Shining Armour's Military Academy

Chapter 1

Torrential rain and echoing thunder besieged the newly crafted buildings that made up the academy. Grey statues of Equestria’s heroes and villains stood dripping and darkened with moisture. The clouds above had been untouched by pegasus hooves for days, perfect for the first day at a military school. Formerly emerald grass became saturated, turning to a deep green, unwelcoming pond. The only brightness was that of soaking ponies’ manes and fur. With these pastel colours came a sea of several hundred unhappy young faces.

Shining armour looked down on his new students with a smile. He too was outside in the wild weather, wind sweeping through his mane. Already, the new students’ parents had left. Leaving behind their children to stand with their luggage on what would become the student’s parade ground. The demoralised faces of the colts and fillies was exactly what Shining wanted. It told him exactly what he was working with.

“Fillies and Gentlecolts. I welcome you all this exciting new adventure. What you see here is the  first and finest academy ever to grace the everfree forest.” Shining bellowed his words with a kind and proud voice.

“Together, as a team, you will learn to become the great minds, brilliant athletes and best ponies Equestria could hope for. It is you who will lead this land into a new age of happiness, prosperity and technological brilliance.”

Eyes suddenly lit up on the foal faces in the audience. Ignoring the battering the weather was giving them.

“You have been chosen. Not from you backgrounds, not from your talents, but from your potential. Each Equestrian, be them Earth, Pegasus, or Unicorn. Each and every one of you has the ability to better yourself and better your culture. You are all special. Cutie mark or no cutie mark. it doesn’t matter. What matters is whether you can be who you can be.”

Shining armour stood down from the pedestal and began to pace in front of the disorganised ranks of soaking ponies.

“Some of you know each other. Some of you know nopony here. Whether or whether not you have friends right now is irrelevant. I promise you with Princess Celestia as my witness, that by the first week, every pony here will not be without a friend. I also promise you exhaustion, hard work and above all else; self fulfillment.”

On cue, the rain ceased its torment and the clouds evaporated. Left behind was a beautiful warm sun and a clear blue sky. The foals already could feel the heat drying their fur and their morale rising even higher.

“Teams. Teams are how we will work. In our military academy a team are called a company.”

Shining armour got down to business, losing the ‘nice’ smile and replacing it with a devious grin.

“Our companies are comprised of smaller platoons. Each company has a name. You all will belong to one of these names: Sun, Moon, Twilight and Dawn. Know now that you will be competing. Winning competitions reward prizes, so make your friends now. Nopony will win on their own.”

Chatter consumed the silence that had previously befallen the watchful young ponies. Consumed by the hunger to win, to make friends and to talk about their excitement, they broke Shining’s first rule. Respect.

“QUIET!” Shining Armour relished the opportunity to dole out his first shout.

“Now. Ponies born in Spring, you are Dawn. Ponies born in Summer, you are Sun. Those born in Autumn, you shall be Twilight. The Winter months are therefore Moon. Is that clear?”

The Stallion had another opportunity to shout.

“When I say ‘is that clear’, you say SIR, YES SIR. Is that clear?”

“Sir, yes Sir.” The crowd weakly followed the captain’s words, some quieter than others.

“LOUDER!”

SIR, yes Sir.” A little better, but not good enough for Shining.

“LOUDER!!!”

“SIR, YES SIR.” In unison, the crowd was loud enough to shatter glass.

Given his audience now had their attention well and truly on him. Shining Armour found the silence a good time to bring up a new topic.

“I know many of you are wondering, ‘Everfree forest? Where are the trees? Why can i only see hills, mountains and only the smaller patches of woodland.’ The answer is that the Everfree forest is a massive national park. Perfect and untouched, this land can be your greatest asset or worst nightmare. You better get used to it. Tonight we play military hide and seek.

This information sparked mixed emotions on young faces and a loud cheer from all the colts. In addition to the colts, a small group of fillies also rejoiced. Shining was a hard leader, but a good one at that. He knew that games were the best way for these children to learn. This game was but a test to find those few natural leaders. These leaders would be key in Shining’s master plan.

“Prizes. Did i say prizes before?” The captain of the guard called for silence.

“SIR, YES SIR.”

“Quick learners. I like that. The prize for tonight will be... The winning company will choose their dormitory and earn one extra hour of free time at light’s out.”

Shining let the message sink in before continuing. He did not want to overload the pupils with military jargon too early, but was finding it difficult not to.

“Now. Until eighteen-hundred hours. Six O’Clock for you ponies. You are to find your Companies and divide into platoons. There are six-hundred of you, this means there will be one-hundred and fifty per Company. There will be fifty ponies per platoon. How you divide yourselves is up to you. When you are done, write your names upon a sheet of paper with your company and platoon and hand them in to me. Find me first.”

The teacher winked at his students.

“When I dismiss you what are you going to say?”

“SIR,YES SIR.”

“Welcome to the academy.”

By giving responsibility to the children, Shining Armour hoped that the Colts and Fillies would learn by themselves the importance of organisation, knowing people, and getting their voices heard. Shining was not going to do everything, so throwing these foals in at the deep end was his solution. He left out the part about uniforms for now, no need to panic the students yet.