//------------------------------//
// Getting Settled 
// Story: Before the Dawn 
// by Thunderblast 
//------------------------------//

Just over an hour after Thunderblast arrived at Fort Fetlock, he had finally gotten settled into his not so spacious 'barrack', which was really just a large tent with a few beds and a desk inside, as well as hooflockers. He kept a picture of his rainbow-maned marefriend in it as well, but kept it hidden under a bag of bits and his combat knife. Thunder wasn't looking forward to his time here, but he was looking forward to other things; new training opportunities, hopefully finding other ponies who were also in the guard at one point, and of course, going home. As the day went on, he didn't know what he could do inside the base to keep him somewhat entertained until tomorrow, when basic training started for him...again. He sat on his bed, which wasn't very comfortable. In fact, it made more of a rectangular trampoline than a bed, but he knew it wasn't for that purpose. Some more time passed, probably about five minutes, when a white earth pony stallion trotted in through the tent door, which was more like a curtain.

"You're Guard Trainee Thunderblast, correct?" He spoke.

Thunder nodded, "Yes sir." and stood up off of his bed.

The soldier cleared his throat. "Take this," He handed Thunderblast a small piece of paper. "And go get your uniform. 'Fitters on the northeast side of the base. Then, head to the medical office. The base doctors would like to check you over to see if you're fit to be one of us."

"You don't think so?" "Yes sir."

"Good. I wouldn't suggest wasting any time, the sooner the better." The pony turned tail and walked out of the tent, and Thunder glanced down to the paper which had some writing on it, then Sparkplug's signature. Likewise, he folded the piece of paper up and tucked it under his wing and trotted back out onto the base. He looked all around, trying to get a fix on where the northeastern direction was. It was hard, knowing it was almost noon now, and the sun was directly above them. Then, Thunderblast remembered where he was staying was on the northern side of the base, meaning he wasn't far. He went to his left, then followed the dirt road past more tents, and the mess hall, eventually reaching a good-sized two story building which had the name 'UNIFORMS GALORE' in stereotypical military font. He trotted in the door, being greeted by another earth pony, who's mane wasn't buzz-cut for once. The pony didn't smile, and walked closer to the counter when he heard the little bell ring.

"What do you need? Uniform, dog tags?"

Thunder nodded, then pulled out the piece of paper and handed it to the stallion, who didn't charge him for anything.

"Wait here, ah'll get them ready. Fer now, here's this," The pony handed Thunder a green t-shirt, like the one the stallion at the train station wore.

"Thank you sir," Thunder put it on. Perfect fit.

The stallion didn't reply, then trotted into a back-room which was full of jackets and caps in the same color, as well as camouflage with the same style jacket and cap.

"What's yer size?"

"My what?"

"Yer size!"

"I...um...aren't you going to fit me?"

"Oh, of course." The pony facehoofed, then trotted back out with two caps, one green and one digital camouflage, missing rank insignias, because Thunder wasn't of any rank yet. He set the caps down on the counter, one fit into the other for easy carrying. The cap tops were shaped like octagons, a style Thunder had never seen before, but shrugged it off quickly. The stallion trotted away, then a few moments later returned with a long sizing ruler, and fit it around Thunder's waist.

"Mmhmm...mmhmm. Ahright, yer a size eight."

Thunder's eyes widened a bit. He didn't expect to have almost the largest clothing size there is, not that it bothered him much. He was in very good physical condition, after all. The fitter trotted back into the storage room, followed by the sounds of hangers sliding across a metal bar. After a minute, the stallion walked back out with two jackets; one dark green, matching one of the caps, and the other digital camouflage, matching the other cap. He slid them onto the counter, and Thunder lifted them onto his back in a neat pile.

"One last thing," The fitter ducked down, reaching into the counter. Faint clanks of metal could be heard, and soon he stood back up, holding a pair of dog tags with black rubber silencers fit onto them. They were completely blank, and the fitter trotted over to a small machine, setting the dog tags onto it. "What's yer name?"

"Thunderblast."

The fitter turned on the machine, and typed his name, causing the machine to indent Thunder's name into the tags, then followed by 'Equestrian Army'. After he was done, the fitter tossed the dog tags to Thunderblast, who caught them in his hoof.

"You have a nice day." The fitter cracked a slight smile.

"You too sir." Thunder smiled back, then trotted out of the fitters and back to his tent. He looked around as he walked, seeing the other ponies on guard or training. He was sad knowing he was the only pegasus there, but he had opportunities to meet some new earth ponies. After quickly dropping off his uniform, and putting on his dog tags, Thunderblast began walking to the medical office, which was on the complete other side of the base, to get checked up, although it was unnecessary in his opinion. It was a good seven-minute walk, only because Thunder didn't know where the office was and ended up circling most of the base. Eventually, he found the building, a simple but long grey building with a red cross above the door...with a syringe seemingly laying against it. Thunder gulped, and entered the building with a weak stomach. Again, the building wasn't busy, but still had some other ponies being checked up for minor training wounds. He walked up to the receptionist, who for once was a mare. She was a smaller white earth pony, with a curly pink mane and tail, and had a red cross for a cutie mark, and she also wore a white medical cap with another red cross. The mare smiled at Thunder, looking up at him slightly from her chair. "Good late-morning sir! What can I do you for?"

"Oh, uh, I'm here for a checkup? I'm new." Thunder responded, smiling back at the mare.

The mare smiled brighter, then grabbed a pencil and a blank piece of paper. "Name?"

"Thunderblast."

The mare wrote down his name, then glanced over his body briefly, before looking back down and writing down his eye and coat color, and his race. After finishing, she stood up with the paper. "Alrighty, come with me!" She giggled some, then led Thunderblast into a small room, where he sat on the bed. "So, you're new huh?" Thunder nodded in response. "Ooookay Thunder, I'm going to do a check up on your body, then you'll be good to go." The mare trotted to a small cabinet, then pulled out a stethoscope and stuck the earpieces into her ears, holding the bottom of it in a hoof, "Alright, inhale for me," and walked up to the bed, placing the lower piece onto Thunder's chest. He followed suit and inhaled, "Exhale for me." and exhaled calmly. The mare moved the stethoscope to a lower part of his chest. "Inhale," He inhaled. "Exhale." He exhaled, and the mare took the earpieces out. "Very good. You are pretty healthy. Now, I need for you to lay on the bed and I will get a quick scan over your body."

Thunder nodded and laid down on the bed, holding his hooves just next to his wings calmly. "Nothing's wrong?"

"Well, there's nothing wrong with your heart or your breathing. It sounded better than normal actually!" The mare smiled and moved a white metal arm with an x-ray scanner attached to it just above Thunderblast, then turned on the machine. She pressed a couple of buttons, followed by faint beeps, and then she moved the arm away from him, "Alright, I will be right back!" and cantered out. Two minutes passed, before the mare trotted back in with two black pictures, one showing Thunder's skeleton, the other showing his muscle build, setting them into a frame on the wall for them to look at.

"Hmm, so, you have a nice build Thunderblast. I take it you were in the Royal Guard?"

"Mmhmm."

"That explains it then," She giggled. "Very good. Your body looks fine-" Then, something caught her eye. She approached the picture showing his skeleton, noticing his left hind leg has a slight fracture. Thunder noticed it and gulped some. 

"That must be why my leg has hurt so much recently." He mumbled to himself, and the mare managed to catch it.

"What? Why didn't you bring this up before?"

"I didn't...think it was a big deal. I thought it was just still sore from the revolution."

"You fought in it?"

Thunder nodded. "I as well as my friends brought it to its knees, but we weren't the ones who stopped it altogether."

The mare stared at Thunderblast in concern. "Do you mind if I check out your leg?"

Thunder nodded slowly. "Of course."

Thunder laid back down on the bed, and lifted his left hind leg enough for the mare to look at it. His leg hurt just to move it, and he groaned some. The nurse took it in her hooves, feeling up the entire leg and eventually finding the fracture. Thunder sweated, trying his best not to cry out in pain. His entire body cringed, and even the mare's did as well. She then turned to Thunder. "You're in no condition to be a soldier. Not now that is."

"So...nngh. I came here for...nothing?"

"I didn't say that, you just need to heal a bit. It looks like it has been healing however, I'd give it about a week before you can run on the track. I hope the base captain will understand, because you are in peak physical condition after all."

"I-I guess. Are you certain it will heal in a week?"

The mare grabbed a roll of bandages, and started to wrap Thunder's leg over the fracture, covering most of his leg.

"Miss?"

She jumped, coming to her senses. "Oh, of course," Then smiled awkwardly.

Thunder stared back worriedly as the mare returned her attention to wrapping his leg. Was he permanently injured from fighting? The mare stopped wrapping his leg, making sure it was on tight enough. Afterwards, she trotted over to the small counter and opened a drawer, pulling out a tiny glass of clear fluid.

"I wonder if I have to drink that." Thunder thought to himself. A moment later, she grabbed a syringe and stabbed the needle into the cap, extracting some of the fluid. His pupils shrunk at the sight of the syringe, and he started to hyperventilate. The nurse set the glass down and shut the drawer, then walked over to Thunder who started to tremble.

"Okay, this might hurt for juuust a second."

"N-no, no needles! I hate needles!" Thunder backed away, pupils still crazily shrunk as he panicked.

The mare grabbed hold of one of his forehooves and set the syringe on the small table next to the bed. "Shh, shh. It's okay, you won't feel it that long," and gave him a calming smile, slowly picking the syringe back up. Thunder calmed, beginning to breathe normally again. "Just keep your eyes on me," She said, before slowly inserting the syringe into Thunder's hind leg, through the bandages. He yelped a bit, but the mare kept holding his hoof to calm him, which worked. "I'm not a fan of needles myself."