Over the Hills and Far Away

Chapter 2

Recruit Midnight Sky felt tired and sore, as he did his best to stand at attention in the middle of the parade ground. For the past week, they have been doing nothing but march, march, and march. From Manehattan, he and the other recruits marched all across the countryside, through the dirt roads that crisscrossed the country, towards their designated training camp, Camp Horseshoe, which was located at the outskirts of Baltimare. Although Midnight knew that the army would push them to their limits, he never expected them to do it so soon. He thought that they would go easy on them on the first week, but instead, they marched the new recruits to the camp, instead of taking the train that could bring them there in a quicker amount of time. At least they stood through to the promise of feeding them, although the food needed a little more improvement. Maybe a little more spices?

Now he stood there, with two hundred other recruits, waiting for further orders. The ponies were still tired and weary from the long march, having just finished a night march so that they would arrive at the camp before dawn. They felt their muscles ache, and eyes close, as the long march started to take its toll.

Midnight felt the same thing, but tried to ignore it all and instead focus on other things. If he distracted his mind from the aching pain, then he might be able to remove the feeling from his mind. Mind over matter, they would always say. So he began to look around at anything that would bring his mind away from his tired body.

Glancing towards the far-off bay, Midnight could see the busy ports of Baltimare, as large wooden vessels plowed through the water. Being the second most important port, next to Manehattan, Baltimare was always bustling with ships carrying good to and from faraway lands. The Camp was strategically located on a large plateau that over looked the bay, giving it a dominating presence in the area. This also gave him of a good view of the ships, as they went there way.

One of them, a large two decked ship of the navy, moved close by, its sails ready to take it out of the bay and out to the ocean. Even from a distance, the ship looked big and powerful. With its wooden hull and powerful weapons, it could take on ships that got in its way. While its large sails provide speed for attack and retreat.

The Equestrian navy was known to have the most powerful fleet in the world, as it protected trading ports that were essential for Equestrian commerce. Thousands of ships, bearing the Equestrian naval jack, sailed the oceans, protecting ships that belonged to their nation.

Ships that contained vital goods that would be sold in the mainland once they arrived. The goods cost thousands upon thousands of bits, so it was crucial to protect them, especially from raiders. Many ships have been raided of its contents before and sold in the black market, depriving Equestria of its profit. So it was the job of the navy to send ships and protect them at all cost.

As Midnight watched the ship move through the bay, he began to wonder about its destination. Would it patrol the Equestrian coast, protecting the borders from intruders or would it sail to a foreign port and guard the trade routes? The answer to the question would only be known to the Captain of the ship, as he would read their orders and make the necessary adjustments to their course.

But that was none of his business. What the navy did was up to them, while the army was stuck to the ground.

He removed his gaze from the ship and glanced around the camp, just as a large white earth pony marched towards them. Unlike the recruits who were in the camp, the earth pony wore the golden armor of the army. Polished to perfection, the armor reflected the sun’s rays, making it glint as he marched towards them. From what Midnight could see, the pony seemed to be old as his fur looked ragged, showing that he has been in the army for a long time. But despite his age and state, he marched with perfection.

He moved with quick precision towards them, as he kept a straight look on his face. Every single recruit from Midnight’s group seemed to be staring at this new pony, as he approached them.

Once in front of them, the pony stood tall and still. His head did not move, but his eyes scanned them all. Moving left and right, he sized them up, focusing his eyes on all of them. An expression of disgust filled his face as he looked at the rag tag group of ponies. With disorganized lines and sloppy postures, one would think that this was a line from a hospital ward rather than volunteers for the army.

“What in the name of our gracious sun goddess am I looking at?” He bellowed, as anger replaced the disgusted look on his face. He stomped his hoof on the ground with so much force, that Midnight thought it could have caused an earthquake.

“Is this what you call a line?” He said, moving across it. “Because this looks like connect the dots! Do you have a gigantic pen for me, so that I could fix this mess up?”

He then spit at the recruit nearest to him, as he stood at the center of the line. In the presence of the large soldier, the recruit who was hit by the spit stood still, not wanting to known on what would happen if he reacted.

“Train one more batch, Sergeant. You’re so good at it that you won’t have a problem training them.” He said, trying to do a mocking impression of, what Midnight guessed, his commanding officer. Shaking his head, he glanced at the recruits, who were trying to do their best in hiding their fear.

“Alright, listen up.” He said, shouting so that everpony could hear. “My name is Master Sergeant Rock…”

The Sergeant was cut off when a short chuckle came from the rear of the line. Some brave soul decided to express his feeling, braving the possible consequences. The Sergeant glanced towards the sound, his eyes focusing on that direction, but found nopony laughing.

Squinting his eyes, he let out a growl.

“So, you think it’s funny? To have a name like rock? Do you!”

“N…No…Sergeant.” A recruit near him said, shaking in fear from the presence of the large earth pony.

“Well somepony here does.” The Sgt. Rock retorted, as he glared at all of them. “But you know who doesn’t agree with you? No? Well I’ll tell you. Col. Silent Dawn, the one who gave me this name. So unless you have any complaints against the Colonel’s decision, I suggest you keep your mouth shut!”

Nopony replied, as expected. “Good…” Sgt. Rock said, as he nodded to himself. “It is good that we have an understanding. Now where was I? Oh yes.” He began to pace in front of them, going back and forth as he looked at each pony in the front row. He stared directly at their eyes, as the ponies felt he was staring at their souls.

“I am here to train you, like every other drill sergeant in this camp. The ‘47th’’‘needs soldiers and you are the sorry excuse we get. So I get the best job in the world, to train raw recruits like you.” He said, adding sarcasm to the last line.

“But don’t you worry…” He said, now moving in front of Midnight before turning towards him. “…because I’m going to train wimps like you…” He said, pressing his hoof on Midnight’s chest. “…into real fighting soldiers.”

He then continued his movement along the line, leaving Midnight who had his pride damaged. Ponies called him a lot of thing, but never a wimp. Now, to be called one, in front of two hundred recruits, was a complete embarrassment.

But he was not going to let that bring him down.

He was told that drill sergeant we’re cruel, but it was just part of an act. They were meant to be like that, so that they could toughen then recruits and make them follow orders. He may act like that to them at the start, but sooner or later they would soften up. Or at least he hoped…

Midnight sat on top of a soft bed, as he looked around the white room. With its color and bright lights, the room looked very hygienic and clean. Which it should be, since it was acting as one, of many, checkup rooms that were dedicated to inspecting the health of the new recruits. Medical instruments were piled on one table and charts and papers pilled on another, as the doctor went through the files, looking for his name.

Like most of the officials and officers in the camp, the doctor was a unicorn. Not that he had anything against it, since he didn’t care what race his officer or superior was. Although it did feel odd to see that most of the high ranks were occupied by magic wielding ponies.

“Ah, here it is.” The Doctor said. “Midnight Sky, right.”

“Yes, sir.” He said, nodding and straightening up. From the sign he saw in front of the room, the doctor had the rank of captain and so he should treat him as such.

“Oh, no need for that….” He said, waving it off. Reserve that for your drill Sergeant. Please, just call me Doc.”

“Yes, si…I mean, Doc.” He said, almost making the mistake.

The Doctor smiled, as he approached Midnight and levitated the file in front of him. “Now, this is your medical file. Every checkup that you have to go through would be written here. All medical injuries would also be written down as we keep track of your health. Everypony in the military has one, so there is nothing special about it.” He said, before putting it down on the nearby table.

“So, let’s start with the basics. Have you encountered any medical injury before?” He asked, in a friendly tone.

“Well, no…I don’t think so….”He said, trying to remember every injury he has been through. Although he was bruised up many times, in the fights he has been through, he hardly thought that it was worth mentioning. But there was one thing that might be considered as a medical injury. Something that brought embarrassment to his inner pegasus. The problem that deprived him of his dreams and left him stranded on the ground. “Well…there is something that might be considered as a medical injury.”

“Let me guess, a broken bone? I know you pegasi have the habit of crashing and tend to brake your bones because of that. Don’t ask me how I know; I have conducted a thousand checkups on pegasi by now.” He said, picking up a quill and scribbling it down on the file, expecting that his guess was correct.

“Actually no. In fact, I would have had that, instead of what I have now.”

The Doctor gave him a puzzled look, as he moved the quill away from the file. “What do you mean?”

“Well you see…” Midnight said, feeling ashamed to reveal his disability. He shuffled his hooves on the bed, not knowing if he would have the strength to reveal it. To have the fact known and listed on a file was just nerve racking, but he knew that he had to say it. “…I…I can’t fly…”

“What now?” The Doctor said, moving closer to him. “For a second there, I thought you said that you can’t fly. But of course that’s preposterous, seeing that you’re a pegasus…”

Midnight cut the doctor off, as he looked at him with a straight face. “No, Doc, you heard me right. I can’t fly.  It’s a disability that has been haunting me since birth.”

The expression on the Doctor’s face turned to a frown, as he knew that the pegasus was serious. No pegasus would joke like something like that, since flight was something precious to them. Like magic to unicorns, flight was unique to their race alone.

“So, you’re serious. No joking around here?” He said, clarifying what Midnight has said.

Midnight only nodded in reply.

“Well…” The Doctor said, moving towards the file once more, lifting it and the quill. “…you know I have to write this down. It’s part of procedure. Umm…uhhh, who’s your drill instructor?” He asked, confusing Midnight. Why did he want to know why his drill instructor?

“Sgt. Rock.” He said plainly.

“Oh, you poor pony…” The Doc muttered loud enough for Midnight to hear. This worried him, as he wanted to know what was wrong.

“What do you mean?” He asked, worry still in him .Sure, Sgt. Rock looked bad at first, but he isn’t that terrible, right?

“I’m sorry to tell you this, but Sgt. Rock isn’t the nicest of ponies. He likes to pick on the weakest and try to root them out. Just like clearing a garden of weed. Well, this disability of yours, no offence, is going to catch his eyes. This would make him pick on you more, he likes doing that to ponies that he consider weak. In other words, he’s going to make your life here feel like Tartarus.”

“All because of a small disability!” Midnight exclaimed, shocked from what he just heard.

“Yup.” The Doctor said nodding. “Our Camp Psychologist tried to tell the commander about this, saying that the Sergeant isn’t the sanest pony. He thrives on inflicting pain on others. It’s like a guilty pleasure for him. You would think that a report from the Camp Psychologist is enough to remove him. But with his ability to train the best soldiers and his connections, seeing that his mother is a member of the Royal Guard, it is basically impossible for him to be kicked out of the army. Luckily for the future batch, your group is the last group he would train, before transferring to another unit, something about him being bored of training troops.”

“So you’re telling me that I am basically doomed.” Midnight clarified.

“Yeah…” The Doctor said. “…just like that unicorn, all those years before. She was just like you, only difference was the fact that she couldn’t cast magic. That poor pony decided to take her life instead of spend another day under Sgt. Rock. Well, with any luck, you won’t end up the same way she did. Now then, let’s continue the rest of this checkup.”

Midnight nodded and went through the rest of the checkup. But as he did, the words of the Doctor continued to circulate in his head. If he was right, then Sgt. Rock would not only make fun of him, but also hurt him physically. All because he couldn’t fly! You didn’t need to be a psychologist to figure out that there was something wrong with that pony.

Lying down on top of his cot, Midnight Sky felt warm and comfortable embrace of his blanket, as he relieved his tired muscles on the mattress underneath him. Despite it being stiff and as comfortable as a bed of leaves, the bed and blanket was a big upgrade compared to his old sleeping quarters, which was nothing more than a carpet laid on the cold stone of an alley. At least here he had a blanket to keep him warm and wall to prevent the night breeze from freezing him as he slept.

Sighing in sheer happiness, Midnight looked up to see the wooden ceiling of his barracks. Everything that has happened so far was great and he couldn’t believe that he hadn’t thought of this sooner. Joining the army was, by far, the best idea he had thought of.

So far, the army has done nothing but treat him well, feeding him with plenty of food when he was hungry,  providing him a bed to sleep on, giving him a blanket to keep him warm through the night. With all of this being given to him, it was already a hundred times better than the orphanage, where they were barely fed and were told to sleep inside cramped rooms that were filled with orphaned fillies and colts.

Remembering those terrible conditions brought a shiver through his spine, as he shifted himself so that he could cover himself with his blanket. The orphanage was a nightmare, something that he didn’t want to return to.

But at least he could now put it all behind him, as he was now a recruit in the army. An army that seemed to have treated them all well. From the smiling and happy faces he saw in the mess hall earlier that night, he could tell that he wasn’t the only one enjoying his stay here.

Most of the ponies with him were the ones who lived in poverty and starvation, where their homes were nothing more than rags knitted together, where food was anything they can pick up from the trash and beg for.

Ponies like him, who were desperate for a real home, a home that would accept them. They have lived for a long time, trying to find that place, but now they have found it.

Now they were in the army, a place that accepted them with open hooves and, so far, has treated them with all their basic needs. Aside from the loud and forceful sermon Sgt. Rock has given them earlier, reminding them that this was no paradise, their first day at Camp Horseshoe seemed like the dreams of many, where nopony grew hungry or cold.

The ghostly warning of the Doctor was still echoing in his mind, but he chose to ignore them and forget it all. A couple of insults towards him would not break him down and stop him, as he could see more benefits in staying here, a place where the poor can live a life they always yearned for, than leaving and going back to the alleys.

Here everypony was equal, with nopony being left out from anything. If the pony beside Midnight received soup, then Midnight would receive soup, if the pony in front of him received uniform, then Midnight received a uniform too.

This thought made him happy, seeing that he would not be left out from what was being given. Jealousy would almost be nonexistent to him, as what everypony had, he will have also. There would be no need for stealing, as everything he needed to keep warm and alive would be provided to him.

With all of this in mind, Midnight relaxed and laid his head on his pillow, closing his eyes and waiting for sleep to fall upon him. He could relax and fell safe now, as he would have no need to fear the cold or his safety.

For he wasn’t in an alley nor in a cramped orphanage anymore. For he wasn’t in a place where he had to worry about tomorrow and the struggles of starvation. For he was now in the army, a recruit and it newest member.

He was now in his new home, a real home.