Chapter 27:
Boot

Turns out Dash would have her work cut out for her that first day as after she got Cypher to reveal themselves we almost had a small revolt on our hands. Dash spent nearly all the rest of that day shouting at the four of them and running them ragged until they couldn't object in the first place. It took a few more days before they started to actually work together rustily, something that I was quite happy with because I didn't feel like starting to teach the basics with rifles before a minimum level of trust had been created.

I also finally got the package and information about my unexpected promotion, apparently, it was supposed to have been delivered days before the others had arrived but had never been sent in the first place. Luna had apologized for the mistake profusely, she'd apparently missed some bureaucratic things while doing the required background work setting up our entirely new unit. The rank had mostly been a matter to prevent conflicting authorities, in the end It'd matter fairly little to me as I'd only be working with my own unit anyhow. We ended up determining it would be a good idea to use dragonfire as much as possible to give updates from now on, both to be sure that messages would arrive and for simple operational security as it would cut out the courier.

"Left, left, left-right, left!" I could hear Dash arriving back at the barn with our group, they had marched a good ten klick fully packed, carrying filled bags and the newly designed chest rigging. Over the last week and a half, a veritable mountain of supplies had been acquired by Bright Flash, from large saddlebag-rucksack hybrids to compact cooking sets, name it and he could get it. Honestly, without that stallion the entire endeavour would have probably been a sad affair. "Group, halt!"

Time to get them excited after that stroll.

Standing up from my desk I made my way outside where Dash was addressing the four trainees while they drank water from their canteens. "Captain," Rainbow acknowledged, saluting as we'd agreed for her to do while we were working. The others jumped up as well, standing at attention.

"At ease, I'm just checking up on how you all did on the march," I stated, looking over at Rainbow.

"They held pace well and we didn't lose time at the rest stop," Dash stated, sounding very satisfied. "Overall very well done."

"Lovebug even kept up this time," Gilda smirked, punching Cypher, who was disguised as a brown pegasus, on the shoulder.

"Don't forget we had to drag you along too last time, chicklet," Midnight gave her a fanged smirk as she made sure her blue hair was properly tied back into a ponytail.

"And you before that you managed to-"

"Shut up you three," Datura hissed, cutting off Cypher as she blushed while looking between her teammates, me, and Dash. She immediately became the centre of attention for her three grinning teammates.

"What did you say, tangle?" Gilda said with a predatory smirk, the blonde batpony hiding her blush behind her sweat soaked hair.

"Settle down you all," I stated, as amusing as it was to watch. "Say Dash, good work should be rewarded, right?"

"Definitely. What do you have in mind?" Rainbow asked, playing along even though she too hadn't a clue what I was going to propose.

"Lieutenant Crimson and I planned in two range days next week due to finally being satisfied with the performance we're seeing, since the afternoon block is up to us to fill we can get a headstart covering basic safety and components." That got everyone excited as only Dash, I, and the lieutenants had actually handled and fired the weapons up to now.

"Sounds like a great idea," Dash stated, equally excited. "Do you have them ready?"

I nodded. "They're already upstairs out of storage." We had the upstairs area set up both as storage and an area to train skills in a safe and dry environment before we'd move on to the outside under harder conditions. I'd moved the two boxes that contained them out so we could use them the next week but we could open them now too. “Get yourselves cleaned up first though, I want to see you all upstairs in thirty-five minutes.”

“Sir, yes sir!” They all called out, rapidly helping each other putting on their bags before hauling them inside. Dash was helped by me as she didn't have a buddy to help her, she too had been fully packed.

“I assume you'll take the lead with the lesson?” Dash asked as we got her stuff into her room. “Because honestly, I'm more tired from that march than I care to admit.”

“I'll get Crimson to fill in for a few sessions each week so you get some rest. I'd rather have you sharp while we're working with the rifles.”

Dash sighed as she nodded and pulled a towel from her locker. “You're probably right. I'll be right up so you can run me through what you want to cover.”

“Alright, see you in a bit,” I stated and left Rainbow as she entered the staff shower, going upstairs and readying the rifles. We'd marked the firearms with black dots on the stock, Gilda had one, Midnight two, Datura three, and Cypher four. Those rifles would be theirs until further developments would come through, I'd send the rough draft for a direct blowback SMG but didn't expect to see anything soon. The princesses were focussed hard on simply getting the MK1 readily available and ponies trained in their operation to the front, the small numbers of them that were out there already having clear effects.

Let's hope they can turn this conflict around fast, casualty lists in the newspapers have been becoming increasingly grim...

After twenty-five minutes I heard the first solitary set of hooves trotting up the stairs, Rainbow joining me up in the room and checking her own rifle. A few minutes later we were joined by the others, the four trainees being pointed to their positions.

With everyone in position, I rubbed my claws together. “Now you're all here, let's start with some basic safety...”

“Contact left! Two o'clock, two hundred meters, four tangos!” The call went out followed by twelve rapidly fired shots, everyone repeating it after having responded. The targets were hard to see in the darkness only lit by the full moon but with the exception of Rainbow Dash and Bright Flash we all had a degree of night vision so we could still see them well enough.

“FORWARD!” I thundered, making sure everyone could hear me through their hearing protection. Half the line sprung up, jumping forward while the other half was placing rounds downrange. After three seconds the roles would reverse and the runners started giving cover while the others caught up and ran a bit past them, before switching again. By the time we'd reached the first wooden targets and had pushed past them they were nothing more than splinters. “FORM A LINE ON ME!” I called out, holding my position, letting the others get in line to my left and right. Eventually, everyone had managed to get in line and hold their position. “CEASE FIRE!” All the rifles fell silent as the call was repeated across the line. “Section one, clear targets!”

Rainbow got off the ground along with Gilda and Datura, going up to the wooden targets to properly check the damage. “Targets down!” she confirmed and got her section back in line.

“Copy! We're falling back to the baseline, go!” the entire motion was repeated again, this time though without firing. When we'd fallen back completely I motioned for everyone to gather at my position. Lieutenant Bright Flash and Crimson moon too as they had been observing this particular run. “Alright, vent, what's the feeling?”

“Bucking awesome,” Midnight stated, still slightly out of breath from all the quick sprints between firing positions.

“Keeping track of everyone gets real complicated fast when trees are in the way,” Cypher observed.

“What Lovebug and Edgy said,” Gilda simply stated as she wiped some sweat off her forehead, taking some camo off in the process.

“I'm really glad we actually kept the line a line,” Datura stated, “It looked great from where I was laying.”

I looked over to the two lieutenants to hear their opinions, personally, I was definitely not unhappy but I wanted to hear how it looked from their perspective first. Crimson was the one of the two that gave their assessment. "As private Datura said, we also saw that the line remained fairly straight. There were a few moments where private Grimfeather took questionable firing positions but nothing so significant it was specifically wrong."

"Sounds about what I saw myself. I'm quite happy with how that went," I stated, agreeing with my two lieutenants. "The formation was good and I didn't see anyone firing when the angle to the others was too small so it was done safely too." All of the trainees, including Rainbow Dash, smirked as they were complimented on their performance. "We're moving back to base tactically, the lieutenants will navigate."

The route had been discussed over a week prior, we'd even scouted out parts of it so they'd easily be able to guide us through. There wouldn't be any significant things happening throughout the journey as we'd been at it for over five days now, the walk alone would be tough enough as the last twenty-five klick would be walked with their full loadout of gear on their backs. All of them, including myself, Dash, and the lieutenants were incredibly tired as well, having participated more than equally in almost every activity, so this was going to be fun for all of us.

If they get through this I'll put them through two more weeks of urban combat training and then we'll be as ready as we can be. After that, it'll be up to the princesses to send us out.

That thought gave me a little anxiety, I may have been a soldier but having my own soldiers under my command... the chances of there being losses were significant. Looking all of my ponies over as they diligently observed their sectors only reinforced that thought as in a few months they may not all be alive.

First they have to get through these last few tests anyhow, though with how they've been doing I don't expect that to be an issue. Besides, I've got a surprise waiting for them back at base.

Turns out Rarity, though hating our camouflage with a passion, had no issue creating six more red berets. The lieutenants also getting their own even though they'd probably be returned to their units to help training there. The insignia's I'd gotten for them were all the same one as Dash's, even on my own I had replaced the insignia though I'd probably be changing that back later. Rainbow had helped me out as this was something we'd told none of the others about, they only really knew that this was supposed to be a final exercise to the 'basic' skills we'd been training them in. They also didn't know we'd had Pinkie inform Ponyville we'd be passing by sometime early in the morning, so there were likely going to be a load of ponies out to cheer us on as we walked the final leg through the village.

The next four hours were as uneventful as we'd expected as we simply moved in the direction of Ponyville, keeping a good pace all the way there. The fun part came when we got into sight of town, the exhaustion we were all feeling draining away as the rising sun started shining its rays across the.

"Would you look at that," Dash said with a smirk as we could see some ponies outside of town waving at us, a few of them running into town.

"The welcoming party," I chuckled back as we walked down the main road into Ponyville. The town proper had plenty of ponies lining the street we were passing through, stamping their hooves and calling encouragements to the eight of us. The six of our group that hadn't been informed smiled brightly as they moved through the gathered crowd before we arrived at the town square where I too got surprised. Princess Luna along with a sizable detachment of Lunar guards was standing in front of the town hall where I had wanted to give my people their berets. It didn't take long to get everypony into a square and standing at attention while I went over to the Princess.

“You look very tired, Captain,” Luna stated after I saluted her.

“I can't say that I've slept more than eight hours in the last five days,” I chuckled, noticing a few of the guard's eyes widening and moving towards me and the rest of my unit. Most of us were really on the verge of collapse from exhaustion. “I have to ask, what are you here for Princess?"

"I was informed that you were going to perform a small ceremony as a sort of right of passage, I wanted to observe this," Luna stated Looking over at her side where Rarity stepped forward, having kept the berets stored for this occasion.

"Of course," I nodded my head and quickly set the others at ease and got Rainbow to step out to help me. We passed the berets to the six who didn't have one yet, making sure they didn't put them on just yet. After that was done I took a position in front of them. "Now I didn't exactly prepare a speech but I still want to say a few words. Over the last few months we've worked together I've seen all of you turn from either a civilian, in Grimmfeather's and Cypher's case," I glanced at the disguised changeling and griffin, "...or from the guard, like the rest of you, into the most lethal fighters I could manage. We've shed blood, sweat, and tears together and though there are some things I am not capable of teaching you at this moment, you have well proven to me that you have the sheer grit and determination to have nothing stop you." I gave a nod to Rainbow who stepped forward

"Squad! Atten-tion!" she called out, having them straighten up. "Put on berets!"

The six of them took the beret they had been given and put it on, making sure it was properly in place. I could see them try to stop a smile from forming on their faces as they returned to attention. Ponies that were spectating from all around "Squad, at ease!"

"You can line out the bags at town hall for the moment, we'll head back to base in just a bit," I told them, something they immediately did as they obviously wanted to lose the weight off their back, all the while laughing and speaking among themselves. There were a few ponies from the crowd that stepped forward to talk to them too though most ponies went back to their houses. I, though, turned back to Princess Luna who was still standing behind me and watching the

"So you've assessed that they are ready then," Luna stated as we took some distance from the group and had the lunar guards make sure we had privacy.

“There's about two weeks of urban combat training I want to do but after that we're deployable,” I informed her. “What's the situation in Manehattan?”

Luna's jaw tightened. “Full retreat, there's pockets of resistance but we've lost operational control. Those stuck in the city are most likely lost to us.”

“Shit. How many are stuck?”

“We don't have exact numbers, we're still reorganizing, but estimates put it at two to three thousand,” the princess stated grimly. “Filly Delphia and Hollow Shades are digging defences at this very moment.”

"How do they even do it? Where do they get the manpower?" I asked, that being one of the questions that I'd been meaning to ask for a while now.

"The eastern griffin cities," Luna answered. "They have been independent entities ever since the griffin kingdom collapsed, they have had no interest in uniting right up to now. The fact that they have is... disturbing. As far as we can tell they just decided to unite suddenly."

"That's awfully strange..." I muttered, going over the things that might have caused a sudden change in behaviour. "Have you ruled out changeling interference?"

Luna shook her head. "Queen Alvearium is looking into that possibility but we won't have word from that for weeks."

"So being unable to confirm or rule it out makes it irrelevant for the moment," I figured.

"Indeed," Luna said, letting out a deep sigh. "Captain, you don't have two more weeks, we need your unit at the front. The guard is not up to the task yet, and won't be for a while. You'll be shipping out to Hollow Shades in three days."

I frowned as going over the basics of urban combat was vital in my opinion, doing it on the fly was not optimal by any stretch of the imagination. "In what capacity will we be operating? My people would be wasted if put simply in static defences with the regular guard."

"You are the captain of your own guard unit, you'll get access to higher command to plan your own operations. We just want you in a location where you can actually start doing damage," Luna stated, levitating out a small file for me to take along with a small pouch. "If you require any more information do not hesitate to contact me."

I threw a salute, "Yes, Ma'am."

"Then I wish you good fortune."

Author's Note

Some action incoming for next chapter.

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