As Princess Luna ascended into the night sky, Quicksilver stared up at the dark clouds. He was thinking hard about something. Nothing was unusual about her visit. The Princess of the Night made sure to visit every Nightmare Night to scare the townsfolk. But it was different to Quicksilver. "That sure was fun, wasn't it, Quicksilver?" asked Rainbow Dash. She was dressed as her favorite book character, Daring Do. He was dressed as his favorite comic book superhero, MareDevil. "Himh? Oh yeah, it was." he mumbled back.
"Hey, is something wrong"?
"No, it's just. Never mind." he then walked off to his home.
The next day, Quicksilver was sitting in his chair, when his phoenix friend,Ash, flew up to him. He sensed something was troubling Quicksilver. "Oh Ash," he signed, "You always could read me like a book". He paused, but than added, "I guess it's because I have no job, where everypony else does. I mean think about it: Twilight runs the library, AppleJack runs her own farm, Pinkie helps at SugarCube Corner, Rarity has her own Boutique, Rainbow helps the weather team, and Fluttershy takes care of thousands of woodland creatures. Looking up at those royal guards, knowing they have a job, it just makes me think"... Suddenly he stood up. "That's it!" he exclaimed, "I'm gonna join the royal guards"!
"Quit Spike, I need absolute concentration"! Twilight was reading a spell book, when Quicksilver burst in. "Augh! Why is it that whenever I'm practicing an important spell, somepony has to burst in here like Manes Brown?!" she asked angrily.
"Sorry Twi," apologized Quicksilver, "But do you have that brochure for the royal guards your brother gave you"?
"Yeah it's over there." she pointed toward her davenport, "Why do you need it"?
I'm trying out for the royal guards!" he explained, and made a triumphant pose. Twilight and Spike busted out laughing. "What's so funny?" asked an annoyed Quicksilver.
"Oh nothing." said Spike, "It's just that your not exactly army material". Then he cracked up again. Quicksilver angrily snatched the brochure off the davenport, and stormed off.
The next day, Twilight was practicing a spell, when Spike came into the library. "Come on Twilight, you're gonna be late for saying goodbye to Quicksilver". Twilight's head snapped right up.
"Wait where's he going?" she asked.
"Duh, he's going to join the royal guards." Spike said in a matter-of-fact voice.
"I didn't know he would actually go through with it." said Twilight. She then rushed out the door with Spike.
They arrived just as the goodbyes started. "Good luck." whispered Fluttershy.
"Have fun!" said an enthusiastic Pinkie Pie. After all the goodbyes, Quicksilver started to head out of town. Everypony wanted to stop him, but knew he had his heart set on this. So they held back. But then, "Wait'! Rainbow flew up the Quicksilver, "What if I come with you"?
"I don't know." replied Quicksilver.
"Oh come on! I could watch your back! Besides, it would be nice to put 'royal guard' on my Wonderbolts resumé". He thought about it for a minute.
"Well, alright I guess." he said, "Do you mind if it's Princess Luna's dark corps"?
"No problem". Before they left, Quicksilver turned to Ash, who was on AppleJack's shoulder.
"Goodbye Ash," he said, "Don't worry, AppleJack will take care of you. And I'll see you when I get back". He turned around as a tear rolled down the phoenix's head. As they headed out, Rainbow asked Quicksilver something.
"Are you sure about this?" she asked, "I mean, I hear it's pretty rough".
"Oh c'mon," he replied, "How hard could it be"?
"WHAT THE BUCK DO YOU CALL THAT?! A PUSHUP?! HORSE APPLES! I WANNA SEE YOU WORK FOR IT"! That was Colonel Boomer. The drill sergeant at the training camp. He was yelling at Quicksilver as he did pushups. As soon as the colonel saw him, it was like looking at a big target, and he had a hawk's eye. "ALRIGHT ON YOUR HOOVES MAGGOTS"! All of the soldiers-to-be stood up. The Colonel walked in front of the cadets. "YOU, WHAT'S YOUR NAME"?! He was pointing at Quicksilver.
"Sir! Quicksilver sir!" he responded.
"YOUR NEW NICKNAME IS FOUR EYES!" Colonel Boomer yelled back.
"Just a minute." Quicksilver protested, "It just so happens, that I am friends with the captain of the royal guards, Shining Armor".
"Too bad your not him!" yelled a colt named Bullseye. He was basically the jock there. So of course, everypony laughed.
"Alright, that's enough." said the Colonel. He liked Bullseye for being so athletic. He then pointed a hoof at Rainbow. "YOU, WHAT'S YOUR NAME"?!
"Rainbow Dash sir!" she replied.
"Well, you look like some kind of filly-fooler. YOUR NEW NICKNAME IS FILLY-FOOLER"! Rainbow look like she would explode.
"Why you piece of"... Quicksilver and some unicorn with glasses held her back.
"Hey don't talk to her like that!" snapped Quicksilver, "Why I have half a mind to"... He then was back-hoofed by Colonel Boomer.
"You wanna give me more lip son?! DO YOU"?! He then proceeded to literally kick him while he was down.
"Hey come on man!" Quicksilver groaned, "I'm already down. You don't need to ohhh, that's why they say that". Rainbow and the same colt with glasses helped him up.
"Now," said Colonel Boomer, "You should all report to your bunkers, and then report to the gym". All the troops filed out. Except for Rainbow, Quicksilver, and the unicorn with glasses.
"You okay, Quicksilver?" asked Rainbow.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Thanks for helping me up". He turned to the stallion. "You too. By the way, what's your name"?
"I'm Scroll. Nice to meet you Quicksilver". He turned to Rainbow. "And you are"?
"Rainbow Dash, at your service". They shook hooves. Then Quicksilver spoke up.
"Well, we should probably get to the gym. Unless we want Colonel Loudmouth to blow a gasket". They all laughed as they trotted to the gym.
"ALL RIGHT MAGGOTS, LISTEN UP!" yelled the Colonel, "Now, I don't know when you'll need to use some prissy magic like Shrimp over there," he pointed at Scroll, "But it can be useful at times. SHRIMP, FOUR EYES! GET UP HERE NOW!" The two recruits scurried up to him. "Now, Shrimp, you will use the hypnosis spell on Four Eyes. This will come in handy as a last resort in battle".
"Sorry Quicksilver." apologized Scroll. His horn started to glow red. Then a red spiral started to spin in front of Quicksilver's face.
"Is this it?" Quicksilver asked.
"Don't be stupid Four Eyes. We haven't gotten to the fun part yet". Suddenly, the whole room began to swirl like the one in front of his face.
"Wha, what's going on?!" he asked, alarmed.
"Good niiiiiight!" snickered Bullseye. Of course, the whole room laughed. The laughter echoed off the walls, and then everything went black.
Quicksilver woke up half an hour later. "Ugh, my head. What hap-WAUGGGGGH"! He looked down and saw that he was on top of the castle! "How did I get up here!" he screamed. He than realized something even more shocking and humiliating. "Why am I in a dress"?!
"HEY FOUR EYES!" yelled the familiar voice of Colonel Boomer. Quicksilver saw the whole class down there.
"How do I get down?!" he asked.
"YOU'VE GOT TO FIGURE THAT OUT FOR YOURSELF! IF YOU GET DOWN, WE'LL BE IN THE MESS HALL. GOOD LUCK"! The whole class then walked off to the mess hall. Rainbow and Scroll were nowhere to be seen.
"Okay, I can do this." he thought, "I hope".
As Rainbow Dash was getting her lunch, the only other mare at camp called her over. "Hey Dash! Come sit here with us"! Rainbow was hesitant, but decided that it was better to sit with somepony than nopony. As soon as she sat down, she immediately said, "Look guys, I'm not a filly-fooler. It's just my mane, but I like it how it is".
"Oh we know your not a filly-fooler. In fact, if you start hangin' out with us, Colonel Boomer will stop calling you that".
"Really?! Why"?
"Because we're the popular kids. Isn't that right Bullseye"? Rainbow saw the familiar smirk of Bullseye.
"That's right," he said, "Me and Breeze here are dating". The two proceeded to kiss.
"Hey Bullseye," Rainbow said, "I get the feeling that you have it in for my friend Quicksilver".
"Why would you think that?" he asked.
"Well you are the one who suggested that we put Quicksilver in a dress and then have breeze fly him to the top of the castle to snap him out of it". Bullseye laughed,
"Oh Rainbow, I do that with all the new nerds, like Shrimp". Rainbow leaned in. Through bared teeth, she said,
"His name is".... But before she could finish, Quicksilver fell to the ground outside. The whole cafeteria burst out laughing. Rainbow went out to check on him. But before she got outside, Quicksilver stormed past her. "Quicksilver wait!" she called. He quickly spun around.
"Where were you?" he asked angrily.
"I was just"....
"WHERE WERE YOU"?!
"Quicksilver I'm sorry. But Colonel Boomer said that if I helped you, I would be shipped out".
"And you let that stop you"?!
"HEY! IT ISN'T ALL ABOUT YOU, DRAMA QUEEN!" she snapped, "I want to be here too".
"Just leave me alone." said Quicksilver. He ran to his bunker.
Before lunch ended, Scroll came to check on Quicksilver. His head was buried in a pillow. "Hey man," said Scroll, "We need to talk".
"About what?" asked Quicksilver.
"I think you know what". He got on the mattress and sat next to Quicksilver. "You know, you did kind of act like a real Primare Donna to Rainbow." he said.
"Yeah I guess so." Quicksilver chuckled. He looked Scroll right in the eyes. "I'm gonna beat Bullseye at something!" he said.
"At what"?
"I don't know, anything! As long as I beat him!" He then got up, "I'm going to apologize to Rainbow." he said.
"Hurry back," called Scroll, "Colonel Boomer will be looking for you if your late"!
"Got it!" Quicksilver called back.
*SWISH*! The basketball went right through the basket. "Yes!" Rainbow said aloud, "Another basket"! She heard the door behind her open. She turned around and saw Quicksilver. "Oh, hey." she muttered.
"Hey." replied Quicksilver, "Listen, I just wanted to say, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you and been so selfish. Can you forgive me"? Rainbow stared at her basketball. She then gave Quicksilver a hug.
"Of course I do." she said.
"Thanks," said Quicksilver. "Oh, I just remembered! I am gonna beat Bullseye".
"Good." said Rainbow, "But how"?
"Well, on my way here, I saw a flyer reminding us of the annual capture the flag tournament. I signed up as captain against Bullseye. You, Scroll, and me are gonna beat his team"!
"Sounds like a plan!" said Rainbow as she sot another basket.
"ALRIGHT LADIES, LISTEN UP!" boomed Colonel Boomer, "THE CAPTAINS, FOR THIS YEAR'S CAPTURE THE FLAG GAME ARE, BULLSEYE AND," his eyes nearly popped out of his skull, "FOUR EYES"?! Quicksilver and Bullseye got up to pick the members for their team. "You're going down!" whispered Bullseye.
"Bring it on!" Quicksilver whispered back.
After the teams had been picked, and everypony had their weapons and armor, each team went to their base on opposite sides of the battlefield. The weapons they had, were paintball guns. Scroll, who was the only unicorn, was only allowed to use certain spells, and the pegasi could perform ariel attacks. After Quicksilver discussed the battle strategy to his team, they all hoof-bumped. "Let's do this!" said Quicksilver. The whistle blew, and it began.
It was a massacre. Paint was everywhere. From trees, to ponies. Most of Quicksilver's troops held off the invaders. But Quicksilver, Rainbow, Scroll, and a few other troopers snuck around the edges of the battlefield. Their plan was to have Rainbow, and a few other prgasi, distract them with an attack from above. Then Quicksilver and two troops would take the flag. "Remember," he said to Scroll and some soldiers, "Stay behind the trees in case we need cover fire".
"Got it!" replied Scroll. Quicksilver nodded to Rainbow, and she made her move.
"Hey Butt-eye!" she called. Bullseye looked up, only to get a face full of paintball.
"What the? GET THEM!" he yelled. He and some other pegasi engaged them in battle. That's when Quicksilver made his move.
"Hey guys!" the ponies guarding the flag turned around. "Good night." said Quicksilver, as the guards were knocked don by the paintballs. "Quick the flag!" yelled Quicksilver. One of the ponies picked it up, and they all ran.
"Stop them!" cried one of the guards. A paintball whizzed past the pony with the flag.
"Scroll, now!" yelled Quicksilver. Scroll and the other soldiers opened fire on the guards. But Bullseye heard the guard. He looked down to see the other team, with his flag!
"Oh no they don't!" he yelled, and dove after them. Quicksilver saw Bullseye coming.
"Quick, get down!" he yelled. But one soldier was too late. *WHAM*! He was mowed down by Bullseye. He ascended into the air to strike again. This time, he hit the pony with the flag. But another trooper caught it.
Back at Quicksilver's base, the ponies guarding the flag were fighting off the enemy soldiers. "Where's Quicksilver?" asked one of the guards, "He should be here by now"!
"Look!" cried one of the guards. Quicksilver and Scroll were coming out of the woods, with Bullseye right on their tail. Scroll was using his magic to carry the flag. But then Scroll was drilled by Bullseye, knocking the flag to Quicksilver, who caught it in his mouth. "Scroll!" he cried.
"Go on without me!" Scroll replied. Quicksilver put him on his back.
"You know I can't do that." he explained with a smile. They took off, with Bullseye right behind them. But before they collided, Quicksilver sidestepped, making Bullseye crash into a puddle of mud. "NO!" he cried. Quicksilver charged up the hill, and planted the flag next to theirs. His army cheered! "You did it!" exclaimed Scroll
"No," Quicksilver said, looking up at Rainbow Dash, "We did it".
"Here we go." thought Quicksilver. It was graduation day, and he, Scroll, and Rainbow all became soldiers! The trio walked up the the stage with the other graduates. Princess Luna was there to knight, and welcome them into her corp. Quicksilver looked at Rainbow and Scroll, and smiled. After they had been knighted, Quicksilver walked up to Rainbow Dash. "Come on," he said, "Let's go home".