Twi-force
Once upon a time...
In the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land. To do this the eldest used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn, while the younger brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects, all the different types of ponies.
But as time went on Equestria noticed those beyond their borders stirring. On more than one occasion Princesses Celestia and Luna had received letters threatening annexation of parts or all of Equestrian territory. After such a short period of balance and harmony Equestria once more found itself at the brink of collapse. Faced with both noble and public outcry the royal pony sisters assembled and tasked their royal guard with the protection and safe guarding of Equestria’s borders.
Three moons before the Summer Sun Celebration, under the cover of night a regiment of Griffonian soldiers covertly breached northern Equestrian borders in what would come to be known as the Morning Massacre. This incident forced the princesses hoof in expanding the Equestrian Royal Guard into what would become the Equestrian Armed Forces; a professional officer corps tasked with the protection of Equestria and its interests.
As of today the Equestrian Armed Forces has come to encompass most of Equestrian society.
Prologue
The morning for Corporal Twilight Sparkle began as usual for most ponies in the Canterlot barracks; the bugle sounding at zero-six-hundred, rolling out of her bunk, a quick shower and then back to her bunk to don her uniform and gear before heading into the mess hall for a morning meal. As the young unicorn sat eating her breakfast of bland, lumpy eggs, dry toast and filter coffee strong enough to make the coat on a stallion’s barrel grow twice as thick, she noticed that her fellow E.A.F. were unusually quiet compared to their usual morning chatter. Feeling her eyes drift from her tray Twilight noted a few more pegasi in the group of ponies eating than before but chalked it up to more transfers, and so after finishing her bland meal the mare grabbed her tray and quietly deposited it in the wash box, the glare of the overhead lights on the mess hall’s linoleum floor tiling stinging her eyes as she left.
‘Must be worried about the assembly this morning.’ Mused Twilight as she trotted through the courtyard. Canterlot being the seat of Equestria’s government and home to none other than Princesses Celestia and Luna themselves resulted in the city being heavily fortified; massive stone and concrete walls surround the mountain city, around-the-clock patrols and cannons lining the wall’s perimeter. Canterlot was also home to the largest E.A.F. base and Corporal Twilight Sparkle was but one of the thousands of ponies stationed there.
Twilight Sparkle wore an olive green military jacket with dark grey collar and cuffs, four sheathed swords were strapped to her barrel by leather belts and her cuffs were secured by two white cufflinks each. Besides her extra three swords, their type and lack of the standard grey beret this was the peacetime Equestrian Armed Forces uniform. Under the jacket the mare’s coat was a pale mulberry, her eyes a unique shade of violet and her dark mane although secured in a tight librarian bun had two streaks of colour; one a moderate violet and the other a brilliant rose. Her Cutie Mark; a white starburst on a pink shield covering two crossed white swords was neatly framed by the sheaths of her swords adding to Twilight’s overall appearance.
Despite the corporal’s best efforts to prove the contrary, many of the ponies believe that she receives special treatment from Captain Shining Armor; the captain in charge of overseeing the protection of Canterlot, one of four ponies to hold the honoured title of captain, and her elder brother. From Twilight’s disregard for uniform protocol being overlooked to her promotion to corporal, everypony stubbornly believes it to be her brother greasing the wheels. How wrong those ponies are, if anything the captain seemed to push her harder than any other just to prove the opposite.
There was absolute silence as everypony assigned to Canterlot Base stood at attention, waiting for Captain Shining Armor to begin his address. Every stallion and mare in uniform, at attention and perfectly still. It was impressive how intimidating Shining Armor could look as he strutted back and forth in front of the first row of ponies with a scrutinising eye, beads of sweat appearing on anypony he chose to single out for a closer look. “Alright.” Grunted the captain as he turned to address everypony.
“As you may or may not know, there has recently been an increase in transfers.” Began Shining Armor as he paced back and forth, “This is to better balance the forces of each post and not; despite the rumours, preparation for some kind of attack.” Stated the captain matter-of-factly, “Each post has had, up until this point some form of imbalance in pony races. For example Canterlot has an excess of unicorns while Manehattan has an excess of earth ponies, to better balance each post transfers are necessary.” Explained Shining Armor eyeing the rows as he paced, “Am I understood?”
“Sir, yes sir!” Chorused the group.
“Will I hear anymore rumours about an impending attack?” Questioned the captain.
“Sir, no sir!” Replied everypony as a whole.
“Good. Everypony to their posts!” Barked Shining Armor as he dismissed the group. As Twilight began to trudge her way to her post a familiar voice stopped her mid-step, “Not you Corporal, I need to speak to you for a moment.” Voiced the captain with a grim look, biting back a sigh Twilight turned around and addressed her superior officer, “Sir?” It was funny seeing her brother just stand there doing nothing, but after a full minute of him just silently staring at her Twilight felt that there was something wrong. “Captain?” she asked a little worry colouring her voice.
Before Twilight could ask what Shining Armour wanted to speak with her about, he extended his foreleg and in his hoof was an open letter, “Congratulations Corporal, it looks like you’re being promoted.” Her hooves shaking, Twilight used her magic to open the letter and began reading.
Dear Shining Armor,
It has come to our attention that Corporal Twilight Sparkle of the Equestrian Armed Forces assigned to Base 1: Canterlot displays all of the qualities that we are looking for in a pony, and as such on receiving this letter she is to be promoted to the rank of Captain. This making her the fifth captain of the E.A.F. with all of the authority, responsibility and access that comes with the rank. Please see to it that she is informed of her new ranking and make arrangements for such a change.
Kind Regards,
Her Majesty Princess Celestia.
“...” Twilight just stared at the letter, her jaw nearly touching the ground at her hooves. “Pe-permission to speak freely, sir?” stuttered out the shocked mare, her eyes never leaving the letter. “You don’t need to ask permission anymore, we’re both captains now.” Chuckled Shining Armor, “Why am I getting such a big promotion?” questioned Twilight pulling her eyes away from the letter to stare at her brother in utter confusion; a Private being promoted to Corporal was unusual, but a Corporal being promoted to a Captain? That just didn’t happen. Twilight’s growing worry reached new heights with the change in his expression. “That’s the problem...” sighed Shining Armor while his hoof awkwardly rubbed at the nape of his neck.
It was a warm summer afternoon with barely a cloud in the sky, light breeze in the air, sun beginning to set turning the sky a soft orange. The kind of day you look back on when your older and smile about. I remember nagging my big brother to take me with him as he went to training that day, the day I found out just how special I am. Sometimes you look back on life and wish to go back to those magical days of past, but if you ask me; looking back and sharing that moment with somepony you love is what makes it magic.
“I’m bored.” Muttered a little unicorn filly sitting on a bale of straw, her big brother Shining Armour was practicing stances with a training sword not five feet away. The Armed Forces Academy had let the cadets have the afternoon off and the stallion had decided to get some practice in at the training yard, his little sister Twilight or as he liked to call her “Twily” had decided to tag-a-long, “I told you it’d be boring didn’t I Twily?” grunted Shining Armor as he swung the blade held in his magic aura. “But I wanted to spend time with my BBBF!” groaned the filly rolling onto her back.
Thinking for a bit the stallion held the training sword, his expression scrunching up in thought before he lowered the blade and made his way to the bale Twilight now lay on. Grabbing a sip of water Twilight’s “big brother best friend” pondered on what to do, before just dropping the towel he was using to mop up his sweat on his little sister’s head. “Ew!” groaned Twilight as she threw the sweaty thing off before trying to look angry, but ended up just cutely pouting at Shining Armor.
“Love ya, Twily.”
Rubbing the sleep from her eyes Twilight wondered how she could have fallen asleep on a ten minute train ride, one minute she was reviewing the intelligence on her assignment and then apparently off she nodded. Grabbing her bags the mare got off of the train and onto the station. By the looks of it, not a lot of ponies were around the station at this time. “Might as well make the best of this.” Sighed Twilight as she left the platform and headed into town. This was where she’d be stationed for the foreseeable future; because the recently promoted Captain Twilight Sparkle had been transferred, under Royal Order to Base 42.
Base 42: Ponyville.
Author's Note
Title Changed from Base 42 to Twi-force on 01/03/2014
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Twilight Sparkle's Cutie Mark
