The Path of a Guardian

Astral Will awoke with a start, the train whistle blaring loudly in his ears.  The dim light of dawn was rising over the hills to the east, slowly casting the countryside with an amber glow.

I knew I should've gotten a place in the sleeper.  Astral stretched, he really only had enough bits for a second class seat on the train.

He yawned and looked out the window as the country quickly sped past.  What a strange dream...

To him it had felt so real, the dragon, the fire.  He had never experienced something so livid and he was right in the middle of it.  His stomach turned with the thought of the intense combat that was around him.  I was even a paratrooper.  It was almost as if he had populated the battle, the world that he had just seen.

The train's destination was the esteemed Fort Hoovington where the military of Equestria and many other regions trained their soldiers.  He was both looking forward to arriving and dreading it at the same time.

"Whats with the long face Will?"  His friend, Steel Eye sat down in the seat opposite to him.  He was a bronze colored earth pony with a longer, but well kept tan mane and tail.

Astral sighed, "Just had a weird dream."

Steel chuckled, "Oh come on, a dream can't really get you that down can it?"

If only you knew.  Astral smiled and stretched once more, attempting to get all the kinks out.

"So when do we get there?"  He once again felt the sense of excitement for this new journey.

Steel Eye shrugged, "The conductor said a few hours."

Astral nodded, "Well, I need to get ready, I don't want to rush to get my uniform on."  He grabbed the duffle bag that was above his head and proceeded towards the bathroom.

He pulled the things he needed to clean up, this being a toothbrush and the uniform he was given.  He looked in the mirror, his mane looked horrifying, but his coat didn't need that much work.  He kept his navy mane tidy usually, but the rough sleep hadn't helped with this.  Thankfully it was rather short so he could quickly fix it with some water and a brush.  His tail took about the same amount of work.

By the time he had finished cleaning up the sun was in full view.  Steel Eye was in the same place when Astral left, but now was looking out the window.  He sat down with a plop and patiently waited, now the mountains were in full view.  The tall peaks looked spectacular against the golden light of dawn, seeming like magnificent giants to him.

"We will be arriving at Fort Hoovington in two hours, I repeat two hours."

Almost as if on queue with the conductor the train sped faster towards the mountain range.  The flat, green countryside quickly turned into sharp cliffs and deep valleys.  He couldn't believe how much space was left untouched by civilization, the train tracks must've been the only sign of ponies for miles.

Wonder why they wanted to place a fort so far away from anything?  More and more questions popped into Astral's mind as the train sped on and on.

"Alright rookies listen up!"  A large earth pony stood at the doorway to their carriage.  He had a thick frame and a scar running down from his chin to the base of his neck.

Astral and Steel Eye looked at him expectantly, along with every other recruit in the car.

"When we arrive you all will be unloaded at the station, from there you will be moved to the main complex. Princess Luna will speak to you and then you will choose what division you want to be apart of.  Once you are finished picking your division you will be assigned to a squad and barracks."  All of the recruits on board nodded in understanding.

"Then I'm finished here, return to what you were doing, we will be there in an hour."  With that the instructor left the carriage.

Steel Eye snorted once he left, "Didn't he just tell us what we already know?"

"It never hurts to be reminded."  Astral could feel anticipation boiling in him, in reality he couldn't wait to finally get to the academy.

***

Before Astral knew it they were unloading their things and stepping out onto the platform.  He had his bags over his back and was ready to begin his life at Fort Hoovington.

"Alright recruits, over here!"  It was the same brown earth pony, he was standing towards where the platform ended.

Everypony gathered around him quickly, ready for anything.

"As I told you previously you will be heading out from here and to the main hall.  An instructor will guide you to the auditorium when we get there.  So follow me if you don't want to get lost."  He then turned around and walked at a swift pace out of the station.

Astral quickly followed the earth pony, he wanted to know everything he could about this place, but he didn't really want to get lost.

The main hall wasn't that hard to spot, it was easily the largest building at Fort Hoovington.  It overlooked the training grounds where many of the students and instructors were working.  Astral couldn't believe what he was seeing, he hadn't really any other race besides ponies.  Here there were ponies, dragons, and even griffons training all around the field.

"Keep up recruits!"  The earth pony was already at the steps to the hall and Astral was still on the other side of the field.

He sprinted around the large training area to catch up with his group and fell back in beside Steel Eye.

"Sightseeing are we?"  Steel chuckled.

Astral felt embarrassed, so he dipped his head lower.  "Lets keep going."

Another pony, a pegasus this time, guided them into the spacious auditorium.  "Sit in the lower rows."

Astral sat third row from the front and dead center, he hadn't ever seen, let alone heard a princess.  It took about a minute for all the new trainees to be seated, the two instructors had moved to the front.  Astral waited in anticipation, he still couldn't believe he was here.

He wasn't really the smartest stallion, nor the strongest.  He had only really managed to get his application accepted because he ground out so many hours in school to maintain good grades.  He had heard they rejected most of the applications they receive, but from what he saw, and the fact Steel Eye managed to get in with him, he would say it was a vicious rumor.  Perhaps something to scare away students from coming?

"Princess Luna will be with you all shortly."  The two instructors then left the room.

They sat for a few minutes, waiting for the Princess to show, but nopony came.

Somepony behind him spoke up, "What a lame princess, can't even show up on time."  A murmuring then stirred through their ranks.

The class in itself was large from Astral's point of view, perhaps more than one hundred and fifty were behind him and around him.  Eventually it grew into talking and gossiping, like they were all in high school again.  Well, some ponies have a short attention span.

He almost felt anger towards them, the Princess was the general of the academy, she probably had much better things to do than welcome new recruits.  Something she does every year.

Suddenly the auditorium lights grew darker and the screen lit up in front of them.  He looked to see the Princess on the screen, but it wasn't her.

The film was what seemed to be a propaganda video, many of the shots showing valiant military ponies standing in front of their airships.  Others were simply of the airships.

Eventually the video ended and the room returned to its dim glow.  What surprised him was the fact Princess Luna was standing on the platform now, he wasn't even aware of her coming in.

"Welcome to Fort Hoovington recruits."   Luna's smile was small and her voice was serene.

Immediately all of the murmurings ceased and their eyes drew in on the Princess.  She stood quietly until she was sure she had their undivided attention.

"You should be proud that you have made this step, becoming a part of Equestria's greatest defense.  But this isn't anywhere close to the final step.  Here you will face challenges from not just your instructors, your squad leaders, even myself, but you will also face the challenges of the wilderness."

Wilderness?  Out of the corner of his eye he could see a stallion raise his hoof.

Princess Luna looked at the stallion, "Yes?"

"What do you mean by the wilderness Princess?"  Well, at least I didn't have to ask.

Luna looked out over the class, "During your time here you will go through a series of test to evaluate how capable you are as a soldier.  One of these tests involve surviving a month alone, in the wilderness."

Many of the ponies seemed surprised, if not terrified by this.

Luna looked towards the back of the room, "I need to be going recruits, welcome to Fort Hoovington."  She then quickly walked of the stage and out of the room.

The two instructors then returned to the stage, "Alright, who's hungry?"

***

Astral sat down at one of the many tables in the mess hall, there were whole swaths of different species in the large room.  He had only grabbed a few apples and some cider, he didn't really feel that hungry.  He munched on the apples slowly, they were extremely crisp and sweet, the cider spread warmth down through his body.  Refreshing.

His friend sat across from him, he had half of the cafeteria on his tray.  He began to gorge on his feast leaving Astral wondering how in the hell he could fit so much down his gullet at one time.  Before he knew it Steel Eye was done and sat back to belch.  "Never had that cooking that good since I left home."

Astral rolled his eyes, "Yeah, which was only three days ago."

Steel looked at him, feigning being hurt.  "One can never get tired of cooking from home."

Astral chuckled and finished his last few apples, he could see an instructor walking up on a platform out of the corner of his eye.

"Recruits, listen up!"  This instructor was a pegasus and a mare at that.

It took only a few seconds for the cafeteria to quiet down for the mare to speak.  "In the next few minutes you all will be called down to the drafting field.  This will be where you choose what branch of our military you wish to pursue here at the academy."

Five ponies walked up onto the platform and stood beside the instructor.

"There are five branches that you may choose from here at Fort Hoovington, each having its own unique challenges and talents."

Now everypony in the mess hall grew quiet, Astral could feel the excitement oozing out of each and every one of them.

"The first branch is the Recon Division.  They are in charge of discovering new lands beyond the borders of the known edges of the map."  This piqued the interest of several pegasi.

"The second is the Magic Division.  This is obviously a unicorn exclusive branch, along with dragons.  You will hone your skills in the art of magic so that you can defend your fellow pony and provide assistance to those who are injured."  Most if not all of the unicorns murmured in excitement.

"The third is known as the Artillery Division.  As the name suggests, you will be operating the heavy guns aboard the airships and naval ships.  Your roles are key to winning battles, without our artillery we are nothing but sitting ducks."

"The fourth is the Naval Division.  Ponies that pursue this branch will learn the importance of navigation and being able to keep a ship on course, be that naval or aerial."

Astral couldn't wait for the final option, considering he had already picked before he even got to the fort.

"The fifth and final option is the Paratrooper Division.  This would be considered by most standards the toughest division that we have here at the academy.  You will have to learn skills not only unique to your division, but as well as all others.  The paratroopers are the elite force of Equestria."

Most of the ponies nodded, almost all of them had decided which branch they wanted to join.  Once again they were led from the mess hall and into nearby room.  The five ponies that stood beside the instructor each had a portion of the room, signs labeled which branch they represented.

It wasn't really a mad rush to get to your place, there wasn't a maximum population on each branch, but it still felt like hours for Astral and Steel to get to the Paratrooper section.  A mare represented the Paratroopers, she was small in frame, but looked extremely sturdy.  She looked at the two with an extremely critical eye.

She grunted to them, "Get in line."

Astral felt a little disgruntled by her gruffness, but nonetheless excited.

Many of the pegasus that were in his class joined the Recon Division.  The same went with the unicorns in regards to the Magic Division.  The Artillery Division was small in number, but each of them were strong looking earth ponies.  Navigation even got a fair share of all three races.  Finally it came down to the Paratroopers, which number a whopping fifteen, eight stallions and seven mares.

Before anypony could speak the captain, for that is what Astral assumed she was, began to walk out of the building.  The new paratroopers looked at each other with confusion, not sure whether to follow her or not.  Quickly they gathered their wits and followed their captain out of the main hall.

***

The group followed the captain out towards the airfield that was close by.  Many airships of all sizes were docked, leaving, and arriving to the busy fort.  He could see massive battleships, with large cannon batteries and ballistas, but then see smaller scout craft.  In short he was amazed, he had only seen the airships from the ground back at his home.

"Alright recruits, that beauty is going to to be our ride today."  The captain pointed towards one of the smaller airships, the word Hummingbird was painted on the side.

He could hear one of the stallions snort, "Some warship that is."

Immediately the captain turned around, a fire burning in her eyes.  "And why would I trust you on one of our battleships, some green nose recruit that would sooner press a button than knows what it does."

Astral almost snorted at the stallion's expression now, it quickly went from cocky to downright furious.  Probably some pompous windbag from Canterlot.

He heard his friend speak up, "Ma'am, are there any weapons on the Hummingbird?"

The captain continued on, but still shook her head.  "You all will learn about weapons in due time, but first you have to know how to operate and maintenance an airship of your own."

Did I hear that right?

One of the mares voiced his thoughts, "The Hummingbird is ours?"

They finally arrived at ramp to the Hummingbird, the captain nodded.  "Every class the Paratroopers had always started with their own airship, it teaches responsibility and allows you to familiarize with the machinery."

Before anypony could ask more questions the captain spoke again, "I am Captain Wind Fury, I failed to introduce myself to you all at the orientation.  I will be your instructor and obviously your captain as you progress through the academy.  That is if you don't drop out anyway, or get killed."  The last comment made Astral feel uneasy.  Is that some kind of sick joke?

Still Wind Fury continued on, and caused Astral's stomach to turn.  "Now, who wants to jump out of a perfectly good airship?"  A wicked gleam sparked in her eyes.