The new year had just started and my family and friends celebrated Hearth’s Warming at the town of Sire’s Hallow. Everypony but me was all but truly happy. I just finished public schooling and was looking for a real job, so I had promised to myself that I’d join the military. I heard you got paid well despite never doing anything. But I also secretly always viewed the ponies who protected Canterlot during the Changeling attack a few years back as heroes and always wanted to be like them, so I set out for Buckcastle, the nearest town with a recruitment center.

It was January 5th, 1007 now and I was pretty nervous as I sat in the front of the recruiter's office waiting to be called back to answer whatever question the recruiter had. I was the only pony there though, which you would think would make it be a quick thing, but I guess not.

I sat there for about ten minutes before I stood up and went to the front desk, which was empty, and yelled out, “Hello?”

There was a moment of silence after I yelled before I heard a pony’s muffled voice yell from somewhere in the back, “ONE SECOND!”

I waited and after about ten seconds a pony came in through a door that led to the area behind the desk. It was another earth pony and they looked at me all confused like, as if I shouldn’t be here.

“If you’re looking for directions, there’s another building about five blocks down that knows the whole layout of the town.” She pointed in the direction she was talking about.

“Directions? Uhm, no, I’m here to join up for the Equestrian military.” I responded all confused for a moment.

The other pony looked confused for a moment as well before the realization clicked and she said, “O- OOOH! I’m sorry! Sorry! I’m sorry! I hope you didn’t wait long then!” She was then hurrying for her spot behind the desk, which had folders and paperwork lying about.

The realization came to me now that I had never contacted anypony or said anything to anypony when I came in. It was empty when I arrived, but I had sat down so casually while in deep thought, about the whole joining up thing, that I never realized I had to actually talk to somepony first.

“Uhh, yeah, only about ten minutes I suppose.” I said trying to off it as a joke.

The pony was arranging a few things on the desk while saying, “I’m so sorry about that then! I didn’t know anypony came in. Most ponies who come in are only looking for directions to someplace in the town, thinking I know the place due to being a part of the military. I don’t…” She gave off a half smile towards me before continuing, “So you’re here for joining the army then?”

I stood a little more straight now, trying to be a bit more professional now, not that this other pony seemed to be all that professional themselves, “Yes, I’ve decided that I’d like to join and came to find out what I needed to do for that to happen.”

The pony looked through some of the paperwork she had and pulled out some forums before nodding her head to herself and asking, “Alright then, I’ll need the needed documents then, which I hope you brought?”

Well things were progressing now. I had the documents; they were in a folder that was in the bag I was carrying on my back, so I quickly removed it with my VERY basic telekinesis magic and then took out the folder. I opened it with the edge of my hoof and used my magic again to place it on the desk for the pony.

“Here it is. Birth certificate, proof of residency, citizenship and my diploma from basic schooling.” I didn’t feel like going for higher education would be worth it at the moment and thought I could always get it later in life.

The pony took the documents and looked at them over a few times, now looking professional as I thought they would have been in the first place. She went through some other paperwork and did some mouth writing on some other documents, doing some file work before putting all my own papers back together and handing them back.

“Ok, all of it checks out, you can ask any questions you have while filling out this sheet of paper.” She had moved another piece of paper towards me with magic, “It’s your signature and the list of positions you’d want. On the back is a detailed list of positions you can put on. Just a max of five is all you need.”

I looked at the new piece of paper I was given and read over it, it just basically said I’d be signing up for the military, doing training and potentially failing the training and being kicked out. I don’t remember the hard details of what it said, but at the bottom where five lines and a sixth for my signature.

I turned the paper over and looked over the list that was there and saw many different positions and roles that I could take, like artillery gunner, vehicle driver, stuff like that. I just picked four random ones I thought were interesting to fill in for 2-5 but picked the normal soldier option as my number one. I flipped it back over and wrote in my choices and then signed at the bottom with the bad mouth writing signature I’ve always done
((Reference image))

How ever did my signature pass was beyond me though. Not just for this, but anything and everything else. It was so bad though.

I passed the paper back to the other pony who looked it over before looking back, “You don’t have any question then?”

“Oh, yeah, it’s just about the choices, am I getting the option to pick between those five I want?”

“No and yes. It’s the choices you want but it’ll be picked for you by somepony, but I wouldn’t worry about it. Every position is open pretty much and they’re always accepting whatever pony comes their way. Anything else?”

I shook my head, “No, that’s it… I probably was the least asking pony to ever come in though I bet.”

The other pony chuckled, “Asking one question is more than the daily average we get if you don’t count those asking for directions. We barely get anypony ever coming in to join up. No real reason for them to. Mhmm. But you, now that you’ve got all that figured away, you’ll need to do a written and physical test today to find out if you meet the minimum required score to pass before the rest of your paper work begins and you start the transition into military life. So if you’re ready, I can bring you into the back to start the written part, we’ll do the physical one afterwards at the nearby training facility we use.” She gave a smile and pointed towards a door that led further into the building, “That way if you please.”

I looked at the door and nodded, “Alrighty then. Good as I can be.”

Lets hope I pass.

Author's Note