//------------------------------// // Rejected // Story: Clue Chaser Chronicles: Legend of the Kamaitachi // by Wind Sneaker //------------------------------// Ch. 1: Rejected “I’m sorry to say this, but you’ve failed the entrance exams.” Rejection. This was a familiar feeling for Clue Chaser. Eight times the aqua-colored earth pony has participated in the royal guard entrance exams. Eight times he was told that he didn’t make the cut. “Captain Valor, sir, I know I can do this. Just give me one more chance, that’s all I’m asking,” he pleaded. “I know the course like the back of my hoof. I’ve memorized every obstacle’s location by heart and I know I can improve my time if you give me just one more go.” Captain Piercing Valor sighed as he shook his head. “I’m sorry, but it clearly states that everypony gets one chance every year, and while I’m highly impressed with your scores on the written exam, your time on the obstacle course was the lowest out of everypony participating. You need to be both fit in mind and in body if you wish to join the guard. If you really want to join the princess’s service, I’m sure I can give you a referral to the information and tactics division. With these test scores, I’m sure…” “NO!” Chaser shouted as he slammed his hooves on the captain’s desk, making him jump a little. “I-I mean, no sir. My dream is to become a royal guard. I want to be on the frontlines to protect my country. The thought of working behind a desk and not being able fight alongside my fellow Equestrians just makes me… I don’t know, but the thought of having a desk job irritates me. So could you make an exception for me just this once? I promise when I’m in the guard to work until I hit exhaustion to make myself physically fit and combat ready.” The captain sighed again. “Listen, I applaud you for your commitment to wanting to join the guard. You’ve shown enough spirit and the knowledge to make an exceptional guard, but from what I saw out on the training grounds, if you were thrown into a combat scenario, you wouldn’t last five minutes. When I was made captain of the guard after Shining Armor moved to the Crystal Empire, Princess Celestia entrusted me with running the royal guard and selecting all the new recruits. I’m sorry, but I can’t give you another chance until next year’s recruitment test. However, if you work hard and stick to a daily training regimen, then I’m sure that next year you’ll be in the guard for sure.” That’s exactly what Captain Armor told me the last seven years, Chaser thought to himself. *Knock* *Knock* *Knock* “Huh?” Clue looked behind him towards the door to the Captain’s room. “Oh yes! I almost completely forgot.” As Captain Valor got up from his desk, Chaser stared curiously at the door. He was the last pony scheduled today to meet with the captain about the entrance exams, so who was at the door? As the captain opened the door, two stallions stepped inside. The first was a tan coated unicorn with a dirty blonde mane that covered his left eye, and the other was a bright green earth pony with a dark red mane wearing a thick jacket that matched his mane and sandals. What drew Chaser’s attention however were the cutie marks of the two. The unicorn had a clapboard for his cutie mark, and the earth pony had a large, purple gemstone. “I’ve been expecting you two. You’re a bit early though. I’m just finishing up with the last participant of this year’s entrance exams.” “Not a problem,” the unicorn replied, “My associate and I have a habit of showing up earlier than expected. By all means, continue.” “Right, right. Now then, Mr. Chaser,” Captain Valor said as he turned back to the aqua pony, “I’m sorry to say that you’ll just have to wait till next year. I hope you understand.” Giving a sigh of defeat, Clue Chaser simply nodded as he got out of his seat and headed towards the door. He gave one look back at the three ponies in the room behind him before closing the door. *** The walk from Canterlot Castle to Clue’s home wasn’t all that far of a walk, but today felt more tiring than usual. All he could think about was that he failed, again. It was the same thing year after year. He’d sign up for the guard entrance exams, pass the written portion with flying colors, and make a complete fool of himself out on the training fields. Captain Shining Armor was supportive of him, and kept telling him to try harder next time and he’d make it for sure. After seven years of constant failures and a new captain of the guard, he had assured himself that this would be his year. Thank Celestia that his marefriend was out of town. She would try to make him feel better about himself and try to rally him up for next year’s exams, but right now, all Clue wanted to do was go home and sleep the rest of the day off. Rounding the corner, Clue made out the apartment complex where he and his marefriend lived. Seeing home, Clue smiled a bit. Just the thought of lying down and letting the memories of today fade away gave him comfort. As Clue started towards the front door, he froze. It was only for a second, but he heard something directly behind him. Turning around, he didn’t see anything behind him. Now most people who have had a stressful day would probably just chart this off as paranoia. Not Clue, however. He knew better. Everything has a rhyme or reason behind it. Clue closed his eyes before taking a long, deep breath, and then opened them again. First, surroundings. Only a few ponies on the street right now, most of them busy or on the move to some appointment, and no Pegasi flying overhead. There are no alleys on this street and not a lot of hiding places, so that would mean whatever that was is in the open. Next, ponies of interest. For whoever was behind me to just be gone, they would need to be fast, airborne, or both. None of the ponies here on the street seem to be like the types who would sneak up on somepony. The sound I heard sounded like flapping, so maybe a pegasus? No. Judging by the sound, the wingspan is much too small for an adult sized pegasus, and I doubt it was a kid, so maybe an animal? Lastly, motive. From what I’ve established, my best hypothesis would have to be some sort of small, winged animal, and this animal clearly wants to freak me out or surprise me for one reason or another. I don’t know of many mischievous animals who live near the area, except for one... Clue looked around towards the top of some of the buildings in the area. Across the street from the apartment complex, he noticed what would look like a leaf to the untrained eye on the corner of a roof. Clue grinned, and shouted “I see you, Cherry. You can come down now.” At those words, the head of a strawberry red fruit bat poked its head out from the rooftop. It jumped off the roof and circled Clue a few times before landing in his mane. Clue chuckled a bit before lightly picking up the fruit bat. “Hey little guy. I haven’t seen you in ages. Still trying to pull a fast one on me?” Cherry gave a look of innocence, pretending like nothing had happened. This got another small chuckle out of clue. “Well, I’m glad to see you. I’ve had a really stressful day, and I just need to lie down and relax. Once we get inside and settle down a bit, I’ll explain what happened with you and…” Clue gasped. Cherry Smiled. How could he have forgotten? Cherry never goes anywhere alone, not without her. “Oh Chasey,” Clue heard somepony call from behind him. Clue quickly turned around only to be greeted by a blinding white light. “GAH!” Clue covered his eyes to protect him from the light, only to feel himself being tackled by the source of that light. As the pain from the flash subsided, Clue could make out the form of an eggshell white unicorn mare on top of him. She had a short, light brown mane and magenta eyes that just seemed to sparkle. Her cutie mark was a camera that looked exactly like the model that hung from her neck. “Hiya Chasey! You would not believe how hard it was to schedule a flight to Canterlot today. I just back a few hours ago and thought hey, why not surprise my new awesome guard-in-training coltfriend to a welcome home he won’t forget anytime soon? Oh, and thank you too, Cherry, for being the best distraction you could be.” The fruit bat smiled and gave a little mid-air bow. The initial shock of the situation wore off as Clue slowly began to figure out what just happened. He felt like facehoofing for walking straight into one of his marefriend’s little traps like this, but that wasn’t nearly as bad what he was going to face once he broke the bad news to her. “It’s good to see you too, Snapshot.”