Diamond Tiara of The Royal Guard

Diamond Tiara blinked rapidly, trying to get the sleep from her eyes. She clenched her jaw shut, refusing to yawn in front of the other ponies, especially with Aura right beside her.

Yesterday, after settling in (which pretty much meant tossing the blanket and pillow on her cot then getting her shirt on), Diamond Tiara and the other recruit went out to the training field and met their instructor. A quick introduction ("I am the first, last, and only authority as far as you are concerned"), and brief explanation of what would be happening ("I will be pushing you until you pass out, puke, and finally quit! Most likely in that order. If you can make it through this, then maybe -- just maybe -- you won't be completely worthless as guards."), they got to spend the rest of the day running, doing jumping jacks, running, doing push-ups, running, climbing, and (oh joy) more running.

By the time they were finished, Diamond Tiara was so exhausted, that she barely made it to her cot before collapsing and passing out.

For what felt like two seconds.

The sound of a trumpet caused her to jump in surprise as she awoke, falling flank first onto the (cold) stone floor. After picking herself up, she did her best to run back out and fall into position.

And now, here she was: back outside on the training field. The sky was just starting to turn pink with the first light of the sun rising. They were up before the sun for crying out loud. There had to be some sort of law against that.

"Alright, you mud puddles," the drill sergeant called out. "Things are not going to be as easy around here as they were yesterday. It's time to get serious and begin to work hard."

Diamond Tiara's eyes went wide, all traces of sleep gone. Easy? What could they possibly be doing to make that seem easy?

"Today," the drill sergeant continued, "we start with... the obstacle course."

He motioned with a hoof, pointing toward the area in question.

"You will have to rely on speed, strength, and agility as you run, jump, climb, and crawl."

The cadets stood there, staring at the obstacle course. They could not see all of it if what they were being told was true.

"Get going!" the drill sergeant shouted. "Move! Move! Move!"

With that, they ran for the course and started trying to make their way through it. Obstacle by obstacle they ran, stepping through tires, weaving around pillars, crossing narrow beams and bridges. They swung from ropes, climbed walls, and crawled through mud.

As they worked to run the course, the ponies started to separate as some moved faster than others. While Diamond Tiara was by no means one of the first, she was also not last.

Unfortunately -- annoyingly -- Aura was right behind her. Every time she looked back, Diamond Tiara saw the other mare glaring at her. The sight brought a smirk to her face.

Reaching a field of barbed wire, Diamond Tiara stopped, staring at it. Barbed wire? Why in Equestria would they have that out here? They could not seriously be expecting her to make her way through that, could they?

"HA!" Aura shouted as she ran past. "I knew you weren't made for this." Aura only stopped long enough to drop to her stomach. She looked back to give one last smirk before crawling under the wires.

Diamond Tiara's ears pinned back against her head as she glared at the other mare, a low growl emanating from deep in her throat. Lowering herself as far as she could, she moved forward. Her eyes kept glancing up at the barbed wire as she got closer, worrying that it would dig into and scratch her.

Crawling on her stomach through dirt with razor sharp barbs above her was not something Diamond Tiara imagined that she would ever do. Now she had to just make sure to keep low. She could do this, right?

Aura looked back and grinned as she saw Diamond Tiara crawling after her. She continued forward, slowing down to let Tiara catch up some. Her eyes scanned the way ahead of her, stopping when she saw what she was looking for: one of the sticks supporting the wires above them. Aura moved a little further so it was behind her and stopped, looking back to check on Diamond Tiara.

Satisfied, Aura gave a swift, hard kick with her leg. There was a faint crack as her hoof broke the piece of wood, causing it to collapse. The wires behind her dropped, pressing against Diamond Tiara.

Aura grinned to herself as she continued to crawl. Admittedly, it was not the fairest thing to do. All of the other ponies behind her would be stuck as well, not just Diamond Tiara. Still, it was worth it.

With a wink and a kiss, she continued on.

Diamond Tiara let out a gasp as she felt the wires fall on top of her. There was a stinging sensation in her back as barbs of metal pressed into her.

Jaw clenching, she glared at Aura and growled. She pulled herself forward, wincing as she felt the metal barbs running across her back and sides. Doing her best to ignore the pain, Diamond Tiara continued to pull and crawl, working to make her way out of the field of wire.

Once out, she gave a quick look back, and was surprised. One of the other ponies was pushing up, allowing the others to crawl past the collapsed point without the risk of getting stuck or scratched up.

After a quick shake of her head, Diamond Tiara continued on. Soon, she reached the end and moved to line up with the others, panting from the exertion.

Once all the recruits had finished the course and lined up, the drill sergeant blew his whistle.

"Aura," he called out, "Tiara, Ward, front and center."

The three ponies in question did as they were told, stepping out of line and moving forward. They moved to stand side by side. From the corner of her eye, Diamond Tiara recognized the third pony joining them. It was the pony that had held up the wire for the others.

The drill sergeant walked in front of them, stopping to glare at Aura.

"What the hay do you think you were doing?" he shouted, almost getting into Aura's face. "I saw that stunt you pulled back there. Did you really think you could get away with pulling that?"

Aura winced and cowered but did not say anything.

"Your fellow guards are supposed to be able to trust and rely on you in life or death situations," the sergeant continued. "Doing something like that will make it so they can't trust you. Fortunately for them, if you try something like that again, they won't have to worry about you doing it a third time. Because I will personally kick your worthless flank out. Understood?"

"...yes, Drill Sergeant," Aura squeaked out, ears pulled back and eyes wide.

"Since you enjoyed the obstacle course so much," the sergeant stated, "then you wouldn't mind doing it again. Move it! Move it! Move it!"

Aura jumped and ran off, heading to the obstacle course to go through the whole thing again. Diamond Tiara wondered how she was going to deal with the barbed wire section.

The thought was forgotten as soon as the drill sergeant turned his gaze onto her.

"As for you," he said in a calmer tone, "you left the others behind you to deal with the situation on their own. One of the rules in the guard is 'no pony left behind.' You could have simply pushed upwards and given your fellow guards the opportunity to make it through."

Diamond Tiara cringed at the statement, but said nothing.

"Twenty push-ups," the drill sergeant stated.

"Yes, Drill Sergeant," Diamond Tiara said in a loud clear voice. She then moved into the position and started to do her first push-up.

The drill sergeant watched her do the first one, then turned to the last one.

"You actually did just that. Putting the rest of the recruits ahead of yourself. That is exactly the kind of ponies we want."

Ward smiled at the praise.

"Head to the infirmary to make sure none of those scratches get infected."

"Yes, Drill Sergeant."

After Ward left, the sergeant turned to the other ponies in line.

"Any others that are cut do the same. As for the rest of you, breakfast should be ready. I expect all of you back here in half an hour. Understood."

"Yes, Drill Sergeant!" they all called out as one.

"Dismissed."

Diamond Tiara watched the others head off to eat, while she continued to do push-ups.