Thousand Years War

“He said what!” Stormkiller, a white furred, blue maned pegasus, said.

Twilight and Rainbow Dash, watched as Stormkiller put a hoof to her head. She looks to be in deep thought, and for the most part looked to be in between anger, and amusement.

“So, centurion Golden Valor will set whoever tent on fire, who doesn't assign you to him if assign, and your friend to Nightwind,” Stormkiller said.

“Yes legatus, that's what he said,” Twilight said.

“Will then, I’m surprised that he would want any new recruits. I usually have to focus them on him, then he finds a way to get rid of them if they don’t meet his standard…” Stormkiller said, “So this is very strange to me. What the hey, recruit Sparkle you're assigned to centurion Golden Valor, and recruit Dash, you're assigned to flight captain, Nightwind.”

“Thank you legatus,” they said in unison.

“Now get to your units, and get training,” Stormkiller said.

Twilight, and Rainbow Dash bow, and make their way to the find Nightwind, and Golden Valor. They find them waiting near a mess hall. Twilight find that Golden Valor was a lot less pink today.

“So did you two get assigned to us?” Golden Valor asks, as they got closer.

“Yeah, after we told, legatus Stormkiller what you said,” Rainbow Dash answered.

Which made Golden Valor face go pale, and Nightwind start laughing. Twilight then noted Golden Valor started to panic. “You don’t think it would be Stormkiller, would be the one assigning us, did you?” Twilight said.

“No, he don’t,” Nightwind said, unable to stop laughing.

It takes a few minutes before, Nightwind stop laughing, and Golden Valor stopped panicking.

“Ok, now that over with Rainbow Dash, let get to the unit, and start are drills,” Nightwind said.

“Yes, ma'am!” Rainbow Dash said, as she started to lift off the ground.

“Good, now follow me,” Nightwind said, as she started heading west to the a group of light, armored Pegasi, and Rainbow Dash followed.

“Will that mean, were off to the north end of the yard, for your training,” Golden Valor said, as he started walking.

Twilight followed,  Golden Valor who don’t say anything, which left Her some time to think.

At first Twilight finds herself curious, and all those books, she would have loved to read them. That was until Rainbow and she finds out that they could never return home or see their friends and family again.

Twilight had tried most the night to teleport through the shield, but had found who ever cast it was a genius and incredibly powerful. She knew it wasn’t the Rightful Order, for the book he had sent to her said, he was great in conjuration, and fire magic, but horrible at wards and defense magic.

Rightful Order how ever was powerful, and a force to be reckoned with battlefield though. She could not find anything else about him. It was like he came out of nowhere one day, and guess started fighting in this war.

On the other hoof the dark king, had a lot on him. The dark king was a powerful, and ruthless pony, who had mastered black magic. He had killed his brother’s wife, corrupted his foal, then turned on his king. After that it starts getting hard to find fact from myth.

Rightful order had seemed pleased that they had joined. At least she thought he was hard to tell on somepony who, only has a cold look on his face.

Twilight came out of thought as they reached the north end of the training yard. She finds five other ponies, all in steel armor, and all were unicorns. They stood in a line next to iron blocks.

The iron blocks started small, and get larger as you look down the line. Each had a number, which Twilight guessed that was how much they weighed. From what she could tell they started at fifty pounds, and ended at half a ton.

“Legionaries! Meet our new recruit, Twilight Sparkle.” Golden Valor said, as he looked down the line.

Twilight could hear them talk, some seemed to think Golden Valor was joking. One even started laughing. “What's so fun legionnaire!” Golden Valor shouted.

“Will sir, a shield lander in this unit, she won't last a week!” one of the legionaries said.

“Is that so, Shield Caster, I bet you fifty bits she can lift five-hundred pounds or more,” Golden Valor said

“Sir, I’ll take that bet,” Shield Caster said.

“Ok, recruit, Sparkle show them what you can do,” Golden Valor said.

Twilight walks up to the iron block that was numbered five-hundred. Her horn lit up, and find it difficult to encase the iron block in her magic, but she managed to encase in her purple aura. She then lifted it off the ground, with some difficulty, and held it there.

She finds Shield Caster, looking a little angry. “Now Shield Caster, would you be so kind as to apologize to recruit Sparkle, and pay her my winnings,” Golden valor said, with a grin.

Twilight, lowed the block, and take in a few deep breaths. “I’m sorry recruit Sparkle you may list more than one battle,” he said, as he walk up to her and give her the bits.

Twilight guesses that Golden Valor thought, she would need some bits for thing that she and, Rainbow  would need at some point, and to show them he had faith in her.

“Now recruit Sparkle, I think I should tell you. That you lifted a warded iron block,” Golden Valor said.

Twilight find odd that it was so hard to get her magic around it, which means Golden Valor has faith in her. She wondered how Rainbow Dash was doing.

“Now that's out-of-the-way, Shield Caster your next!” Golden Valor said, “and don’t worry, you six we only have a six hours of this plan today.”

Twilight find herself hoping he means with breaks in between.

____________________________________________________________________

Rainbow Dash finds that Nightwind was very fast, luckily so was she. Nightwind came to a stop in front of ten other pegasi, who all wear the same simple armor as she, and Nightwind.

“Flight captain, we are ready for today drills, ma’am!” they said in unison.

“Good, Lightning Bolt would you be willing to race are new recruit?” Nightwind ask.

Rainbow Dash watched as, Lightning Bolt, a brown furred Pegasus, looked her up and down. “Yes, ma’am should be easy,” Lightning Bolt said, with pride.

“One time around the city then, and recruit Dash go easy  on him, it may hurt his pride when you win,” Nightwind said.

Rainbow and Lightning Bolt lined up, as the others watched, Rainbow could hear them, placing bets on who was going to win.

“Now should I have you go, on three, or five?” Nightwind said, ”you know what guess go!”

Rainbow take off, and find Lightning Bolt was keeping up. Rainbow find she could stay in the lead, but he was fast.

Ironhold was a little bigger than Canterlot, which means this isn't going to take long. She pulled ahead a little at a time.

She passed over the  northern part of the city, which mainly looked to be the training yard. She looked back to find Lightning was getting closer. So she flapped her wing faster.  She pulled farther and farther ahead.

She looked down to find that the eastern end of Ironhold was full of prizes and what look to be homes. There were a lot of ponies going about their day-to-day business. She looked back to find Lightning Bolt was falling further behind.

She then passed over the southern end of Ironhold which looked to be the where the upper class lived.  It may not be as grand as Canterlot, but that made it easy to tell who lived where.

Rainbow looked ahead to find Nightwind and the other waiting. She looked back to find Lightning Bolt, was now closing the distance, which made her flap her wing even harder. She was able to stay ahead, but if it had been a longer race, Lightning Bolt had by far more endurance, which  was most likely from all his years of training, Rainbow reasoned.

Rainbow win, but Lightning Bolt made it a few seconds later. “I underestimated  you recruit,” Lightning Bolt said, offering a hoof bump.

“Good work recruit Dash, I needed to make sure you would be able to keep up. I train us for speed and agility.” Nightwind said, smiling,”Now, go get your crossbows you two saddlebags, we are going to do laps around Ironhold till lunch, so try to stay at the same speed I’m going.”

Rainbow had notice that they all had been holding crossbows, or the fact they now had  saddlebag on. She then had a feeling that  this was going to be a very long day.

Rainbow met up with Twilight a few hours later in the mess hall. Twilight looked like she had trained just as hard as she had. “Twi, what they put you through?” Rainbow asks.

“Lifting big, warded, Iron blocks with magic, for two hours, but that's not the worst part we have another four hours of that after lunch,” Twilight said, tiredly, ”and you?”

“I can’t feel my wings, but we got target practice next,” Rainbow said, as Nightwind, and Golden Valor sat down next to them.

“So, Twilight is Golden Valor as boring as I think he is?” Nightwind ask.

Rainbow watched as Twilight looks over to them,”boring and out to work everypony to death,” Twilight said.

“I knew it!” Nightwind said, smiling.

“Oh, come on I’m sure Rainbow Dash, would say the same thing about you you,” Golden Valor said.

Rainbow thought about it, Nightwind work them hard, but did it in a fun way, They even pulled a prank on somepony, which involved putting their bed on top of a tower, Rainbow thought smiling.

“Well, Nightwind work's us hard, but boring doesn't come to mind,”  Rainbow said, as Nightwind held back a laugh.

“See I told you, training can be fun,” Nightwind said, playfully.

Rainbow watched as an earth pony stallion, walked up to them, and whispered something into Golden Valor ear. Then turned and left, which give Golden Valor worried look on his face.

“What is it?” Nightwind ask, to which she got no reply.

“Nightwind, Twilight, Rainbow if you excuse something has just come up,” Golden Valor said, getting to his hooves and quickly hurrying out of sight.

“What was that about?” Twilight asks.

“I don’t know…” Nightwind said, “but if he doesn’t tell me, it has to be something.”

Rainbow watched as Nightwind small disappeared and looked to be in thought. Rainbow then looked to Twilight how seemed to noted too.

__________________________________________________________________________

Twilight Find herself find after lunch, Golden Valor was waiting in the training yard, but the iron block were, gone, and in their place where wooden dummies. He had a very worried look on his face.

“Good you're all here we had a change of plans, combat spell training instead,” Golden Valor said,”recruit Sparklem do you know how to cast fireball?”

“Never tried to, but should be able to,” Twilight said, take note that  Golden Valor seemed different, he wasn’t level headed, like he had been earlier.

“Good, just remember the hotter the better,” he said, as Twilight lined up with the other.

“Now being!” Golden Valor commanded

Twilight’s horn lit up, as a ball of fire started to form. It was difficult for her to do, mainly because she had never used a spell like this before. She aimed at the dummy opposite her and cast the spell, but it only made a little burn mark.

“Bigger, and hotter! Recruit,” Golden Valor said.

Twilight tried again, this time it was easier, to form it. She wondered what was going on, as  she cast the next fireball. This one caused a bigger burn marks, which Twilight thought was a good improvement.

“I want to see that dummy bust into ashes recruit!” Golden Valor yelled.

Twilight ready another Fireball, this time putting a lot more magic into it, but before she cast it, she looked down the line to find the other had gone through two dummies already, and she hadn’t got one down yet.

She then cast the one the one she had prepared, this time the dummy bust into frames.

“Hotter recruit!” Golden Valor said.

”Try putting all your pinned up rage into it,”the legionnaire next to her suggested.

Twilight ready another fireball as, a new dummy was placed in front of her. This time putting all her rage into it. Then throw it at the new dummy, this time it explodes into white frames.

“Better recruit!” Golden Valor, said,”now again!”

This went on for hours, Twilight was exhausted by the time training was over. She finds she was starving, and finds the legionnaire  who give her advice earlier walking over to her.

“So, did my, suggested help?” he ask,”and the named Gloomy light.”

Gloomy Light, a dark brown furred, black maned, red-eye pony.

“Yes, very much,” Twilight said,”and thank.”

“Will you looked like you need some help, and when, Golden Valor gets like that it meads we have munching orders,”he said.

“Munching were?”Twilight asks.

“Don’t know, but wherever it is, it's not good. The fifth isn’t at full strong yet,” he said, glumly.

Twilight started to worry, she hadn’t even master the basics, or read any spell books yet, and they were already going to munch somewhere. She needs to study, but where did they keep the spell books.

“I need to study, where does the legion keep the spell books?” Twilight ask.

“We have some in the barracks, but before you go running off, you need to get some food.” he said,” and after that I’ll show you where they're at.”

“Thank you, Gloomy Light.” Twilight said, as she started for the mess hall for dinner.

Twilight find Rainbow Dash, talking with some other Pegasi. Twilight sat down next to Rainbow, who looked over at her.

“So how was your day Twi,” Rainbow asks.

“Exhausting, yours?” Twilight asks.

“Will at after the morning drills, pretty good. Oh, and these two are Lightning Bolt, and Aurora,” Rainbow said, “Lightning, Aurora, this is my good friend Twilight.”

“Nice to me you” Aurora said,” maybe Golden Valor will send you for some flight lessons.”

“Will she wouldn’t need to carry a crossbow, and good to meet you if anything like your friend, you're going to make one Tartarus of a legionary some day,” Lightning said.

“Will thank you, and nice to meet you both,” Twilight said, as she started to eat.

As twilight ate, she listens to the conversation, and find Rainbow was being her normal self. Twilight wounded how Rainbow could act normal, maybe the reality hasn’t sunk in yet. Twilight hoped then when it does  Rainbow will be able to handle it.

____________________________________________________________________________

Nightwind, find Golden valor, walking back and forth outside of the city walls, his blue mane was a mess, and he looked to be deep in thought. Nightwind had seen him look this before on many of night, but only when thing seem bad.

“You, going to tell me what's up?” Nightwind ask, kindly.

Golden Valor turned to face Nightwind,”the fifth has been ordered to Griffin's Bane,” Golden Valor said.

Nightwind knew that met the griffins were up to something, which meet that Golden Valor was preparing himself for the deaths of friends that would follow. Only Nightwind knew how much, ever legionnaire meant to him.

“Would you like me to stay?” Nightwind ask.

“No, go and get some sleep Nightwind, I’ll be fine,” he said.

Nightwind knew it was useless to try to talk to him like this, but at least he wasn't drinking.

“Well, if you need anything just come find me, ok,” Nightwind said, as she starts to fly back to the barracks, but then remember the prank she and her unit had pulled earlier, and made her way to the tower, to return Golden Valor bad to where it belongs.

It was a felt like a long flight to Nightwind, she knew that she was the only Golden Valor called a friend. Which is why she knew if she was killed, one day, he may very well fall, into a rage, or become like Rightful Order, Cold and angry.

He may act strong,  but others do notest, how he can get at times. Stormkiller, Shadow Strike, and a few in his unit knew the signs. Stormkiller, had seen many like Golden Valor, that's why she had asked Nightwind to make sure he don’t fall into madness, and if he did find a way to pull him back before it was too late.

Shadow Strike, on the other hoof, thought it would be a good idea, said something like he would be more ruthless. Nightwind had never liked Shadow Strike, he was a monster.

She remembers watching, him pulling the spine out of a diamond dog with his teeth, and watch it die in pain and agony, as he chewed on his spine in front of him. Nightwind thought she was going to be sick, and he even started to eat bits of the diamond dogs as he was dying.

She hopes that Golden Valor would never become like Shadow Strike, he was a caring centurion, who was always more than happy to lend a helping hoof. He may push the legionaries hard, but he does it to give them a fighting chance. She hoped that if he did fall into madness, and could be pulled back, Nightwind, hope she wouldn't live to see who far he would fall.