//------------------------------//
// A New Home 
// Story: CSF: Beginnings 
// by XeRom 
//------------------------------//

	Soon after her speech, Celestia departed from the room, headed back up the stairs, taking two of the last Royal Guards to enter the room with her. The other guards however, stayed in the room, even as the "door" closed up above. All but the two who accompanied me headed off into one of the three side doors that were spaced evenly from each other. 
Royal Guard #2, the one I have a growing dislike of, has us all form up in a line abreast to each other, one filly for every colt. I was the furthest on the left with a filly who's coat was yellow and her mane was black. Royal Guard #1, walked back and forth across the line, surveying all of our features. 
"All of you are here for a reason, now things may not be as nice as the Princess made them seem. The next few years will be tough, you will all be put through challenges that not even us, the Royal Guard, can face head on. It will be hard, and it will be grueling, but none of you will be allowed to quit."
"From the moment all of you agreed to leave for here, your old lives have been forfeit. You will never be able to go back and your memory will soon fade from those you knew. Each of you will have a special talent, what those are will be revealed only when you know it, when you get your cutie marks." Some of the others perked up at this, smiles coming to their faces.
He stopped in the middle of the line, addressing us all, "You must learn to work together to survive. Your first assignment is to learn everything there is to know about your fellow trainees. For knowing the strengths and weaknesses of your allies can become the difference between life and death. Your room is the door off to the left, under no circumstances are you to enter the other two rooms."
With that, him and #2 departed through the same door as the others. As soon as they were gone, the room erupted into a commotion of hushed conversations. The fillies broke up into one group, while the colts broke up into another. A light blue coated colt approached me, "Hi! My names Ice, on account of my coat here. What's your name?" He said gleefully.
This pony sure is cheerful, "My names Aces, good to meet you Ice. Where did you live before this, and how did you come to get here?" 
"I lived in Fillydelphia. Right as I was taking my morning stroll, I was approached by this big Royal Guard, who told me this fanciful story of 'Doing my duty to protect Equestria.' I just laughed at him! Boy was I wrong! Look at us here, about to be part of something big, it's almost too much to handle!"
"Yeah, it is pretty exciting. I wonder what the others are talking about." With that, Ice and I  moved over to the other three colts who were to busy talking to notice us joining them. I gathered from their conversations that there names were Leo(yellow coat, orange mane), Drifter(brown coat, tan mane) and Specter(grey coat, white mane). 
Drifter: "What do you guys think of all of this?
Leo: "I don't know... It sounds nice and all, but when I thought of being a hero, I thought people would at least know..."
Specter: "Hay, as longs as we get to do some cool stuff, it's okay with me. What do you two think?
"It beats sitting around, getting picked on in school in Manehatten," I said, smirking at all the foals who thought they had something on me.
Ice perked in, "I think it's really exciting! From what it sounds like, we get to do all kinds of crazy and awesome things!"
We all chuckled at his enthusiasm, oh I can already tell he's going to be the joker of the group. Thinking for a minute, I offer, "Why don't we go talk to the fillies? Find out what they have to say?" They all nodded and we walked over to hear the last of the conversation.
The fillies, Shadow, Thunder(yellow coat, black mane), Flame(red coat, orange mane), Frost(white coat and mane) and Mist(blue/grey coat, black mane).
"I think this is a good chance for us all to show how truly different alicorns are," Shadow finished, to the others approval. Noticing us working our way over to them, the fillies made room in their circle for us and we all began discussing where each of us came from and how we grew up. I was the first to give mine, and Shadow was last to give hers.
"I was raised on a small farm outside Hoofington, my adopted parents never trusted me and constantly abused me. School wasn't much better either, the other foals would make fun of me almost everyday... The only time I had to myself was when I would fly up to the oak tree we had outside and sing."
I could only look at her, her past troubles... It made me want to just protect her forever. Before I could say anything though, one of the Royal Guards came out of the door. 
"Lights out everypony, get to your beds. There are five bunk beds, one filly and one colt per bunk. You and your bunk-mates will be partners throughout training." He rushed us into the room, and I quickly found Shadow.
"Hey Shadow, I was uh, wondering if you'd like to be bunk-mates?" I said, trying to keep my voice in check.
She blushed, "Sure Aces, I'd love that." I gave her a friendly smile and found a bunk in the corner of the room, I let her get the top bunk while I settled in on the bottom one. The last thing I thought to myself before I closed my eyes was, 'Wow this was certainly an interesting day.'