Soren and Rainbow Dash made the most out of his three days of relaxation in Ponyville, but eventually the time came; the time to start his mission. Soren, along with Rainbow and Twilight, arrived at the Ponyville train station.
"No one else wanted to send me off?" Soren wondered.
"They said that they know you will be back soon," Twilight replied. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Soren only nodded. "Well...good luck then." She hugged him goodbye.
"You're crazy for doing this," said Rainbow Dash. "But you'll be so cool if you fix some big problem over there." Soren chuckled and hugged Dash just as the train's whistle went off. "That's my signal. I'll see you when I get back." Soren proceeded to step onto the train, but he turned around to wave goodbye one last time to his friends. The door closed behind him, and Soren was once again alone with his thought. 'Why am I always the one to leave the place I love?' Within minutes, the train was off for Canterlot.
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Three Days Ago
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The Canterlot Dungeon is a forgotten place in the castle, rarely used for anything besides interrogation should the need arise. Even though the princesses usually do not like to use the dungeon anymore, it didn't stop two Lunar Guards from bringing two ponies there for the time being.
A pair of pegasus twins started waking up in said dungeon. Rubbing their eyes, the two looked around to see where they were. They found themselves in a cell, the walls made of stone and smelling of soot. They became confused when they also saw a fireplace in their cell. Although confused about everything that happened to them, the duo made the most of it and got cozy on two comfy-looking seats near the fireplace. Within a few minutes, a dark blue mare flanked by two guards walked in. She stared at the twins intensely but soon softened her expression.
"Do you know why you are here?" asked the mare with a voice of authority. The two stallions, slightly in fear, simply shook their heads. "Very well. Let us explain the 'situation' at hoof..." The stallions looked at each other worriedly. Words didn't need to be exchanged between the two; they knew what the other was thinking: This was going to be a long day...
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Train to Canterlot
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Soren was in his private room on the train heading for the capital. He was staring out of the window, thinking of how to go about his plan. He only had a starting point: Become a Lunar Guard, hide true identity, and find out as much as possible. But what exactly was he trying to find out? What did the Doctor want him to investigate? All these questions, plus many more, were swimming throughout Soren's mind. He barely even noticed that he finally arrived at his destination. Grabbing his necklace, Soren recited the oath and transformed into a Lunar Guard. 'Well, here goes nothing' was Soren's last thought before leaving the train and commiting to his plan.
The Next Day...
"Hey, Brick! Who's the new guy?" Two stallions were conversing in the Lunar barracks. The barracks are the places that almost every Lunar Guard sleeps and trains in. Two stallions were in the main lobby, along with countless others, and they were staring at a new recruit, who was just sitting in a corner, ignorant of the surrounding conversing guards. Brick had just walked into the main lobby, and his friend was asking him about the new guard.
"Don't know," Brick answered his friend. "He's just sittin' there." Brick thought for a moment. "Imma say something." His friend almost protested but knew that he was right...to an extent. Brick was quick to walk over to the loner stallion. He stood right in front of the newcomer, but the newcomer chose not to acknowledge the stallion. "Hey buddy! Why are you sulking in a corner? The rest of us are chattin' and you're just sittin' here." The recruit was silent.
"Answer me!" Brick demanded. His demand turned a few heads and silenced one or two conversations. Finally, the new stallions answered.
"I'm not sulking," he said. "I'm just relaxing. Is that such a crime?"
"It is when the rest of us are talkin' and have to look at some loner stallion in a corner. Now I'm gonna ask you nicely to get off your flank and just chat with some of us." Brick liked to be persistent, even if he had to make up excuses. 'All guards here treat each other like family,' Brick thought, 'and family members talk with each other. So why was this guy sitting here?' The mysterious stallion stood up, slightly looking down.
"I'll get off my flank...but it's not worth my time to chat with you." The stallion was very shady in his responses. Brick's temper was quickly building. He saw the loner stallion starting to leave, but Brick stopped him by putting a hoof on his shoulder. The newcomer sighed. "Listen, I don't want to cause trouble, but I'll be more than happy to smack a colt if I need to." Some eavesdropping stallions were taken aback by that answer, but Brick lost his cool at that point.
"You think you can take me on? Some colt who hasn't even done our training yet? Well here's lesson number one!" He swung at the recruit, but the recruit ducked and bucked Brick across the room. Brick got up and charged at his new opponent. 'Stupid stallion,' thought the newcomer as he flew in the air and dive-bombed Brick, tackling him to the ground. A mare's voice could be heard in the background but both stallions couldn't be distracted. One had to win.
"Princess?!" a surprised guard exclaimed. "What brings you here?"
"We heard there was a new recruit," Princess Luna replied, "so we decided to meet him ourselves." She soon heard the commotion and saw the fight between two guards; one was clearly winning. "Is the new stallion fighting?"
"I'm afraid so. He was just minding his own business in a corner until one of the guards decided to hassle him to get up. They haven't been fighting for too long before you arrived." Princess Luna and the guards continued to watch the fight come to a conclusion.
"Whoever the winner is shall be punished," said Luna, "but the loser will already be embarrassed for losing, so we shall not punish him." The last hit in the fight was the recruit bucking the other guard in the chest and sending him into a wall, creating a dent in it. The guard was now unconscious, and the recruit made it look like a stroll in the park.
"STALLION! COME FORTH!" Princess Luna yelled with the Royal Canterlot Voice. The recruit, along with everyone else, was now at attention. The newcomer walked up to her with a grin of victory on his face. "You defended thine honor, which is commendable, but we do not tolerate fighting within our ranks. So as a consequence, you shall fight again, only this time it will be against two guards. Two guards step forward!" Two random Lunar Guards stepped out of the surrounding crowd. Princess Luna looked back at the newcomer. "Show us thy skill in battle." The recruit turned towards the two guards and got in a fighting position, the rim of green around his yellow eyes burning like fire.
After a minute since the fight started, the new guard was still putting up a good fight. He wasn't losing, but he wasn't winning either.
"This is not possible!"muttered Luna. "One Lunar Guard should not be able to fight two other guards easily. It can't be possible." Luna was slightly wide-eyed as she watched the near-unimaginable battle happen right before her very eyes. The same guard as before was standing next to her.
"Princess, are you alright? You seemed worried." Before Luna respoded, the rookie bucked one guard into the other and nearly jumped on top of them, only for the two to roll away.
"We are fine...just frustrated that this new stallion is fighting the guards like they are practice dummies." Luna was slightly shaking with irritation. 'Who is this pony?' she thought. 'Who can easily best my guards? Is it...him?' "When the battle is over, grab the stallion that makes a fool of other guards."
"Yes, Your Highness." He saluted then joined the crowd surrounding the fight.
The rookie was standing on his hind legs, swinging at the only guard standing. The other was knocked out by being slamming into a pillar after the rookie charged him. The second guard jumped around the recruit and, ironically, bucked him into a pillar. The recruit lay there, exhausted because of his armor. 'I can't last that much longer,' the recruit thought. 'This armor is draining my energy.' He slowly got up and barely dodged the guard about to slam on him. Unfortunately, the first guard got back up and grabbed him from behind. The second guard took this opportunity to buck the recruit's face.
After that strike, the newcomer collapsed. The two guards pinned him down to make sure he wouldn't get up. Princess Luna then walked over to the barely conscious newcomer and stared at him.
"Who are you?" asked Luna, who stared into his eyes. "The one who so easily fights my guards. The pony whose eyes show much more than thine actions do. Eyes that show loss, violence, determination, and a strange hint of love. You are not the one we search for, but you have seen many things, correct? Guards! Bring him to my chambers. We would like to interrogate this stallion privately." The guards saluted and started dragging him towards the Royal Palace. 'This is no ordinary Lunar Stallion,' thought Luna.