Silence- A Soldier's Journey In Equestria

The sound of the Reveille call echoed through the halls of the castle guard wing, filling it with the lively sound of the trumpets call alongside the groans of new recruits who were not yet accustomed to rousing at such an hour. I grinned, missing the sound of a trumpet in the early morning, it has a strange effect you see, it invigorates you and forces you awake. There was no denying the call of the trumpet, a minute or so of the call was enough to wake you as the bugler strolled through the halls. By the time I was dressed, a pony in purple trimmed guard armour. "You must be Captain Armour, right?" I said, shaking the hoof of the fellow officer standing in my doorway. "I'm Captain Parker, your new recruit" I joked.

"You're gonna stick out like a sore thumb Parker, I'll tell you that much. But I reckon we can work around it... How about foreign exchange program?" He asks, sweeping his protruding mane back under his helmet.

"Sounds good, should hold up for now, although someone is bound to rumble it sooner or later. I'd like you to treat me like any other recruit while I'm training, don't need any favouritism making it easier. Well, if you can... You could make it harder for me if possible." I say, knowing that what they had in store was nothing compared to selection.

"Are you sure?" He asks, tilting his head."guard training isn't exactly a cake walk" he laughs.

"We'll see about that 'sir' " I joked. "Well, let's go get some scran before the day starts"

"Scran? ...Oh, you mean breakfast!" Shining stated, leading me out the room and towards the sound of conversation and the clinking of cutlery. " Once you're done, follow the rest of the recruits towards the parade square, I assume you know how to perform drill?"

"Basis of every good army is skills and drills sir, of course I know how to march"I said, taking off my tan beret and placing my webbing on one of the hooks outside the mess hall. I ensured my sidearm was secure before entering the bustling room.

The entrie mess hall fell silent as I entered the room, some of the guards tensing up as they spotted me. "Listen in!" Shining ordered. " this is recruit Parker, he's the new exchange recruit and expect you all treat him just like any other recruit" a small amount of whispering and murmurs waved across the room." I know, he may look different , but he's one of his country's best soldiers" he explained.

"I expect no special treatment from you gentlemen, I may sound like a Rupert, but I assure you, I am a trooper. You won't hear me complaining over a bit of dirt on my kit or a paper cut. I don't expect your respect and I don't expect you to like me, all that must be earned. Just treat me like any other pony and we'll get along just fine." I stated, at this everyone sat down and finished their breakfast, with myself following the recruits out onto the drill square at the front of the castle after collecting my webbing and replacing my beret.

The castles towering gold and white spires loomed over our postition, myself and the other recruits standing waiting for whoever was running the training.

The sound of heavy hoof steps alerted me to a guard with three chevrons stamped into his armour, this must have been the Sergeant in charge of training. " Gentleponies, I'm your training sergeant for the next few weeks. I will be your parent during this training, any problems, you come to me!" He trotted up to where I stood at attention. "And what's your lanky ass supposed to be, a hairless ape?!" He exclaimed, causing a bout of giggles from the other recruits.

"No sergeant, I'm a human, just a bit better than an ape sergeant" I claimed, prompting a small grin from small pony in front of me.

"We'll see about that recruit" he steps back and addresses the rest of the recruits."As Recruit Parker has kindly demonstrated, you will reply to me with only yes sergeant, no sergeant and end your sentences with sergeant." He grins. "Today, we will be testing your limits. To see how far you are willing to push yourself" he turns to the small band arriving from around the corner. " before we start, I'm going to see how patriotic you really are. Parker?"

"Yes sergeant?" I replied.

"Does your country have a national anthem?" He asks, gesturing to the band behind him.

"Of course, why sergeant?" I ask, wondering where this was going.

"I'd like you to sing it after we finish the Equestrian national anthem." He states " We can't expect you to sing our own, you don't know it and you certainly aren't a citizen of Equestria, so you can sing your own, might enlighten us" he joked.

And so they began, the band beginning a light hearted tune, the lyrics mentioning the princesses, some god named Foust and their allegiance to harmony and Equestria. When the anthem ceased, I looked around, slightly unimpressed by the almost girly anthem. The ponies seemed proud, the sergeant looking at me expecting me to start.

I took a breath as the band started the British National Anthem , before I started singing I wondered how the band knew what to play but ignored it, focusing on the Anthem.

I sung my heart out, bringing tears from both myself and even some of the other recruits, my voice quaking with the loss of my home, the place I had protected with my life. " Thank you Recruit Parker, that seemed like a rather heartfelt anthem, you even used music magic" the sergeant stated, chuckling slightly, I wondered if he meant the band? They seemed to magically know exactly what to play and were all unicorns like Captain Armour.

'speak of the devil' I thought as Shining trotted around the corner, the sergeant snapping up a crisp salute towards his superior as I returned to the position of attention. Shining returned to the salute "Thank you sergeant Dawn Shield, I'll be taking over from here. Report to the Armoury, the Quartermaster has your new wing blades" he said, poking the sergeant's wing.

" Thanks sir, been waiting for them for a while" the Pegasus stated, leaving the drill square back towards the castle.

"Ok recruits, lets begin with a gallop and we'll go from there!" the officer shouted, leading us off the drill square and onto a running track leading onto the mountain. "this track leads down to the guard depot on the outskirts of the Whitetail Forests, once we arrive you will be briefed on the rest of today's training. A word of warning, DO NOT, stray from the path! It may not be the Everfree, but Whitetail is still a dangerous place for any civilian. Is that understood!?"

"Yes Sir!" came a chorus of replies.

And so we ran...