I stumbled drunkly out of a large mansion that sat on a hill, inhaling and exhaling quickly, not able to catch my breath. My chest heaved futilely, my red and black plaid shirt feeling tighter than ever, before I was able to calm myself just the slightest. "What the," I took in a large breath, "hell was that." I exhaled. All I remembered was that I was twirling a bottle of Applejack Daniel's between my hooves before a loud 'Bang!' sounded. The bottle crashed to the floor from me being too frightened (and drunk) to catch it. I had heard aggressive voices coming in my direction so I decided to get out of there. Only now did it occur to me that I should have stayed behind for my friends whom, from what I could tell, had stayed behind.
Looking around at my environment, vision slightly impaired thanks to my dear alcohol and me being under-aged for drinking, I could barely make out the shapes of... bodies? Oh, Celestia, there were bodies everywhere. Bodies of ponies that I knew lined the streets of Zeitnahmare. Bodies of ponies that I loved and cared about. Bodies of ponies. They were blood-covered, many eyes barely opening, mouths hanging ajar. I had walked close to one who was wriggling around slightly, but I couldn't tell who they were from the blood and dirt that matted their mane and coat. I pressed my hoof, which sported a leather wristband with golden text on it, to their chest. A faint, yet slow beating was what I had felt. It started to slow down even more. And more. And more. I took in a brisk breath, waiting for the next beat to come. Waiting for the next beat to follow in suit. It never did.
My throat ached, and my eyes watered, and I had all of these emotions that I couldn't comprehend thanks to the alcohol. So I did what anyone who was in a drunken-state and had just witnessed someone dying would do. I cried.
The effect of alcohol wearing off slightly, I was able to plant my sienna colored hooves strongly into the ground, stretching out my reddish wings before folding them back down. I turned my head around, long, brown and dark-blond mane falling over my yellow eyes. I blew out of my mouth, blowing some of my mane out of the way of my eye-sight. "Tsh, I need a manecut..." I muttered to myself. I stared off at the horizon seeing my hometown, Zeitnahmare, a Germane-based town that was about forty-five minutes outside of Manehattan, off in the distance. I sucked in a sharp breath, ears drooping slightly. I still can't believe that my last few moments there were just me fooling around with a bottle of whiskey, giggling with some of my bandmates, way too drunk to really talk about anything except Princess Celestia's huge-ass.
I was able to get a soft laugh out of myself as I thought about that. I'm not sure if we talked about something as idiotic as that because we were under-age drinking, being at the ages of 15-17, or that literally anyone who gets drunk speaks about Princess Celestia's huge-ass.
"Hehe, it is pretty huuuuOOOOH SHIT." Another loud 'Boom!' sounded, a large plume of smoke rising up out of the center of Zeitnehmare. And there went town hall. I heard loud crows of which sounded like victory and I knew that the Griffons won our town. Though it was a small town, it was another place to make camp at and territory was rather important in wars. Man, I hate wars. Innocent people die left and right and even if it might be for some large, important point, it doesn't mean that I and others have to enjoy it. Because I sure as hell don't.
After I had thought for some time, watching my hometown and the others that I had loved go up in flames, I turned around, walking down the side of the hill I stood on. I looked over my shoulder, the smoke starting to clear slightly, but I didn't want to stick around to see what would come out of it.
"Next stop, Manehattan..."
Walking to Manehattan while slightly intoxicated was a terrible idea and I have no idea why I did that, but the bottom-line was that I made it there. Everywhere around me was chaos. I actually saw a few ponies from Zeitnahmare there, but I was too confused with all of the bustle happening to really talk to them. The ponies were all ranging from high-class to, well, lower-class. Ones that looked like they were pumped straight out of Canterlot to ones that looked like they had gone to Everfree and back.
"Peasants..." I heard a mare dressed in a long, jeweled dress, head held high, mutter. I shot her an angry glare that she didn't seem to notice, but I quickly forgot about it.
"This war tears us apart! Be joined together now with ones that understand by joining me! I shall journey away to a peaceful area and you may come, too!" I heard a stallion dressed in a tattered suit, his hair all out of sorts, call out. A few ponies stared at him and I wasn't sure whether is was because it was too-good-to-be-true or that it just seemed totally insane. Quite frankly, I thought it was the latter. I saw others that seemed to be in his mental-state join him, and as much as I was curious, I didn't want to join him and the others.
"Wait a second," I muttered. "Rocky?" I whispered. The one I mentioned didn't seem to hear me. "Rocky Core!?" I called out. A light brown, orange-maned, blue-eyed earth pony turned around. He flashed me a smile which warmed me up the slightest. Rocky was a friend back in Zeitnahmare and we were both in a band named the 'Golden Eagles.' I had gotten drunk with him the day before.
"Charge! Boy, am I glad ta' see ya' mah' freckled friend!" he called back to me in his thick, Appleloosan accent.
"Same goes here! I can't believe that you made it here after the attack!" I said as I walked towards him, bumping our hooves together. I then turned serious, but still a small smile playing on my snout. "But why are you going with this lunatic?" I asked, motioning to the stallion who had the tattered suit, that my friend was talking to just moments ago until I interrupted their conversation.
Rocky grinned at me. "He seems ta' know what 'e's doin' so I'm goin' with 'em!"
My lips went taut at that. "He's going to get you killed. He has no idea what he's doing." I deadpanned. "I actually think he's drunk." The stallion just seemed too optimistic in this all. He also spoke in a confused way almost as if he was just making up what he was saying along the way, in my opinion, so I wasn't about to trust him with my life. Taking us to a peaceful area? Eh, not too sure about that. Practically everywhere had warfare in it.
Rocky frowned at what I said. "Whaddaya' mean by that? Ah won't be killed. He's leadin' me ta' safety!" he chirped.
"You just met him. How can you trust him? You barely even spoke a word to him!"
"Ya' haven't even talked ta' him! Ah've at least said a few words!"
"I just don't want you to die!"
"Ah won't, Charge!"
"Then you just go, I'm not stopping." I whispered to him.
"Ah was already plannin' to." He said back to me, equal in quietness.
That was the last time I talked to Rocky Core, and it would remain that way. I watched as my ex-friend walked in a group of about fifteen towards the edge of town. They disappeared out of my sight as they went over a hill and that was that. I knew that I started the fight, in a way, if it even was that. We were all just so tense thanks to the attack the day before.
The sun was slowly starting to go down, and I knew that it was dangerous to travel at night so I just hoped that Rocky's group had rested for the night and made camp. We might have fought, but I still cared about him. He was my friend, and I'm not that cold-hearted. ... Or I at least don't think I am.
I looked around, the "Town Square" starting to clear up. I flexed out my wings, wincing in pain as I did so. I cocked my head, inspecting my wing. There was some torn skin and a couple deep bruises that I was too numb to really feel until I put stress on the injuries. With a shrug, I folded them back down, looking around to find a place to rest. I didn't really know anyone in Manehattan so I started to walk the streets, looking for something, anything, to use as a headrest or blanket. I was definitely going to be sleeping on the streets.
'The fuck is that?' I thought lazily as I felt something jabbing at the side of my head. I felt bright, hot sunlight beating down on my face so I brought a hoof over my eyes to shield it away before opening them. In my view, there were three little colts poking at me with a few sticks but as soon as they saw me look at them, they screamed, running off as quickly as their little hooves could carry them. With a groan, I rubbed the side of my head, feeling something warm on my hoof. It was blood. "Looks like those kids left their mark..." I muttered. I got up, stretching, before 'cracking' a few bones in my body. From my neck, to my back, to my hind legs.
Staring back up at the sky, I craned my neck, making a thoughtful look. "Hrm... looks to be about, I wanna say, eight o'clock." I muttered to myself. I knew that the city would be wide awake by this time, but it was Sunday and Sundays were always quiet and lazy, even in a large city like Manehattan. I straightened my flannel shirt's collar, redo-ing the buttons that were out of place, and exited the alley way I was resting in.
What was in my line of view wasn't much. Simply a few business that were struggling to stay open thanks to the war, ponies doing early errands, and a few posters taped on a pole. Trotting towards the pole, I squinted at the text written across as certain poster:
WE NEED YOU. JOIN THE EQUESTRIAN MILITARY TODAY AND HELP WIN THE WAR. ALL HELPING HOOVES ARE WELCOME. ENLIST TODAY.
There was then a picture of both of the princesses with a few royal guards saluting them. Man, it looked cheesy as hell.
"Huh," was all that could escape my mouth. Me enlisting in the Equestrian Military? Preposterous! I wasn't army material at all! I was just a coward, a tall but frail guy who didn't know the first thing about using a gun. I still am a coward, actually. I was afraid, uncourageous, not the type to put my life on the line to fight for my land! At the same time, though, joining the military seemed like the best option to me. There really wasn't anything left for me to do, or at least in my opinion. I could have gotten a job as a barkeep, but I was sixteen, being too young to drink, much less serve the alcohol. 'I could be a mail boy, or a chef, or a mechanist, or a- STOP.' I thought. Stopping my thoughts, I rubbed my head with a hoof. All of those jobs didn't really feel like they meant anything. They didn't feel right. Swallowing my pride, I searched for the address on the poster and that was that.
As I made my way down the street after finding the address and heading in the general direction, a conversation stopped me.
"Yea, can you believe it? The group that left town was attacked by Griffons within an hour!" I heard a voice say.
There was a snort. "You mean that crazy nutcase with the torn up clothes? Why would anyone go with him!" Another snort followed. "Serves them right. Why would they trust him? They died thanks to him! 'Peaceful area' my ass!" The two talking started to chuckle a bit.
My eyes widened in fear. Rocky went with that guy. Good ol' Rocky. The down to earth, lovable earth pony whom I had argued with the day before. He was... dead? My eyes stung again, but I kept it in. No use crying now. 'Don't cry you dolt. You can't be a soldier if you cry over everything.' I thought.
As soon as my tears felt like they had subsided, I turned my head up to look at a banner. It looked brand new, considering that it wasn't torn or destroyed like everything else. LIVE STRONG. ARMY STRONG. 'This is the place.' I lifted up a hoof, and it suddenly felt heavy as lead. I scrunched my eyes shut, inhaling and exhaling, taking in long, deep breaths. I lifted up my head, looked forward, and huffed out once.
I was going to become a soldier.
"At least I got that manecut I needed..." I mumbled as I ran a hoof through my buzzed mane; it was an undercut now. The top of my hair was the same brown color I always had with the underside being the dark blonde that used to be natural highlights. The back of my neck itched ever so slightly from some of the hair shavings that were still hanging loosely in the area.
Overall, the enlisting went well. I signed up for one year and told them a little about myself. Not talking about my feelings but just where I originated from and mental illness and the like, and which branch of the military I wished to work in. Pretty much hard facts that were necessary for them to know. My interviewer physically flinched, obviously taken aback, went I told him that I had OCD, but I promised that it wouldn't get in the way. They also needed all of the help they could get. It would, I knew, get in the way, but I had some left over medication that I could ration for the time being. Afterwards, it would start be a bit out of control. I was prepared for it, though.
After the facility gave me a physical exam, which consisted of me tackling one earth pony, accuracy with firing a gun, hoof-to-hoof combat (which I was shocked that I ranked well in) and the like, they let me pass through. I wasn't off to the military immediately, for I needed to go a training camp, but at least I was let in. If I did well in training, then I was on my way to become a true soldier. Just thinking about being a soldier filled me with adrenaline.
After our physical and mental run-throughs, we were all boarded onto this long, chariot-like mobile and we were on our way to what I guessed was the training camp. It was a fairly short ride, to my surprise, and an hour my fellow cadets and I were at the camp. It was somewhere in the mountains. We were shown our barracks and where we would be staying for the time being, until we actually joined the military, and were left to choose our own beds.
I stood awkwardly in the middle of the entrance for a while while the others around me decided to get their own beds. After most beds were taken, I settled on the bottom bunk near the entrance. I took off my flannel shirt before I leaped onto the bed, stretching out my wings. I hadn't been using them all too much, but then again, I never really was a huge flyer. Shutting my eyes, I decided that I might as well get some rest before something happens, like starting training or something. The day was starting to end, so I didn't think that they would force us to start working at five at night. Military training is crazy, though, so you never know.
"Yo, wazzup!"
I spazmed ever so slightly at the sound of an accented voice (a fake sounding accent, mind you). "The hell..?" I whispered questionably. Looking around at my surroundings, I saw no one paying any attention to me. Shaking my head, I rested my head back down on the old pillow, on the old bed, with the old sheets, on the old mattress, on the old bunk bed, in the old barrack. Everything was fucking old.
"Up here, ya' dolt!"
I peeked open an eye, staring up. In front of my peripheral vision was a dark grey, amber-eyed pegasus. He smirked at me and oH NO HE'S HOT. I mean what. I'm totally not gay. No homo.
"You jump a lot." he deadpanned, his fake accent completely vanishing. He then extended a hoof from where he was leaning over the ledge of his bed, his shorrt-buzzed mane flopping down ever so slightly. " Name's Lane. Thunderlane. Pleasure to meet you." He paused. "And who might ya' be?" I stared up blankly at him. "Do you want me to call you Hoppers? Because trust me, I will, Sir Jumps-a-lot." he deadpanned once again.
"Wha- oh, uh..." I fumbled with my words a bit, my face bright red.
"You a'ight?"
"Yea, yea, just fine. Um, I'm Charge. Bass Charge. But everyone calls me Charge. Oh, and the pleasure is all mine." I stuck out my hoof and he bumped the front of it. I was able to control my words, my totally sexy co-worker frazzling me. I mean what. Mentally, I had face-hoofed, secretly hating myself for, well, finding stallions hot. Ugh, that's for another time. And the time isn't now. The time isn't in the middle of a war.
"Charge, eh? Well then, Charge, I am certainly looking forward to sharing a bunk with you. Ya' seem pretty chill, I guess."
"Same goes here." I stated rather quickly.
After that, we started to delve into conversation about where we from and the like. His home town was a tiny town called Ponyville, and it sounded rather familiar to me. We both cracked a few jokes, trying to lift up obviously broken spirits thanks to the war. I felt like Thunderlane was going to be a good, no, scratch that, great friend. Just a friend, perverts. No benefits here.
"CADETS!" a loud voice bellowed. Thunderlane and I both spazmed at the loud, authoritative voice, and he slowly eased up, out of sight, onto the top of his bunk. "LINE UP!" he barked. I quickly flopped off my bed, lining up in front of the bunk, my other comrades following in suit. Thunder lined up next to me a few seconds later. I hadn't realized how muscular he was from up on the top bunk. Though I practically towered over him, like pretty much the rest of the cadets in the room, considering my tall frame, but he was definitely solid as a rock. On another note, I really didn't want to practice hoof-to-hoof combat with him.
Felling a hot puff of air in my face, I started to blink rapidly as the (Drill Sergeant?) started to stride in front of us all. He was a well-built pegasus with a light grey coat, short, black mane and piercing, blue eyes. Or eye. One was most definitely blind in it, but I just guessed that it would have been the same color as the working one. "I AM DRILL SERGEANT MAYHEM AND YOU WILL LISTEN TO EVERY WORD I SAY AND FOLLOW EVERY RULE I STATE IS THAT I UNDERSTOOD!?"
"SIR, YES, SIR!" (boo-yea, I was right about him being a Drill Sergeant)
"YOU WILL RESPOND TO ME WHEN I CALL OUT MAGGOTS, UNDERSTOOD!?"
"SIR, YES, SIR!"
"IF YOU GAIN MY RESPECT, WHICH. YOU. WON'T!" His voice then turned down in volume, sounding hoarse and icy, "You'll have the chance to be called Cadet. IS THAT UNDERSTOOD!?" Mayhem's voice soared into a crescendo.
"SIR, YES, SIR!"
Whipping his large, grey head around, the sergeant barked out, "LANKY KID NEAR THE BACK! FRONT AND CENTER!"
A lanky, young stallion, earth pony, stepped forward, pulling off of a faux salute, looking as if he were trying to puff out his untoned chest. "SIR!"
"Tell me about yourself." he said with the same hoarse, icy tone.
"U-Um," he stammered, "I-I'm fro-"
"SPEAK UP!" Mayhem shouted back.
"SIR! I AM ALPINE FROST! I COME FROM AVEENO, NEAR APPLEWOOD, SIR!"
"AND WHY IN THE HOOT ARE YOU HERE!?"
"TO BECOME A ROYAL GUARD, SIR!!"
After that, the introductions went on like that, each of us saying our name, where we were from, and which branch of the military we wanted to work in. There were three branches, each performing a certain and necessary role in Equestrian society.
The first was the Royal Guard where you would serve directly underneath the Princesses. If you were part of the Guard for long enough, you might be hoof-selected to be their closest guards, which means that you go pretty much everywhere with them, being their escorts.
The second was the Civilian Corp. Ones that are part of that division would protect the, well, civilians. They stay in the cities and towns, and keep back enemies who try to get through. At the moment, they weren't doing too well considering that we've already had multiple attacks on innocent towns and people.
The third division was the Frontline Corp. They were in charge of the head on battles against the Griffons. In the past, they just went out, making new settlements for more territory, but now they're part of espionage squads, and many are skilled fighters. A problem is that you seem almost crazy to join the FC. It's said to be dangerous and many die, but ones who join have the highest spirit. That's where I was heading. To the Frontlines. I wanted to be like them, fighting head on. I wanted to really be part of the battle, up-close. Going back to the subject...
"AND WHO MIGHT YOU BE, FRECKLES!?" Mayhem barked at me.
I answered back quickly, trying to keep myself on top of everything that was happening. I gave a salute, though it wasn't perfect, but I thought it was acceptable. "SIR! I AM BASS CHARGE AND RESIDE FROM ZEITNAMARE, WHICH IS LOCATED OUTSIDE OF MANEHATTAN! I WISH TO JOIN THE FRONTLINE CORP, SIR!"
With a nod, he turned to Thunderlane. "TWO-TONE!?"
"MY NAME IS THUNDERLANE AND I COME FROM PONYVILLE! I WANT TO JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD, SIR!"
The Drill Sergeant finished up yelling and barking at us questions, which was a relief, and the screaming ceased for a while. Neither of us dared to say a word as Mayhem looked at us with a solemn expression. "Dinner is at 1900. Located in the Mess Hall. The MH is behind this building. The only way you can miss it is if you're an idiot. Dismissed." Mayhem told us in the hoarse, icy tone he was prone to use.
After trying to pass some time by talking to my comrades, I glanced at the clock and realize that dinner was in fifteen minutes. Stretching, I got up before placing all four of my hooves on the ground.
"Ey, where're you goin'?"
"Dinner." I stated simply. "Look at the clock, Lane."
As instructed, Thunderlane glanced at the clock. "Well, whaddaya know." He practically threw himself off of the bed before hovering, making a soft tap as his front hooves touched the ground, his hind ones joining him moments later.
I scoffed slightly, "That was dramatic as hell."
Opening the door, Thunder and I exited our barrack. I looked up at the wall, on the exterior of the building, to check what number we were in. '5.' I had mentally noted.
"Hurry up, slowpoke!" Thunder called to me. As I looked at where the voice was from, I saw him standing underneath a light near the side of the barrack. I guessed that they turned it on once the sun set. Celestia's beauty was barely peaking over a hill that was off in the distance. It lit up the sky like it was on fire. The way the lavender, red, yellow, orange, and pink colors ascended into the purple and blue night sky. It was breath-taking. Sheesh, I got really poetic back there.
"I'm coming, you jackass!" I yelled as I galloped towards my amber-eyed friend.
Once I was by his side, Thunder slugged me in the side of my stomach and I had comically and dramatically gasped for air, grasping at my sides. I faux coughed, pretending to wipe tears from my face. All Thunder could do was chuckle a bit. "That was dramatic as hell." he said in a totally horrible impersonation of myself.
Before we knew it, Thunder and I were in front of the Mess Hall. It smelled... good? I'm not sure if good was the right word to use, but it wasn't bad, either. A loud noise emitted through the windows and it sound like laughter and casual chatting. I shrugged as we both walked up the steps.
This time, Thunder was the one who opened the door, letting me walk in, before closing it behind him with a flick of his hind leg.
Inside the Mess Hall was several wooden benches all lined up almost perfectly, which made me smile a whole lot because nothing was out of order. It favored to my OCD and my lack of regular medicine. I fixed my eyes on the back of room where there was a unicorn wearing a pair of glasses behind a large pot, which I guessed had dinner in it.
Thunder was already in front of my pot and was given a bowl filled with whatever it was as I made my way to the back of the room. I got myself the bowl of whatever, looking down at the contents, before grabbing a Red Solo Cup of water in my right wing, an apple in my opposite wing.
"DUDE! Chili is my all-time favorite!" Thunder told me giddily as he hovered over to a bench to the front, left, of the room. I just grinned, shaking my head at his comical, bubbly actions before finding myself a seat across from him. We had the table to ourselves, the clock just hitting 1900. With a spoon that I was given, I dug into the chili. I was surprised, it wasn't half bad. I could get used to a meal like that in due time.
Stuffing another spoonful of chili in my mouth, I glanced up at Thunder who had the bowl held up to his snout. "This ain't half bad." I muttered.
By the time I had finished my bowl, the amber-eyed pegasus was already asking for seconds near the back of the room, but was shooed away. As Thunder walked back in defeat, I crunched on my apple, giving him a soft smirk. "Bad luck?"
"Fucking terrible luck, man."
"Here, you can take some of the scraps I have le- DUDE CALM DOWN YOU DON'T NEED TO LICK THE WHOLE BOWL INSIDE OUT."
Before I had even finished my statement, Thunder was looking up at me, the bowl glistening in his hooves. "Thanks, bro."
"Sweet Celestia." I muttered. I quickly finished up my apple, gulping down my water, and brought my dishes to the back of the room. I placed the leftovers on a rack that had other dirty bowls before Thunder and I left the Mess Hall.
Since lights out was at 2100, I had rushed to the bathroom/shower room at 2030 to do all of my bodily functions. I took a quick shower, wrapping a towel around my mid-section, which made it slightly hard to walk, before shaving and brushing my teeth. I then took my pill, that helped calm down my OCD and change the chemicals in my brain slightly. Mayhem and other higher-ups knew about me taking them, but it was just them. I didn't need any arrogant asshole getting on my case for it.
Speaking of arrogant assholes... I heard this one guy, who slept two bunks to my right from me, named Golden Dust, singing in the shower. His voice was terrible and anytime someone told him to shut up, he would just sing louder than ever. It was annoying as fuck. Thunder was showering right next to him, so I felt bad for him. Almost as if on queue, the dark grey pegasus turned off the shower, stepping out of the cubicle. He looked incredibly annoyed.
"Motherfucking bullshit, I swear." I heard him mumble. I held in a laugh as I packed up my toiletries, taking off my towel, stuffing the contents into locker 501. Afterwards, high-tailed it out of there before Golden Dust was going to sing anymore.
I walked back with a quiet stallion I had met, Arctic Frost was his name. The same guy that was picked first by Drill Sergeant Mayhem. From what I could tell, he was a nice stallion, but was physically weak. He wasn't disabled in anyway, but he was just skin, bones, and brain. Yea, he was crazy smart. I sorta expected him to be stronger more than smart considering that he was an earth pony, but I guess those are just stereotypes. When I talked to him, his vast vocabulary made me feel incredibly inadequate, but I tried my best to forget about it. Since he was chill, I would be chill back. Chill-logic.
After we idly chatted on our walk back to Barrack 5, Frost and I both parted our own ways, he going to the far end of the room, and I going to the first bed on the right. Going to the front of the bunk, I opened up a wooden chest where Thunder and I both kept our clothes. Mine was on the right, his on the left. I slid off my necklace, which was black string and had a silver ring on the end, and my leather bracelet which had golden text on it, tossing it on top of the flannel. I flexed out my wings, a quiet 'Pop!' emitting from them, and I clambered into bed.
With a yawn, I checked the clock, humming slightly. '2050. Lights are out in ten minutes. Now where the hell is Thunderlane..?' I thought questionably. Almost as if on queue, an agitated looking Thunderlane and an oblivious Golden Dust walked in. Golden was going on and on about how his uncle was a war hero and how he had to be just like him, but that naturally, Golden was even better than his 'hobo-uncle'. Thunder whipped around, staring at the posh unicorn directly in his pale, blue eyes, a threatening look gracing them before he turned around. My amber-eyed friend then flew into the top bunk, not saying another word.
As soon as the lights went out and everyone was in bed, I quietly whispered, "Wazzup man?" in a terrible impersonation voice of Thunderlane. In response, I got a groan. I hummed thoughtfully, sleep tugging on my eyelids. "Whelp. Goodnight." I turned onto my side, shutting my eyes.
"Goodnight, Charge."
A loud, blaring trumpet interrupted me from an awesome dream about being with Daring Do and traveling the world to look for lost treasures and ruins. I was frazzled as I woke up, looking around bleary-eyed before I was able to connect the dots. "War. Military. Mountains. Camp. Barrack. Bottom Bunk. Yea." I muttered. The lights suddenly flashed on, and I shielded my eyes at the sudden brightness.
"UP AND AT 'EM, MAGGOTS!" Drill Sergeant Mayhem barked at us. "GO TO THE MESS HALL BY 0600 TO GET GRUB AND THEN MEET ME IN THE FRONT OF THE MH AFTERWARDS! UNDERSTOOD!?"
"SIR, YES, SIR!"
"DISMISSED!"
As soon as we were dismissed, I opened up the wooden chest in front of my bunk, grabbing my necklace, slinging it over my neck. I rubbed my eyes, trying to remove crust that sat along the edges.
"It's not even light out yet. I hate getting up before sunrise..." Thunder grumbled groggily. "I'm starving, though. Let's go eat." he said to no one in particular, but I knew who he met.
Thunder and I walked next to each other as we made our way underneath the lights until we found the Mess Hall. There were some higher-ranked members already eating and chatting. Breakfast seemed much more low-key than dinner. We were served oatmeal with brown sugar and raisins with either orange juice, milk, or water. I got water, once again, while Thunder got orange juice. We both sat down at the same table as the night before, not really saying much. We were both still obviously exhausted.
Breakfast really didn't have any problems or anything interesting enough to talk about. It was just staring down at watery oatmeal while trying not to pass out. Taking a glance at Thunderlane, I saw that his eyes were closed. I rolled my eyes at that, nudging him lightly, but he smacked my hoof away. Leaving him alone, I continued to eat my oatmeal until I saw Thunder's head slowly slip from where it was resting on his hoof. Before his face slammed into his oatmeal, I stuck out my hoof, catching his head. After that, he shot up like a rocket, he spoon stuck to his cheek.
"Wha-?" Thunder tore the spoon off of his cheek.
"Stay awake. You better not fall asleep during training, or who knows what'll happen. This is good practice." I stated practically, but Thunderlane just groaned groggily.
After harsh coaxing, I was able to get Thunder up from the bench so we could wait outside for Mayhem. It was at around 0615 and it looked like the moon was going down and the sun was slowly making it's rise up. During this time of the year, the sun rose later and the moon set earlier. I'm not sure why the Princesses decided to do it that way, but it helped everything fall into place.
Three more groups of cadets joined us, and they all seemed new just like me. In total, we were probably about one hundred fifty or so. Each barrack held thirty of us or so. I didn't really chat with the other cadets just as yet, but I knew that I would have to at some point. Probably for exercises for fake scrimmages or squadrons.
Thunder smacked me with his hoof, "Yo, what the hell is that?" he asked me. Averting my eyes to where he was staring, I saw Mayhem tugging a large cart with two other ponies following in suit.
"Damn if I knew." I replied back.
Once Mayhem arrived in front of us, he slid off the covers on the carts. There was... clothes? There were a lot of clothes inside the carts, all of them the same color. The other two carts then contained what looked like armor and weapons. Probably things for our training.
"LINE UP SINGLE FILE, MAGGOTS!" Mayhem barked out at us. We all quickly obeyed, standing at ready in front of the Drill Sergeant.
One of the other ponies that were with Mayhem grabbed a large pile of tan shirts, giving each of us a few, ranging from sizes for our needs. Magic was pretty awesome considering that they were distributing out small and larges, left and right without batting an eye. I received three larges, Thunder receiving three mediums, the same going for Arctic Frost.
Then the other pony that walked with Mayhem gave us large pieces of armor, distributing it out using the same magic as the other pony. It looked like a bullet-proof vest, a helmet, a balaclava, and fiber guards for our shoulder, hips, and shins.
The Drill Sergeant then handed out guns. They were single-fire pistols, needing to reload every time, which I guess they gave us as practice before we were to upgrade to something else with more fire-power.
"YOU ARE ALL IN CHARGE OF THESE ITEMS FROM NOW ON! YOU WILL WEAR THIS TAN SHIRT UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE, TWENTY FOUR/SEVEN! THIS IS YOUR UNIFORM! IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO CLEAN YOUR GUN AND MAKE SURE THAT IT DOESN'T RUST! YOU SHINE YOUR JOINT GUARDS AND HELMET ON YOUR OWN! EVERYTHING IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY! UNDERSTOOD!?"
"SIR, YES, SIR!" We all yelled back to Mayhem.
"Good. Now head back and place all of your new belongings in your barracks. Once you're done, come back here immediately. Dismissed." he instructed in his hoarse, icy tone once more.
"SIR!" We called back.
I briskly trotted to Barrack 5, opening the wooden chest near the base of Thunder and I's bunk. I first placed the bullet-proof vest, followed by the fiber guards, then there were two of the shirts, the balaclava, and the helmet on top. Underneath it all, I hid my new pistol. I had already taken one of the shirts in advance, placing it on me as soon as we got instruction to wear it from now on. Once I was done, I waited for Thunderlane to finish placing everything in the chest, then we both made our way out of the barrack.
As soon as we had gotten back from our barracks, Mayhem yelled at us to run twenty laps around the field. The field was pretty damn huge, larger than a football field, so that many took a toll on your energy. I was one of the fastest, coming in around forth or fifth place out of the one hundred fifty of us so it was a good feeling being near the top.
Thunder was then at about thirty or forty. He was muscular, but not really fast. Then Arctic Frost ranked at fifteen. Afterwards, we were then split into three groups: unicorn, pegasus, and earth pony. Arctic was split up from Thunder and I, and then we were on our own ways. Not permanently, but just for the time being.
I hated the first day of training. After running the laps, we needed to do one hundred wing-ups followed by doing sit-ups. We sat on our rear, hefting ourself up and down to do the sit-ups, and having a pony's body was very uncomfortable. The exercise was made by Minotaurs so I guess that's why it hurt. After that, we were formed into teams, Thunder and I being on the same one thankfully, and started to play capture-the-flag: hardcore style.
Our capture-the-flag was like any game of capture-the-flag, but the only way to get someone out was by tackling them. Them they were eliminated. Thunder and I were a bit of a tag team. I'd go ahead first, being the faster and more agile one, searching for ponies to tackle, and then Thunder, with his strength, would tackle them and that was that. After my amber-eyed friend grabbed the flag, he tossed it to me and I ran back to our base quickly, winning us the game. It was pretty fucking rad being able to win the first competition we had. It made me feel a bit... accomplished? Yea, accomplished.
We did some more exercises such as hopping through hoops, crawling underneath barbed wire, and the like. All total commando stuff. It continued on like that for about four weeks. I woke up, went to breakfast in my tan shirt, trained till 1230, took a break for lunch, trained till 1900, broke for dinner, took a shower, and went to bed. It all felt routine for a while, and the whole time I had some fun chilling with Thunderlane and Arctic Frost. I never really expected to make friends in the military, much less the training camp for it all. It felt nice to have good memories. Especially in the middle of a war.
"Oh right, the war. That's what were training for." I thought aloud, walking back to Barrack 5, after our showers, with Thunderlane.
"Tsh, you forgot?"
"I guess." I shrugged.
Thunder just shook his head, quickly changing the subject. "I still can't believe you want to go to the Frontline Corp. The Royal Guard is where it's at."
"I just want to be in the upfront action. As much as it'll rock to serve underneath the Princesses and be in the safety of Canterlot, I also want to know what it's like to fight a Griffon. What it's like to actual fight." I Gave a small chuckle. "Fuck, I got poetic again." I had a tendency of doing that.
"It's practically a death wish, though. A lot of the ponies who go out there get killed."
I shrugged once more, "Maybe I like 'Living-on-the-Edge'." I joked.
"Yea, right." I chuckled along with me. Thunder then turned serious. "But, seriously. You have the skill to join the Royal Guard. Why don't you? We can serve underneath the Princesses. together. Be an awesome tag-team like we always are in capture the flag." He punched me with his hoof lightly in my side. I wasn't in the mood to act out a dramatic scene like I usually do when Thunder does that.
Thunderlane let out a sigh, "Any special reason why you want to join the Frontline Corp?"
"Yea."
"Yea? Is that all you're gonna say?"
"Yea."
Thunder snorted, "I'll respect your choice." Turning serious once more, he stopped, looking me in the eye, right hoof on my shoulder. "Just know, dude, that you can trust me. We're both gonna be stuck together, and you know that. Since we're stuck together, you gotta learn to trust me. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday, you've got to trust me." He turned around, trotting back to Barrack 5.
"Fuck..." I whispered. My eyes stung, but I smiled. My head hurt, my heart pounded, my cheeks hurt from smiling. "Fuck..." I whispered again. "God-fucking-damn it. This bullshit." I sprinted off towards Barrack 5, grinning from ear to ear as I walked through the door.
"Ey, jackass!" I called out. Thunderlane rolled onto his back, looking at me from the top of our bunk. I went over to the bunk, hovering slightly. "Just wanna say that you're the best fucking friend in the world, and I swear to Celestia that I will fuck anyone over a table if they try to mess with you. Got that?"
Thunder chuckled at me, shaking his head a little, a grin plastered on his face. "You're dramatic as hell, you fucking nerd."
