Dear Cadance,

I love this place! The weather’s really nice here on the other side of the mountains—it’s sunny almost every day, and the nights are just cool enough that you can go out and watch the stars for hours. And, as an officer, I get my own room! No more sleeping on cots with dozens of other ponies who all need a shower!

I took Battering Ram’s advice and checked out the House of the Phoenix. It’s within walking distance of the fort, and it’s a great place; kinda small, but a lot of NCOs and officers hang out there. The bartender is this old retired Army colonel, and he’s always got some really interesting stories, and good advice.

Most of the stallions under my command are pretty good. The First Sergeant is a really nice stallion named Waterwind; he had ambitions on joining the Wonderbolts but decided to enlist in the Army instead. He’s been with this company for a couple years and knows how things work, and he works well with me. We have both learned a lot from each other, and we go out for drinks at the Phoenix every other week. He’s a really great guy; turns out he’s from Canterlot, too. His family actually lives not far from my place!

Since I’m kinda the FNG here, I’ve had to prove myself to the other officers and the enlisted ponies. On my first week here, somepony pranked me by sneaking into my office and putting glue on my chair. Wound up waddling around for a few hours with my chair stuck to my butt until a couple other officers took pity on me and helped me get it off. That got a good laugh out of everypony except me. I tried to force a smile to show that I wasn’t going to let it bother me, but it was hard.

I got through it by imagining you beside me, holding your head up high. You wouldn’t have let anything like being laughed at stop you, so I wouldn’t either.

A few of the ponies in my command are being real pains in my plot, too; they’re always pushing the boundaries and trying to get me to lose my cool. Last week, I was coming back from the Phoenix with Waterwind when we saw two ponies who were supposed to be standing post—Silver Ghost and Dawntail—trying to sneak back into the barracks, both of them completely drunk. I gave them a serious dressing down, then called them into my office at the crack of dawn and made them run laps until they puked. I think they got the message. At least I hope they did, because there was quite a lot of grumbling from the others about me being too strict.

I hope I’m not: I want these ponies to respect me, but I also can’t have them running around doing whatever under my command.

Somehow it’s easier to talk to you about these things than the other officers. Some of them are nice enough, but a few of them don’t pay much attention to me. They’re probably not expecting me to last very long.

Shining Armor frowned down at the last line of the letter he'd written, then looked up. He was sitting in a small office behind a simple wooden desk, on top of which were the framed photographs from the ball and his graduation, and a stack of paperwork that he was midway through completing. The stack was still about three inches tall; he swore that every time he looked away from it, it grew larger by a small amount.

A small breeze brushed through his mane. Turning, he looked out the window behind him. Outside was the exercise yard of Fort Mustang. The centerpiece of the area was a hoofball field encircled by a quarter-mile track. A squad was out in the middle of the yard, doing calisthenics; he could hear the squad leader calling the count through the open window. Another squad was running around the track, singing one of his favorite running cadences.

"Mama, mama, can't you see!" the squad leader bellowed from the head of the pack as they passed by his window.

"What the army's done to me!" the rest of the squad hollered back.

"They put me in a barber's chair!"

"Spun me round and I had no hair!"

Next to the track and hoofball field were some exercise machines and fields for soccer, volleyball, and basketball. A pair of ponies were playing one on one on the basketball court, talking and laughing. One of them looked up at Shining's window, then turned to his companion and jerked his head towards him. His companion laughed loudly.

Shining scowled and turned back to his letter, writing down another line with his magic.

Well, I’m going to prove them wrong! I know I don’t look like much and I’m just an ROTC graduate and a comic book fan, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be just as good a soldier as they are!

Shining paused, blinking. He observed how, in his fury, he had pressed down much harder with his pen than usual, making the previous line much bolder than the others. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and raised a hoof to his chest, then exhaled slowly as he extended his hoof straight out. His anger abated, he opened his eyes and continued to write.

Yeah, I know: I shouldn’t get worked up about this. It’ll get better over time; I’ll just have to keep at it.

Have you heard that some soldiers from the Crystal Empire have down to Canterlot for a week or so? It’s some kind of exchange thing: both armies talking about tactics and technology and trying to learn from each other. I’ve met them both, a couple of staff sergeants, at the Phoenix last night and we hit it off pretty well. I’m looking forward to speaking to them again; the magic of the Crystal Empire is really fascinating, and I’d love to learn more about it!

How’s Twilight and mom and dad and Spike? Have you been keeping in touch with Lemony Gems and Diamond Rose? Say hi to everypony for me!

Love,

Your Knight in Shining Armor

Smiling, he folded up the letter and placed it into an envelope which he set aside. The smile quickly vanished and turned into a sigh, however, when he turned back to the stack of paperwork.

"Sometimes I think being an enlisted pony is more fun," he muttered to himself, taking the top sheet off.

Author's Note

"They took away my favorite shoes!"

"Now I'm wearing Army blues!"

"I knew the best beauties alive!"

"Now I love my .45!"