Observations into ponies: By Midnight Starfall

Originally I'd have put this throughout the other chapters...but I'd prefer it wasn't relegated to mere footnotes...especially as some races just don't have any representation in the Equestrian military for whatever reason.

Starting from the very beginning, originally Equestria was personally defended by the Princesses Celestia and Luna...both wielding the Elements of Harmony thus making them neigh invincible god-like creatures with the power to level entire armies...or at least encase their foes in stone, this is all well and good until Luna became Nightmare Night and Celestia was forced to banish her to The Moon.

For whatever reason Celestia deemed this the right time to start constructing an army to defend Equestria...the two most public branches being The Royal Guard, who are still in full service and The Wonderbolts, who while they are now more about stunt flying are technically still a military organisation...technically being used very broadly, of course.

Going into a little more detail, The Royal Guard consists of both Unicorns and Pegasi, the latter making up the majority. Earth Ponies don't seem to have any real representation in The Royal Guard for reasons I cannot explain, their strength and stamina would surely be a valuable asset, but alas I do not recruit for them, nor am I in any position to push the idea.

Going into more detail, The Pegasi of The Royal Guard generally handle air support, assaults and are usually the personal escorts of The Princess herself, as Unicorns cannot fly. Generally they're seen with longer bladed weapons, spears, pikes, that sort of thing, mainly because flying is hard enough without trying to use a more complex weapon, like a sword.

As for The Unicorns they handle longer range fights with their magic, but they are good at telekinesis and suppression, perhaps the main reason they're kept close to the throne room as well as areas of interest, intruder? Just pick them up or pin them to the ground with magic. Another fancy thing they can do is manipulate weapons with their magic, like wielding swords (Yes, plural) another weapon Unicorns 'tend' to use are Enchanted Swords, they're very rare, but are more or less made for a unicorn and are imbued with various magical effects...as well as being plain larger than most swords around (I know The Captain of The Royal Guard has one, even though he doesn't openly display it...I'm sure of it)

"Okay...okay...deep breaths..." I take a few deep breaths, feeling a little silly standing out in the middle of nowhere, with a spellbook, facing down a shoddily made bulls-eye.

"Okay, remember what Twilight said, control, focus..." Twilight Sparkle had been giving me some lessons on the side whenever she wasn't saving Ponyville or driving herself insane...unfortunately I wasn't the best student and...not to disrespect her, she wasn't exactly an amazing teacher, her latest test was combat magic...a simple projectile spell, just like The Royal Guard uses.

"Control...focus...hnfff..." I focus, aiming my horn towards the target as arcane energy sparks off wildly, before blasting off without warning, knocking me onto my haunches as I watch this out of control spell fizzle out and dissipate before it reaches the target.

"Well...shit...okay, okay I followed the book to the letter..." I lift the spellbook to me, reading the same passage I've read over and over for what felt like the hundredth time, before rolling my eyes and slamming it shut "Fuck the book" I say confidently, getting back to my feet and setting the book down beside me "Lets try this..."

I focus again, but this time not as intensely as the book instructed...and not drawing from the same place as before, I take a deep breath...and release.

The spell doesn't fire at first, but when it does it jerks my head back, firing five arcane bolts up, before I think I failed they arc downwards, each one connecting with the bulls-eye, not with pinpoint accuracy, but enough to achieve devastating results.

"Okay, I think I've figured that one out...lets move onto the next..."

The only exception with The Royal Guard is the Night Watch, who were reestablished when Luna was reformed, these are exclusively Batponies who seem to operate in much the same way Pegasi do...my only observations are from a distance however as they're very secretive and usually short tempered, I only got thrown off of palace grounds three times, twice trying to ask questions and the third time I was sketching the battlements.

On to Equestria's other "official" military organisation, The Wonderbolts. The modern Wonderbolts are stunt flyers, the most extreme stunts and manoeuvres, the fame, the fortune and everything between, but it wasn't always like this. The Wonderbolts have always been Equestria's best flyers, that has never changed, what has changed is the direction. They used to be a dedicated air force that were originally independent, dating back to the early years of Celestia and Luna's rule, they'd deal with the non-world ending issues before they became a real problem, ever vigilant, it wasn't until Celestia took a vested interest in building Equestria's military that The Wonderbolts were made official. Unfortunately the difference in result compared to The Royal Guard is staggering, The modern Wonderbolts are celebrities, not soldiers, they're dedicated sure, but many are brash, overconfident and more than a little narcissistic.

You may be wondering why I haven't mentioned armies...prepped for invading or going on the offensive, that's because Equestria doesn't have them...we have forces for defence, for protecting our ponies, but not for offence, not for invasion and the like, that might be because there aren't really any hostile nations around us...that and us ponies don't tend to be the conquering type.