurora. I believe you were already acquainted?"

Aurora wasn't sure if she should blush, say hello, fall over dead, or punch somepony and run away. She decided number two would be the best course of action. "Howdy, I'm-"

"A goldie. We know who you are girlie, so why don't you save us the trouble-" A wolfish looking pony with shaggy and somewhat mangey looking long fur spoke, interrupting her sentence before being smacked by maroon furred pegasus standing just next to him.

"No need to be rude, you used to be new here too Aura." The pegasus that had smacked this 'Aura' wasn't in any uniform she'd ever seen, but it clearly was some sort of uniform considering most out of all the assembled group was wearing the same thing. They looked like drab green soft clothes, not armor. She spied on the collar of these clothes were rank pins, and various other identification methods strewn about them. "Apologies for that, Corp. My name's Sergeant Halo Wind, the mutt who interrupted you is Staff Sergeant Howling Aura. You'd do well to just ignore him."

She nodded somewhat and the Princess chuckled. "Aurora, this is your new team. Major Armor, as requested."

She held out a hoof for Aurora to step forward, and that same white unicorn with the two-toned blue mane stepped forward. "Hey there, so I assume the offer was accepted then?"

Aurora simply nodded.

"Good, officially then, I'm Major Shining Armor, current commander of the Royal Raiders. Your training starts tomorrow, so be ready Corp." He turned to face the rest of the assembled ponies, starting to list them off. "Let's get you acquainted with the rest."

The one who was previously standing right next to the Major was identified first, he was a charcoal-black furred pegasus stallion with a soft two-toned cream mane who looked taller than everypony else. "This is Lieutenant Shining Dusk. No relation. You won't find a better expert in non-conventional warfare, or with those fancy new flintlocks. You'll be under his team when we go to work."

He moved on to the next pony, a dark grey furred and purple maned earth pony stallion who seemed to look burned in a few places, patches of his fur gone in places and one of his ears missing entirely. "This well roasted bastard is Lieutenant Verdant Fire, the team's resident pyrotechnics and demolitions expert. Got something that doesn't need to exist anymore? Call Verd."

Next in the line was a beautiful light grey pegasus mare, her mane being primarily gold but with a brilliant red stripe flowing through it. "This here is Master Sergeant Long Wind, she's been an NCO for longer than I've even been in this business. She does all our intel, you need to know something, anything, ask her."

"And of course you already know these two. Staff Sergeant Howling Aura and Sergeant Halo Wind. Howling Aura takes care of our needs for a marksmare, and even though he's a little gruff he's the best damn shot I've ever seen. Halo takes after her sister a little too much for her own good, but she's our medic. Best medic in the entirety of the Armed Forces."

Aurora put two and two together, the two similarly named pegasi mares were obviously sisters. Duh! Halo was also a very pretty mare, her fur being entirely maroon with that same golden hair, except the red stripe was marred by a silky strand of grey. "It's.. good to meet you all! I hope to live up to your expectations."

Shining patted her armored back with a hoof. "You have the day to get your affairs in order and your things moved into one of the empty rooms, armor and fatigues will come to you some time tonight. Be ready for tomorrow, Corp."

The assembled ponies dispersed and slunk back off to whatever they were doing before, with the notable exception of Halo Wind who stayed behind patiently. Before she could speak though, Celestia began again. "Now Aurora, there are easier ways to access this area than the way we went. Major why don't you have somepony teach her the fastest way here?"

"Aye ma'am, consider it done. Eh, Halo since you so graciously stayed, you signed up for tour guide duty."

Halo's smile just widened as she nodded, turning to face Aurora courteously. "Why don't we get started, I'm sure it won't be too much to carry."

"Oh yes, that'll be great actually. It isn't too much, just books and personal belongings."

The duo of Halo and Aurora filed up and out of the room, leaving the Princess and Major armor behind to chat. "So Shining, what do you think of your newst Raider?"

"She's green ma'am, but I think with a little tough love she'll get the picture. Give me a week and I'll have her in fighting shape."

Celestia chuckled warmly, but let her expression fall to a more serious one. "I don't think you'll have the luxury this time Major. Something is coming soon, be ready for an assignment soon."

He caught the tone shift and nodded smartly. Celestia resumed her kinder demeanor and decided it was time to leave before she intruded any further. Incursions into the Raider's territory seemed professional on the surface, but they didn't have that name and reputation for no reason. "I believe it is quite time I took my leave. Major."

She turned and off she went, leaving Shining Armor with mixed thoughts.

Author's Note

Fun fact, a horse can run 2 miles (3.1 kilometers) in roughly 8 minutes. I had to google this, as I did not know.

SHARP - Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention