Royal Guard Academy

Once dinner was done, Flight 25 went back to their dorm and got to polishing their armor. The polish smelled pretty bad, but it certainly did its job, making the metal very shiny. Eagle walked among them as they sat on their chairs or on the floor, giving them advice but generally leaving them to their work.

“Ma'am, Trainee Cumulus reports as ordered,” Cumulus called.

“Yes, Trainee Cumulus?” Eagle asked, walking over to her.

“How long have you been a TI, ma'am?” Cumulus asked curiously.

The others looked over with interest, and Eagle glanced around, before saying, “I've been doing this job for almost four years. In fact it's getting time for me to return to my normal job. You'll probably be my last flight.”

“Do you like it?” Flitter asked, and when Eagle gave her a sharp look, she added, “Ma'am?”

“There are pros and cons. I like knowing that I'm raising brilliant new guards that can fully devote themselves to Equestria. I meet very many interesting ponies in this line of work, and there are already accomplished captains that once trained under me. But the downside, of course...” She turned to yell at everyone, “Is having to deal with newbie stupidity! I could fill a book with the idiotic situations I've had to deal with here!”

A few trainees were too intimidated to keep talking to her, but Tempest had no such qualms. “Ma'am, Trainee Tempest Shadow reports as ordered.”

“What, Tempest?” Eagle asked her.

“Ma'am, what's the dumbest situation you've had to deal with?” Tempest wondered.

Eagle blinked, and the others suppressed giggles. Then Eagle said, “Oh, I'm sure I'll be telling you a lot of stories while you're here, but I suppose I could tell you one now. Two years ago, I was training a flight of stallions. Hey, keep polishing, I'm not giving you a break!” Once she was sure they were all still working, she continued her story. “I was training stallions. Now stallions are always annoying to train. They're away from home, away from their partners, and they're frustrated. And I, a healthy and strong mare, attract the attention of many of them. They often get distracted by me. Try to suck up to me. Now, most ponies realize that they can't pursue me, I'm their instructor, I'm much older and also spoken for. So they don't try. But there was one particular stallion that just didn't get the message.” She sighed as she began pacing the aisle.

“I won't say his name because he's still in service today, somehow. But let's just call him Clip Clop as a placeholder. Clip Clop was single when he came here, and he didn't want to be. I had to chew him out multiple times for trying to flirt with the mares in our sister flight. And once he figured out he wouldn't have enough alone time with them to get anywhere, he instead turned his attention to me. He tried to butter me up. Was extra polite when talking to me, and followed all of my orders perfectly. He would ask weird questions during Guard Time, about what I liked to do for fun, and what I looked for in a partner. I was upfront with him. Said I am already in a relationship and he should drop the subject. But he seemed to think I was just playing hard to get.” She sighed. “He got cocky in about the fourth week. Let his hormones do the thinking. He tried to corner me, telling me how beautiful I was and would I like to get with him after graduation?”

The trainees muttered under their breath, exchanging disgusted looks.

Eagle continued, “So I drove my front hoof into the back of his head and slammed him to the floor, where I made him do push-ups until he could barely breathe. Told him that I was his instructor, he could not talk that way to me, and I would never have any interest in dating him.” She received applause. She tilted her head back proudly, and said, “Besides, I don't think my wife would like that much.”

“Ma'am, you're married?” Storm asked.

“I sure am. To the most adorable unicorn I ever done met! But that's besides the point. Clip Clop finally figured it out after I beat him to within an inch of his life, and I drove home the point by sending him back two weeks in training. He ended up in a flight led by a grisly, heavy-set stallion that I guess he had no attraction to, because he shaped up and eventually graduated. He avoided looking at me after that.” Eagle went to the front of the room. “So! No flirting with me, got it?”

“Yes, ma'am!” they all called.

“Good. Now put that armor away, and that little story pretty much took up our Guard Time for today. So, showers! Then you will complete your details! Latrine crew will immediately start their job, and the rest of you will clean their areas for them before getting to your own details. Move it!”

They hurried to shower and get to work on their details. Like yesterday, Tempest went around the shower, polishing the handles and shelves, picking off hair and throwing out any pins or hair bands she happened to find. And Calli trudged through the room with her, cleaning the drains.

“I wonder what Major Eagle's wife is like,” Storm said.

“I bet she's sweet,” Sword said.

“Please, if she's married to Major Eagle she's probably just as rough as she is,” Fizzy replied.

“I don't know, opposites can attract,” Tempest said. “Besides, Major Eagle is only rough around us because that's how TIs are supposed to be. She's probably a totally different pony at home.”

“I just hope she stops yelling at us so much,” Calli said.

“Please, yelling's her job. But she'll probably stop once we stop giving her a reason to yell.”

“I heard they get a lot more chill in about the fifth week,” Dream commented. “Since trainees are usually pretty settled in by that point and have things figured out. She's never really gonna be our friend, but I'm sure she'll be more relaxed with us by then.”

The others agreed, and got back to work.

“Yo Dream, how much would I have to pay you to get you to snoop around in Major Eagle's dreams?” Storm asked.

Dream coughed nervously. “I don't think you could pay me enough. I already told her I can do that, if I show up she'll be suspicious that it's really me. Oh dang, I hope she doesn't just randomly dream of me, I don't want her questioning me over it.”

The door opened, and Eagle trotted in. “And let's see how things are going in here. Keep working, don't stop on my account.” She went around to examine their work, and then stepped into the shower area to talk to Tempest. “Have any of them given you trouble?”

“No, ma'am,” she replied.

“Good. But if you ever have problems with them, come straight to me. Keep at it, trainees! Once you're done you have the rest of the night to yourselves! I'm heading out, can I trust you all to not burn down the dorm?”

“Yes, ma'am!”

“That's what I like to hear. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, ma'am!”

Eagle left, and Tempest waited for a few moments until she heard the clicking of her hooves moving away. Then she said, “Well, you heard her. Hurry up and we can get some time to relax before bed.”

The others agreed to that, and worked faster. It was only about two minutes before most of them were claiming they were done, and Tempest went around to check their work. Everything was clean, and she gladly released them to put away their supplies and go back to the bay.

“If the others are still working though, you should help them,” she said. “They deserve some free time too.” She held the door open as they filed out.

Going into the bay, Tempest found that most of them were already done with their work. The bed aligners were still fiddling with the beds though, making sure they were straight, while the pegasi hovered over and called directions.

Zinnia trotted to the center of the room, and asked Cumulus to pick her up. Cumulus did so, and Zinnia's horn lit up. All the beds were surrounded with her aura, and they shifted.

“Whoa, they're all perfect,” Cumulus said. The other pegasi agreed, and Zinnia was set down.

“Heh, I tend to be pretty good at lining things up,” she explained.

The others on her crew came to thank her, and Tempest smiled, glad that she had found something she excelled at.

Ruby trotted through the room. “Okay, are we all back? Let's see, uh... Pine and Spruce, you guys here?”

“Here,” the twins replied from their chairs, raising their hooves.

Ruby nodded. “Okay, cool. Our stairway crew though, uh... Lemon and Reed, are you two here?”

She got confirmation from the two.

“Okay, that's everypony. We have about fifteen minutes, so... just relax and get ready for bed, I guess.”

Many trainees took to talking, while a few went to organize their lockers better, and yet others just sat down or stretched out on the floor.

“Whew, not such a bad day, huh?” Zinnia asked Tempest.

“It was pretty good,” Tempest replied. “Marching practice kinda sucked but only because it got boring.”

“Yeah. I wonder when we're gonna learn to do that dorm guard thing. And when we'll start working out like the other trainees.”

“Probably pretty soon.” Tempest got out a notebook, deciding to start writing a letter to Discord. She wasn't sure when she'll be able to send it, but might as well get started on it now. She kept talking to Zinnia, though. “From what I've read, the first couple days are for settling in, but then you start to get really busy. There'll be daily classes, marching lessons, PT, spear and combat training, and of course we'll work dorm guard duty when not out doing something.”

“Mm, loads of fun.” Zinnia browsed her study guide. “Looks like the very first lesson, assuming we go in the order of this book, is a general introduction to the Royal Guard. Learning about history, a few major battles, and then going into the modern set-up. Ranks and rules and all that.”

Tempest nodded. “Makes sense. Apparently the classes will be just like college. So ya know, at least that will be kinda relaxing. They don't tend to yell during those unless you're really screwing around.”

“Oh good, I always did like school.” Zinnia occupied herself with reading, and Tempest focused on her letter.

Discord,

Missing me yet? I miss you. Training has been kinda hectic so far, but it's not that bad. Our TI, Major Eagle Eye, yells a lot, but I don't really find her that scary. But I've been through a lot worse so that's probably why. A lot of the other trainees are nervous about her. I'm sure they'll get over it though.

We've mostly just done in-processing and gone to some appointments. I'm sure by the time you get this we'll have moved on to other, more interesting stuff. But we have been assigned details, they're basically daily chores. I'm latrine queen, basically in charge of the latrine crew. Cleaning the bathroom. I work in the showers and just make sure the others are doing their jobs, cleaning the toilets and whatnot. Not very glamorous but someone's got to do it.

There was some drama yesterday, one of the other trainees got into an argument with me and we probably would have started fighting if not for this unicorn named Blizzard Blast. She stepped in and actually picked the other mare up with her magic, it was hilarious. Eagle smoked us afterward but hey, I'm glad Blizzard stepped in.

I'll write to you again once I can, for now I gotta go to sleep. Hope you're doing alright. Tell our friends that I'm doing good and missing them all. I love you.

Sincerely,

Tempest Shadow

She folded the letter and stuck it in her security drawer, and checked the time. A couple minutes until bed. She yawned, then got down on the floor to do some push-ups. She didn't want to struggle once they started PT.

She did this until taps started, at which point she hopped up and stood at attention along with the others. When the music faded, she climbed into bed.

“Goodnight, trainees,” one of the tenth week dorm guards called to them. “By tomorrow, two of you should be doing this job.” She flicked the lights off.

That got some interested murmurs. But they were all tired from the long day, and quickly drifted off to sleep.