FiMTech - The Clan Civil War - EDITED (BattleTech Crossover)

Sundance was woken by the drill instructor shouting. Again.

“Out of bed you freebirths! Only dregs like you could still be asleep at a time like this! O-four-hundred is no time to be lazing about! Up now, or you’ll run fifty laps!”

The drill instructor always yelled at the cadets. That’s just what drill instructors do. The freeborn Sibkos always got the worst of it, though. In addition to the even more malignant insults compared to the trueborn Sibkos, the drill instructors treated the freeborn like literal trash and pushed them much harder. They actually tried to kill the freeborn recruits, and succeeded quite often.

Sundance had only been in his Sibko for two weeks after the new cycle of training began, but it felt like two years. Sleep was a myth, and if your entire being didn’t ache every time you moved, it’s probably because you’re dead. Training actually felt like hell, and Sundance had found himself wanting to collapse in the mud on more than one occasion.

Sundance groaned internally and hopped out of bed. He quickly made the sheets of his bed, threw on his cadet jacket, and ran over to stand in line. The last one ready when the drill instructor came in was in charge of cleaning the entire mess hall top to bottom after each meal that day, earning the “creative” nickname of Janitor for the rest of the day. It’s a punishment created by the Sibko, not the drill instructor, and the Janitor was still expected to make it to drill on time. They never do.

“You there! In the back!” the drill instructor shouted. Sundance risked a glance towards who the drill instructor was referring to. A blue earth pony with darker blue long, stringy hair and eyes the color of the ocean was struggling to his hooves after falling out of bed. “What do you think you’re doing?! You’re the only cadet not in line!” The colt looked around him, realization dawning on him. The poor guy probably slept right through the drill instructor’s shouting, until somepony nudged him out of bed.

“Boulder,” Sundance thought with pity. “Janitor again.” Boulder was the Janitor more often than any other pony. Boulder isn’t his actual name, but everypony calls him that. He sure as hell sleeps like one.

“Sorry sir,” Boulder mumbled in his whiny voice. He quickly made his bed and ambled to his spot in line, not at trace of haste in his step.

“Maybe your special talent should be pissing me off, cadet! You’re not fit to be a MechWarrior, and now you’re wasting my time!” The drill instructor walked down the line of recruits. “Thanks to your friend Boulder here, everypony is going to run the fifty laps I promised. Carrying full gear. Get a move on, scum!”

“Aff!” all the cadets shouted. They filed out of the door towards the field house where the gear was kept, Boulder bringing up the rear of the line. A light green earth pony with a silver and pink mane stepped out from the front of the group to unlock the field house and pass out the packs.

“Bittersweet. The drill instructor’s favorite tool, and everypony’s least favorite cadet.” Sundance thought. The only reason nobody shunned Bittersweet was because he was the best and oldest cadet in the Sibko. If there’s one ideal the drill instructor had indoctrinated into them, it’s that the strong have the right to do whatever they want, and the weak can only sit back and watch.

Bittersweet started pulling packs out of the field house and handed them to the cadets as they walked by. As soon as they had the packs fastened to their sides, they took off running through the uneven grass. Sundance risked a glance at Bittersweet as the packs were roughly pushed towards him. Bittersweet was fuming, and he was eying Boulder with pure hatred. Sundance felt sorry for Boulder. Making Bittersweet this angry never seemed to end well, and he got angry a lot.

Sundance walked out towards the field, coaxing the straps into place. “Why is this always so goddamn impossible?” he thought. “Warp Drive technology was invented two thousand years ago, yet they can’t come up with a way to easily fasten packs to a pony?” Sundance snorted.

Behind him, the end of the line of cadets finally reached Bittersweet. He angrily hefted a pair of bulging packs out of the field house and dropped them at Boulder’s hooves. “Get a move on, Janitor.” Bittersweet said to Boulder. “Maybe that’s your only destiny. Cleaning mess halls. What an aspirational future.” Bittersweet grabbed another pair of packs for himself and pushed past Boulder. The other cadets who hadn’t begun running yet snickered at him before following behind Bittersweet.

Boulder looked down at the packs and sighed. He reached one foreleg underneath the front strap and tried to lift the packs over his head, but instead he found himself falling head first into the muddy ground in front of the field house.

“What’s wrong with you, freebirth? Get out there!” the drill instructor shouted at him, marching towards the colt as he picked himself up and rubbed the mud off of his face. The drill instructor grabbed the packs, threw them onto Boulder’s back, and shoved him forward. He nearly lost his balance and catapulted himself into the ground again, but he managed to right himself, his legs shaking.

“GO! Do you want to be the next lifeless corpse to be thrown into the incinerator?!” the drill instructor hollered, advancing on the terrified colt. Boulder let out a yelp and scrambled towards the field.

Sundance finally managed to fasten the straps around himself and jogged out behind the other cadets. Boulder ran up behind him, already panting heavily. It looked like Bittersweet had shoved extra weights into the pack. No wonder he was having so much trouble.

Sundance looked over his shoulder at the colt. “Y’know, Janitor,” he began, “it would make your life, along with the rest of ours, ten times easier if you didn’t piss off the drill instructor constantly.”

Boulder shot him a look. “It’s not my fault I’m here... or that the stupid casket born drill instructor... is so damn rude.” he said in between breaths

“That’s true,” Sundance thought. “None of us chose to be here, but we are. The only two ways out are the Trial of Position and death. Pick which you want, and leave the rest of us out of it.” Sundance sped up. “Maybe other ponies would actually like you if you weren’t so useless,” he said bitterly, half to himself. Boulder shot something back, but Sundance didn’t bother to hear it.

“Stop being such a hypocritical prick, Sundance. You're no better than he is,” he thought. “I’m just another stupid, useless basket case. Freeborn filth that nopony else cares about. I can’t do anything right, so why try? Why am I still alive? Why can’t I just let myself die in this miserable place? Celestia have mercy on me, please…” He started running faster, not paying attention to anything else around him. He was so absorbed in his thoughts, he didn’t notice the cadets stopped in front of him, or the massive sinkhole that had opened up overnight and halted their morning exercise.

Sundance crashed headlong into the cadets stopped in front of him. They shouted in surprise, the entire group being shoved forward a couple of steps. There was a series of yells, followed by the sound of struggling and muffled thuds as the ponies in the front fell into the hole. After a stunned silence, a lone voice in the group called out, “It was him! He done it!”

Every pair of eyes present turned towards the pony who broke the silence, who was pointing at Sundance. He shook his head, dazed from the impact, and noticed the angry faces all turned towards him. The group parted as Bittersweet shouldered his way through towards Sundance. He stopped directly in front of him and glowered at him. “What was that about, dumbass? Are you trying to kill somepony?” Sundance stared up at the larger pony, too stunned to answer.

Bittersweet shoved him to the ground and stood over top of him. “I asked you a question, scum! What the fuck was that about?” Sundance still didn’t answer, so Bittersweet shoved his face into the ground, bringing his own face inches away from Sundance’s ear. “You have five seconds to answer me before I leave you convulsing on the ground like an infantile retard for the drill instructor to finish off. What. Is. Wrong. With. You?”

Sundance looked around, terrified into silence. The ponies who had fallen were crawling out of the hole, but they would be more than willing to side with Bittersweet, especially in this situation. Sundance turned his head in the other direction, hoping to find somepony willing to help. He managed to catch Boudler’s eye, pleading for help. Boulder just shrugged and turned his head, taking Sundance’s advice and keeping to himself. Sundance could feel himself tearing up. “Of course he’s not going to help me. Nopony would defend somepony as low-down and worthless as me. Some MechWarrior cadet I am, too cowardly to fight back. Please let my death be quick and painless,” he thought.

Bittersweet tensed up. “Have it your way, then,” he said through gritted teeth. He grabbed Sundance by the mane and dragged him towards the hole, the mud clotting his fur and the sharp rocks slicing into his skin. The other cadets hurried out of Bittersweet’s path, not wanting to redirect any of his anger towards themselves. Sundance whimpered pitifully as Bittersweet came to a stop at the edge of the hole and pulled him to his hooves by his mane. Sundance screamed in pain, his head feeling like it was on fire. “A weak pony like you could never become a true MechWarrior. At least you’ll make a good meat shield on the battlefield.” Bittersweet shoved Sundance down the hole, and he let out a terrified scream. The wind was knocked from his lungs as he hit the bottom, and he swore he heard bones snap. An excruciating pain shot through his entire body, and he laid in the mud gasping for breath, tears streaming down his face.

Bittersweet glared at Sundance from the top of the hole, and the rest of the cadets moved up around him to peer down at Sundance. “You can be the Janitor with Boulder today. Assuming you can still move, that is.” He chuckled and spat into the hole. “The drill instructor still expects fifty laps from you,” he said, walking around the hole. The rest of the cadets followed suit, resuming their exhausting morning run.

Boulder glanced at Sundance as he walked past the hole. “Take your own advice, Janitor. Stop pissing ponies off.” He started his slow jog, the increased weight making it impossible for him to run. “Maybe you’ll die down there before the drill instructor gets over here if you’re lucky,” he said, glancing over his shoulder as he picked up his pace marginally and moved out of Sundance’s view.

Sundance groaned as he heard hoofsteps approaching the hole. Somepony yelling at him about how inferior and weak he is was not what he needed. Perfectly on cue, a few pebbles tumbled down into the hole as the drill instructor reached the edge. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing, cadet? Get up here and run, you worthless scum!” he shouted. Cursing his life internally, Sundance wiped his eyes and tried to drag himself to his hooves. He fell back to the ground the first time as his legs buckled beneath him. “Let’s go, freebirth You’re wasting my time!” the drill instructor continued as Sundance tried feebly to stand up. Finally, he managed to stand upright, his battered body screaming with the effort. “Now out of the hole. Hurry up!”

“Yes, because I thought I’d just run my laps in the damn hole,” Sundance thought. He trudged over to the edge of the hole, limping, and began pulling himself up. Luckily the slope wasn’t all that steep, and he was able to make it to the top before long. He stood at the top of the hole, breathless from the effort and pain.

The drill instructor regarded him coldly. “Well, what are you waiting for, fuckbag? Start running!” He kicked Sundance in the ass, propelling him forward. He tumbled to the ground face first and got a mouthful of mud and grass. “If you want breakfast, I suggest you get moving,” the drill instructor said before turning to leave. “I’ll hang you from the flagpole by your tail if you even so much as think about not running your full fifty laps.”

Sundance struggled back to his hooves and spat out the mud. Being a cadet just got worse and worse every day, and this certainly wasn’t even close to an improvement. He glanced out at the other ponies at the opposite end of the field, with Boulder about halfway between them. “I’d sacrifice every last one of them to escape this hell,” he muttered to himself, a strange feeling overwhelming him as he began trudging along the path. What was it…? Ah, it was determination. Sundance couldn’t remember the last time he felt this, but he was determined to survive. Maybe it was just out of spite, but he didn’t want to die. He wanted to survive. He wanted to live.

~~

Sundance collapsed against the field house after throwing off his packs, completely and utterly exhausted. His muscles ached, his bones screamed in protest whenever he moved, his lungs felt like they were collapsing, and he was covered in mud, blood, sweat, and tears, but he had completed his fifty laps. He had managed to pass Boulder at some point near the end, so he was still out there struggling along, but the others had finished a good hour before Sundance had. They had already hit the showers and gone to the mess hall, so it was unlikely any of the tolerable food would be left when he got there. He would have sighed if he wasn’t already hyperventilating.

As Sundance laid on the ground recovering, Boulder lumbered over towards him, having already dropped his packs after finishing his last lap. He flopped onto the ground next to Sundance, breathing heavily. “Ah… I think… after all that we should… avoid pissing off the drill instructor or Bittersweet,” he said, barely able to form sentences between his gasps.

Sundance shot him a glare. “What are you playing at?”

Boulder weakly lifted his shoulders into a shrug. “I’m not... trying to be rude. In fact… that was pretty damn cool. I wouldn’t have been able to continue… after all of that. I would have just… rolled over and died. On the spot.”

Sundance pushed himself up into a sitting position, wincing. “You really think that was cool?” Boulder nodded, still sucking wind. “Thanks, I guess.” Sundance laid back onto the dirt. Falling asleep right there would be great, but he didn’t think he could survive another fifty laps, courtesy of the drill instructor. Besides, the other cadets would kill the two of them if they didn’t clean the mess hall.

After a few minutes of silence, Boulder rolled over onto his stomach, groaning, and pulled himself to his hooves. “I don’t know about you, but I’m gonna shower and head to the mess hall,” he said, finally having caught his breath. “We might be able to eat something as we’re cleaning. I certainly can’t train on an empty stomach.”

Sundance pushed himself back up and glanced at Boulder. “Why don’t we just skip the showers? We might make it to the next training session on time if we do, with the two of us cleaning.”

Boulder gave him an amused look. “You should see yourself. If you walked into the mess hall like that, we’d have a lot more than just food to clean off of the floors.” Sundance turned his head to look at his flank. Boulder was right; there was barely a strand of white to be seen between the mud and blood covering him.

Sundance sighed. “Fine, you win. But it has to be quick.” Boulder smiled at him and led the way back to the barracks. The sun had crested the tree line a while ago, and light was streaming across the open field. Sundance had never noticed before, but it was actually quite beautiful in their camp, separated from the big cities.

The door to the barracks slammed shut as it closed behind the two colts. The drill instructor was sitting behind his desk, reading through a report. He looked up as the two entered. “Finally finished your laps? Good. Get yourselves cleaned up and head to the dining hall. If you’re late to the next training session, the Commander will have your heads mounted on the wall.”

“Aff, sir,” the colts said, saluting. As they turned to go, the drill instructor spoke up again.

“Hold it, you two. That was quite impressive, actually being able to complete your laps after what Bittersweet did to the two of you. You’ve both got the makings of fine MechWarriors,” he said.

Sundance and Boulder stared at him, too shocked to speak. They’d never heard the drill instructor speak that kindly to anyone before. “Th-thank you, sir,” Boulder managed to stutter.

The drill instructor chuckled a little. “I’m not actually as cruel as you think. It’s just how us drill instructors are forced to act, though most of the others actually are as horrible as they act. Clan Draconequus has a really aggressive reputation, so that’s how we’re told to treat you lot. Personally, I’d rather be in just about any other Clan, but this is where I as born, and I’ll stay loyal to my home.” He looked the colts over. “Don’t tell anyone about this discussion though, or I will treat you harshly, without feeling bad about it. And don’t you dare let that door slam behind you again, or I’ll rip off your manes and use them to dampen the door.”

“Aff, sir!” they said, saluting again.

The drill instructor nodded. “Now go. It’s the first day of Mech training for newbies, don’t forget. No live ammunition yet of course, but you’ll be real MechWarrior cadets after today.”

Sundance and Boulder grinned at each other and hurried towards the showers through the door at the end of the barracks. After the door closed quietly behind them, Boulder turned to Sundance. “What the fuck?” he whispered.

“I have no idea,” Sundance replied, still smiling.

“Well, he probably isn’t going to treat us any differently around the others, but at least we know he isn’t actually brutish, like we thought,” Boulder said. “Anyway, let’s hurry up and get cleaned. Piloting a Mech for the first time! I can’t wait!”

“Yeah. It’s gonna be awesome,” Sundance said, throwing off his jacket into the laundry bin. It was pretty much ruined, so he’d have to wear his other jacket while this one got cleaned. Luckily he shouldn’t need a new one, at least. It was highly unlikely he would get a jacket that fit properly since the Quartermaster despised freeborns so much.

The two of them stepped into separate showers. Sundance winced as the steaming water hit his aching body and stinging cuts, but as his body adjusted to the temperature, all of his stress melted away. Boulder continued rambling on and on about how excited he was to learn about piloting Mechs, but Sundance was barely listening. After the events of the day so far, as terrible as they were, he somehow felt elated. Maybe it was the drill instructor’s compliments, maybe it was his first friend, or maybe it was his will to live returning. Whatever it was, Sundance didn’t feel so bad anymore. As the mixture of blood and mud washed out of his coat and mane, Sundance felt like an entirely new pony, as if all of his negative feelings were being washed down the drain as well.

Sundance was roused from his thoughts by the squeak of a shower knob. “Sundance are you listening? We need to leave now if we want to finish cleaning the mess hall in time!” Boulder said. He stepped out of the shower and hurried over to his towel. Sundance blinked a few times, remembering what they were supposed to be doing. He shut off the water to his own shower and stepped out. “Wow, you’re even more banged up that I thought. Should we be concerned? Do you need to go to the infirmary?” Boulder said in the middle of drying his mane.

Sundance looked at himself in the mirror, his purple eyes staring back at himself. His white coat was covered in small nicks and scratches, with a few large wounds still oozing blood. He shrugged nonchalantly. “Nah, I’ll be fine,” he said, walking over to the metal lockers by the door. “Like you said, we need to get to the mess hall quickly.” Sundance pulled some bandages and gauze out of one of the lockers, and a towel out of the other. He dried off quickly, slapped the bandages onto the wounds, and hastily wrapped the gauze around himself. He winced a few times as he brushed his probably-broken ribs. When he finished, he tied the ends off and threw the remaining gauze back into the locker before closing the door. “There, all better.” He finished drying his long, black mane and threw the towel into the laundry bin as Boulder finished putting on his jacket.

“If you say so,” Boulder said, eying his hastily applied bandage. “I guess if it works, it's not stupid. Let’s get going.” he said, leading the way out of the door. He walked past the bunks towards the exit. The drill instructor had already left, but he’d be back before their next training session after lunch.

“Hang on, Boulder. I gotta grab my other jacket from my bunk,” Sundance said, hurrying to his bed.

Boulder paused and glanced back at him, slightly embarrassed. “My real name isn’t actually Boulder. You know that, right?”

Sundance grabbed his other jacket, unfolded it, and threw it on. He walked over towards not-Boulder. “Sorry. Everyone calls you that and I guess I just sort of caught on. What do you want to be called?” he asked.

“My name is Azure Mist, but nobody calls me that. You can just call me Boulder,” he said, winking. “Not really. It’s just a joke. Mist is fine.”

Sundance chuckled. “Mist it is, then. So, Mist, you ready to head to the mess hall yet? You’re gonna make us late.”

Mist looked back at him as he led the way out of the barracks, a hurt expression on his face. “Me? You are the one holding us up, mister fell in a ditch and got covered in mud, then refused to leave the shower.”

The two of them laughed, then continued onto the path that lead towards the mess hall. They told jokes and talked about what happened to them before they were moved to the Sibko. They were from the same town, obviously; their entire Sibko was. They weren’t all raised together though, and only met when they became old enough enter formal training.

The mess hall slowly became visible through the trees. It was a boxy building that barely managed fit all sixty-some cadets, and the food was sub par, but edible. It’s not like the cadets were there to learn how to become chefs. They saw a small group of the other cadets walk out of the mess hall, talking to each other.

“It looks like breakfast is almost over, Sundance. We should hurry!” Mist said, picking up the pace. Sundance followed close behind him.

“I can’t believe I managed to make a friend. From such unlikely conditions, no less. Maybe it won’t be so bad here.” Sundance thought to himself. “I can make it to the Trial of Position now. I don’t have to go through hell alone.” He picked up his pace to match Mist’s as they neared the small building.

Mist grinned at him as they entered the mess hall. There were still a couple of groups of ponies eating. They might just make it to training on time. “Just in time. Let’s hurry; I’ll grab us some food, you go get the cleaning shit from the closet.” Mist hurried over to the serving window, while Sundance got a spray bottle, rag, and broom from the coset. He leaned the broom up against the wall and started wiping down the tables.

Mist hurried back towards Sundance, balancing two plates of toast, coffee cake, and slices of strange fruit native to the planet of Dike. He also had a muffin shoved into his mouth. “Eh, Unance! Urr uh an-” he started before he began choking on the muffin in his mouth. He dropped the plates onto a table and coughed, sending the muffin flying across the room.

Sundance let out a small cry and pressed himself against the table he was wiping down as the muffin went sailing past his head and landed on the floor, earning his injured rib cage a twinge of pain.

The two of them looked at each other and burst out laughing. “Mist, you’re supposed to chew your food.” Sundance said, doubled over.

“I know, I was trying to hurry. Speaking of hurrying, who said you could stop wiping the tables?” Mist said, stuffing a slice of toast from one of the plates into his mouth and grabbing the broom. He breathed in to start talking again, before Sundance cut him off.

“Maybe don’t start talking with food in your mouth again. Come on, let’s hurry up and do our job.” Sundance grabbed the coffee cake from his own plate and started eating it while wiping down the tables. The two of them continued cleaning the mess hall, having a disturbing amount of fun while doing it. Before long, the remaining cadets had left the mess hall, heading for their own training sessions. Sundance and Mist had almost completely finished cleaning, and it looked like they were going to make it on time.

“It’s amazing how much better life is once you have a friend,” Sundance thought as he closed up the supply closet. They had both finished eating and cleaning, with hopefully enough time to make it to the Mech piloting class.

“Come on, Sundance! I want to get there before it starts!” Mist said, charging out the door. Sundance ran out after him just in time to see him running down a pathway. “Hurry up!” he shouted over his shoulder.

Sundance smiled and started to run after Mist, having completely forgotten his injuries from earlier. This earned him another twinge of excruciating pain, and he gasped. He stood still for a moment, breathing deeply, which also happened to hurt.

“Sundance, what’s wrong?” Mist called.

“Oww... I fell, remember? My ribs are killing me,” he yelled back. Mist ran back over to Sundance.

“Do you need to go to the infirmary? I know you said you were fine, but this could be serious,” Mist said, sounding genuinely concerned.

Sundance shook his head. “Maybe if it gets worse. For now, let’s just get to the training session.”

Mist looked at him. “If you’re sure. At a reduced pace, of course. Can’t have you collapse on the pathway,” he said. “Let’s go!” He let the way towards the Mech Bays at a fast walk, but not so fast Sundance couldn’t keep up. After going down the path for a while, they could see giant steel doors stuck in the side of a mountain at the end of the path.

“The Mech Bays! Come on, we’re almost there!” Mist cried excitedly. They sped up a bit, and before long, they were standing in front of the forty-foot tall steel doors, the other first year cadets already gathered outside. “We made it on time, Sundance! The first Janitors to ever make it to training on time.”

Sundance smiled at him and opened his mouth to speak, but the abrupt wail of a siren cut him off. The cadets looked up at the doors, above which a flashing light had activated. They heard metal groaning, and the massive doors began to open. Mist had his eyes open wide and was staring at the doors as a gigantic bipedal robot stepped out, shaking the ground as it walked.

Mist let out a cry of excitement and grabbed onto Sundance. “Ow! Mist, that hurt,” he said, but Mist talked over him.

“Sundance, can you believe this? That’s a Mad Dog, a sixty ton OmniMech! I never thought I’d be able to see one from this close!” he said, beginning to bounce up and down. “A configuration C at that! Look at the gauss rifles mounted to each arm! It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen!”

The Mad Dog came to a halt in front of the cadets and a voice came out from a speaker, presumably attached somewhere on the Mech. “Welcome to the Mech Bays. This is a BattleMech, and it’s my job to teach you to pilot one of your very own. It’s not as simple as pushing the throttle control forward, so get that notion out of your head. It’s highly unlikely any of you will even be able to step out of the Bay today. It takes time to develop a bond with your Mech, and nothing can replace that bond. However, even a bad Mech pilot is still a pilot. Today, maggots-” the voice cut off as the cockpit swung open. An older stallion stepped out and placed one hoof on the edge of his Mech, a wicked looking helmet held in his other foreleg. The sun reflected off of his aviators, and his greying orange mane shone in the light, contrasting his black coat.

“Today you become MechWarriors.”