The Equestrian Foreign Legion

Chapters

A Bad Decision
A Mistake
Surprise
Gryphons Eh?
Push Harder

A Bad Decision

Beginning Of Arc One: Smoldering Soldiers

He stared down at the beautifully written letters before him, unsure blue eyes tracing the golden sun shaped seal that graced the bottom of the contract. Nervously a shaky hand came up to brush the long red hair away from his forehead, licking his dry lips he looked up at the recruitment pony before him.

“ And this is going to be for four years, right?”

The smarmy looking stallion smiled showing off a set of perfect teeth, his long twisted mustache pointing upwards,” Of course, only four years of service and as I’ve assured you there are no hidden clauses in this piece of paper my colt.” He rapped his knuckles on said document before him,” Just the agreement that you’ll serve and fight for Equestria and her allies over the span of that time. Now, before you start getting second thoughts, I think we both know that this is the best choice you have, don’t we?”

Samuel drew his eyes away from the insistent gaze of the pony,” Yeah, I suppose so.”

“ Haha, cause let’s face it, you don’t have much of a future any other way!” He gave a terrible salesman style laugh,” Most normal ponies are either too scared or too unsure of you, they’d rather not have you around at all, here in the foreign legion though, we don’t hold such prejudiced views.”

“Anypony willing to die - er, fight for the princesses is welcome in, and those are words from Celestia herself!”

The young man sighed dejectedly his gut tightening in protest of it all as the gears of his mind clicked onward supporting this logically sound decision.

He knew this was all bullshit. The last thing this guy cared about was his well-being or future, but the logic wasn’t wrong, even if he probably recites the speech fifty times a day to everyone not a pony.

This was going to suck, but at this point it was the only choice left.

Reaching over he grabbed a pen off the table, slowly he wrote his name as neatly as he could on the line, then dated it.

The recruiter wasted no time in snatching the contract that now contained Samuel’s future, quickly stuffing it down into an overflowing brown bag the stallion gave the boy a nod,” Just report back here Sunday morning, you and the other sign ups will meet with a transport cart that’ll take you to our headquarters for training.”

“ Understood, can I ask where exactly this place is?”

He gave a wry smile,“ Be seeing you soon my colt!”

And with that signal, as well as a general need to go lay down for awhile, Samuel stood up, looking back he saw the small line waiting at the recruitment station hadn’t grown. Just a few desperate looking gryphons, changelings and a single minotaur milling back and forth.

Without a word he gave a half hearted wave good bye and walked off towards the more prosperous side of town. He could hear the voice of the son of a bitch at the station working its way into another poor fools mind all the way to the end of the street.

The Equestrian Foreign Legion, unlike the Solar and Lunar guard, was not a source of pride for Equestria.

Having been formed after the Equestrian civil war in which the demonically possessed Princess Luna waged war against her sister for supremacy of the kingdom, the legion was meant as a temporary patch. Pre civil war Luna and her guard were ever ready to answer the call of war when the kingdoms allies requested help, the more warlike sister relished in the chance to perfect her tactics and test the discipline of her troops.

Afterwards though, with her out of the picture and a need for solar troops to keep the peace in a disgruntled land, Celestia devised the Foreign Legion. A motley crew of non equestrians and or criminals led by displaced nobles and other military outcasts that would be sent off to serve in the wars of Celestia’s allies.

Meant to be a temporary fix the princess soon found the institution to be a valuable one, it kept relatively uppity nobles who’s ambitions could spell disaster for the kingdom on campaign as well as provided a means by which normal ponies wouldn’t be the ones dying in another kingdoms lands. Yes she knew it was a morally reprehensible way to fix these problems but practically speaking it was a genius idea.

So it stayed around, for countless years the army was sent too and fro, it grew and shrank at different times and never truly achieved any real greatness, but it wasn’t meant too. With restrictions to keep the size of the legion in check as well as make it hard for any one pony to gain its loyalty, the army effectively only ever did what it needed to at any given moment.

They kept their numbers up by offering double the pay of a normal soldier to offset the higher mortality rate as well as giving lower end criminals freedom as soon as their service was ended if they chose to enlist.

It was so effective at completing its goals that even after Luna’s return she agreed with her sister to keep it rather than return to her role of warrior monarch.

Now the legion was recruiting again, needing to replenish after a particularly hard war in the north. They had taken the brunt of the great Yakish raiding army and barely held out long enough for their crystal pony brethren to arrive and relieve them.

It had been a bloody battle and with a third of its forces gone the army needed fighters, that is where this story begins...

The cart that had come for them didn’t actually give them a ride, it simply dropped off a light grey lunar earth pony mare in bronze plated solar guard style armor. Her voice was deep and muscles big, the physical definition of a scary authoritarian mare. She declared herself as a captain and that they would be following her from here on out.

She quickly formed up the gaggle of non pony recruits, gave them the supplies they were to carry and harshly force marched them in front of herself.

The first day was agony, anyone who stepped out of line, got off pace with the rest, spoke out of turn, or even just looked the wrong way was thrashed by the bitch. She carried a whip, obviously not meant for any sort of beast of burden but to keep them in line.

With cruel words that cut deep into anyone with the slightest insecurity and the bite of a whip crack she kept the idiots who agreed to this in formation and moving.

Sam himself was hit more than a few times, he wasn’t particularly inclined towards athleticism and so more than once he fell behind. She would berate him, calling the boy a monkey bastard that not even a mother could love more than once, understanding that resisting in any way would only end badly he held his tongue and pushed on.

By the end of the first day his back was riddled with blazing red marks and scratches, his feet were blistered to hell and his calves burned so intensely that even the slightest movement was torture.

They made camp by the side of the road they were taking, an uneven dirt path that probably had not seen any sort of repair since it was paved decades ago.

That night was rough, their leader made herself a small tent, ate some dried food of her own and went to bed, but not before throwing them the supplies to make a fire and heat up some kind of a slop. Her last words of the night were a reminder that while they could try deserting they had all signed a contract allowing them to be jailed and even executed if they were caught.

They all understood.

It took them two hours to get the fire going, the minotaur who had claimed his hands were experienced in fire making cursed and screamed the whole way through. He was so damned stubborn that he wouldn’t let any of the others help, including the human who did actually know what to do.

Then by the time it was finally going and the food had been cooked, they discovered the slop wasn’t enough. As expected it tasted like dung, that much could be dealt with, what wasn’t easy to deal with was the fact that they had been given too little for the whole group.

Despite Sam’s pleading to one of the gryphons the damned bird tried his luck in asking for some more, which earned him an ungodly hard slap across the face and the others a punishment of no rests on the march tomorrow. The poor guy walked back to the fire with tears streaming down his face that only increased when his supposed new comrades jeered at him for earning the ire of the pony.

He sobbed silently as he sat down near Sam, the only one who hadn’t insulted him yet.

Feeling an awful amount of pity for the poor bugger the man sighed, he tentatively held out his wooden bowl with a small amount of his share of the slop still in it. It wasn’t like he was going to be able to stomach much more of it anyway.

Looking up and over at the human he widened his watery eyes, giving a single resigning nod he gave up his right to the rest of it. Hungrily the gryphon ripped the bowl away, wasting no time he ate the rest with his clawed hands.

The young man remained quiet and watched with slight amusement before turning his head back towards the fire. The company sat around the light for a few more hours, a couple exchanged quiet words but most just rested their beaten and bruised bodies

The mare in charge had not given them any tents or blankets, meaning that as the group eventually dwindled away they fell asleep on nothing but the bare ground.

Samuel was one of the last to go, laying down on his back he looked up at the night sky, the stars and their constellations were bright out here in the middle of nowhere. Soon the outlines of the mountains to the west drew his attention and before long his imagination played wildly, images of dragons flying above and armies fighting below flashed all around.

Then, just as he was drifting away into blackness, a quiet voice spoke.

“ Thank you... for the food I mean.”

With a whisper he replied.” It’s okay.”

There was a pregnant pause,“ You’re kind, shouldn’t be here at all.”

Another awkward pause.

“ I’m Gwindor by the way, you?”

“ Sam.”

And with that the gryphon bade Samuel goodnight and both fell into a deep but short sleep.

The next few days were almost the same as the first and by the fifth day all of them had seen improvement. All had become proficient in constructing temporary shelters from sticks and branches, making the paltry meals last longer with foraged sustenance and in suffering a slap from the captains whip when they messed up.

As per Sam’s quiet suggestion made loud by Gwindor during a discussion at one of the few day rests they got the recruits divided themselves into three groups when not on the march. One group would set up the fires, the second would forage for extra food and the last would set up the sleeping area.

Gwindor made a point to stick by his new human friend after the first night, they worked together to keep each other on alert during march and Gwindor could always be found helping Samuel with his camp duties. In fact if it wasn’t for the gryphon keeping Sam in line and supporting him through the hardest parts of the day the boy would most definitely have been whipped till his back was bloody every day.

It wasn’t long before Samuel’s aptitude for organization and the art of fire making was discovered, a set of skills that led to the young man being made an important member of the team. Often they deferred to him as to how the groups would be set up and when they would change duties.

This earned him the appreciation and praise of all but the minotaur who felt no small amount of humiliation at this small monkey and it’s superior survival skills. Especially after having such a terrible first night himself.

There was a palpable tension whenever they had to interact but neither ever escalated it, Samuel for fear of being killed by the massive bull and Andrik, the name of said bull, for fear of reprisal from the mare.

A sound fear, for at a previous point during the journey after the minotaur had fucked up worse than usual and disrupted the entire flow of the march she whipped him. In response he turned and threatened to take her down a peg if she kept doing it, he had taken enough.

The fool didn’t know what hit him afterwards, all of them watched with cringing eyes as she whipped again and again at his face and when he fell to the ground screaming in pain she came up from her position at the back of the line to personally back hand him.

Lifting him up by the horns she displayed his bloody face to the wide eyed crowd,” Any of you other fucks want to try taking me down a peg?”

The resounding no ma’am told her she’d sent the message she wanted to send. She forced Andrik up onto his feet and threw him back into line where some of the group members helped him keep up for the rest of the day.

None of them even felt comfortable thinking about questioning her after that stunt.

This was the standard day to day life they all faced for the next two weeks. Every day they were marched eastwards for anywhere from fifteen to twenty miles, one day they even made it twenty two miles. The mornings were sore from sleeping on the hard ground and the evenings painful after the miles crossed.

The paths they traversed were thankfully all on level ground. However that also meant the trip was longer due to the fact that it often skirted the more uneven grounds that surrounded the Baltimare mountains and the many rolling hills of the east.

As they went they passed many small villages, they found traffic wasn’t all that bad despite the local populations. Day by day oxen drawn carts would pass back and forth, carrying ponies, trade goods, supplies for the rural farms and such. Foot traffic was light as well with only ponies walking between the many farms ever being seen.

On the march they passed through wide fertile valleys, a few thick green pine forests and even over a wide fast flowing river, the name of which none in the group knew nor cared to speculate.

This was one hell of an endurance test, sure the scenery was beautiful but if it had gone on much longer Sam would have collapsed and not gotten back up.

Soon enough though the mornings were started with a thick layer of fog settling on the land, the path began turning northwards. The stench of the sea hit their noses when the winds were strong and gulls often flew above when they ate, looking for any chance to steal from them despite the small amount of food present.

Eventually the recruits had passed up the port city of Baltimare, the lights of which they could see on the horizon in the night from their camp. At this point they began to hear the sea, the crashing waves and seismic roar of the ancient body of water was reassuring to a degree.

The last days of the trip were relatively uneventful and even the pony driving them onwards seems to have lost her energy. They got to a point where the trail was simply following the natural curve of the rocky and cliff riddled eastern coastline.

The group passed through many small costal towns and villages where the inhabitants would laugh as they walked through. Older stallions and mares even asked how they fell for the old foreign legion recruitment crap, obviously this was a familiar sight to them.

Some of the would be soldiers including Andrik burst out into tears at these words, but not one stopped moving.

The next day, when the first usual break was given, just as the sun was at its peak, they finally saw it on the northern horizon.

On the crest of a gargantuan pony made hill that over looked the ocean, a large structure with an aesthetic similar to that of an Iron Age hill fort stood, this was the camp they were to be trained at.

Unlike the other military forces of the kingdom whose camps were located in and around Canterlot, the main training ground of the Foreign legion was located in the middle of nowhere on the easternmost coastline.

The decision to place it here had been made to dissuade its more unlawful members from trying to escape, as well as to keep the discontented nobles among its ranks away from any political centers from which they might be able to grow their power and scheme.

The entire complex was made up of three separate wooden walls set upon an artificially made hill, the top was leveled for the fort itself, but the approach was a steep slope on all sides.

The outer set of wooden walls had massive practical defenses on the outside, a long waterlogged ditch, sharpened stakes, earthwork ramparts within and small archer towers dotted the perimeter. Precautions on the off chance that the fort was attacked for whatever reason. Within this first wall was the main area of extensive and utterly massive training grounds as well as large swaths of barracks for the legions members.

The second set of walls enclosed the space in which more advanced and or specialized training took place. As well as the buildings in which the academic portion of training was conducted. Tactical doctrine, formations, everything a soldier would need to know was taught there. This set of walls was also where contracted armor smiths, weapon smiths, fletchers and other workers necessary to any army’s strength lived.

The third wall was the least spectacular, all it did was separate the officers quarters from the rest of the camp and housed the stores of the legion. Supplies, food and equipment, anything that might be needed in the field was kept here.

Samuel and the others however, couldn’t give a shit about any of part of the fort and how it was laid out. At least not yet anyway. The second they passed the main drawbridge and entered the gates they all had one thing on their minds, where do they sleep.

Walking into the bustling town sized fort they were led through the large training grounds and couldn’t help but look around. Many different races worked together in many different ways. Some were training, others building new obstacle structures, a few even looked like they were relaxing, something Samuel hadn’t done in nearly three weeks.

Finally, on the far side of the outer walls they reached a wooden barracks that stood in line with many more identical ones up against the northern side of the ringed wall. The realization that this was a place to sleep was immediate.

Excitement spread fast.

Pushing the door to the blessed room of rest open the mare that had taken them so far revealed eighteen identical beds all in line on either side of the structures walls. What would usually be rather uncomfortable looking beds seemed heavenly after such physical labor.

With a stern look she turned, narrowed her eyes and for a second she held their attention. None of them even thought of going in without her permission. She gave a smug smile at her effect on them.

“ Alright, feel free to take a rest, you assholes have earned it.” The captain stepped aside and waved a hand at the room. The party jumped at the sudden change in her demeanor and their previously terrible situation.

Sam’s small frame was shoved backwards as Andrik elbowed him out of the way. The rest of his fellows shoved and slammed their way past the door fighting between who got in first.

Not that it mattered, upon walking in they all just fell on the nearest bed and passed into a sleep deeper than any before.

Samuel was the last to step in behind Gwindor who had pulled him back to keep him from being hurt in the fray. Finally as the last of them entered he went to walk in and claim a bed of his own.

Before he could however the captain grabbed hold of his arm and with a strong grip pulled him back out.

Startled by the rough and sudden movement he looked wide eyed into her own big red pupils,” Don’t worry I’m not gonna do anything to you, I just wanted to tell you that I took note.” Her eyes softened and she gave him a slight, almost nice smile.

He raised his brow as her grip loosened,” Huh?”

She rolled her eyes and sighed, Samuel could see he was missing something,” You know the whole point of the stupid fucking march we just did right?”

He slowly and concernedly nodded.

She snorted,“ It was for me to see how you guys fared, nobody was actually gonna be killed if you ran away, we just say that to keep you in line.” She harrumphed,” I wouldn’t of let you all starve to death either. It was just see how well you recruits were built for this, damn cruel way to test it though.”

He slowly nodded again partly in understanding and partly in agreement,“ I sorta guessed all that.”

Her bat like ears flicked in annoyance,“ Yeah, well point is I wanted you to know I saw you organizing the others.” Her other hand pointed at him,” Not a very talkative, loud or tall, but you did good out there all the same, I’ll put that in my report for you. Should be good for you in some way or another, maybe even help you out a bit.”

“ I, uh, thank you.”

“ Don’t mention it, just try to remember me like this, not the crazy sadistic bitch you saw for the last couple weeks, I don’t actually like having to do that.”

“ I will.” He looked at her with an inquisitive face and a raised eyebrow,” You know I’ve got to ask, you seem to like a really nice pony, why is this the job you have?”

She let go of him and took a step back, her mouth hanging open,” I... holy shit you’re a bold motherfucker.”

Sam blushed and reeled back, realizing what he’d just said and how two fisted it could come off the young man stammered,” I-I’m sorry I’m j-just curious is all, you’re way different now that your not putting on a terrifying show a-and it interests me!” He covered his mouth with a hand as he once again realized just how bad all that had just been said sounded.

She broke into an unexpected roar of laughter her face changing with it,” Luna be damned, you’re either the worst flirt ever or too sincere for your own good!”

The lunar pony laughed for a good deal longer, basking in the embarrassment of the human before her as he kept silent and accepted the barrage, when she did calm down enough to speak again she continued,“ So you’ve got a lotta questions huh?”

“ Yes ma’am.”

She grinned,” Tell you what, we ever meet again, which we won’t cause it means you’ll have to survive training and a campaign, and I’ll answer all the questions you want to ask me.”

He nodded and returned a small but still embarrassed smile,” Deal.”

She shook her head and took her helmet off, the long braided dark blue hair beneath flowing freely,” If you’ll excuse me now I’m going to take a rest of my own before heading off to grab another group of poor shithead recruits like you.”

He nodded and watched for a moment as she turned to walk away,” Could you at least tell me your name?”

“ You get that when we meet again, till then, it’s captain to you!” She didn’t even turn to look back at him before she disappeared into an administrative looking building, he couldn’t see the grin on her face.

The boy slept, like all the others he slept deep and long right through the remainder of the day and night. No dreams, no twisting or turning, just the peace of sleep uninterrupted. At least for as long as the sun remained down.

At the crack of dawn the door was kicked in and a whole new hardass pony woke them up.

Another armored pony, this time a stallion, whose voice was louder and deeper than should even be possible gave a shout,” Alright you fuckers, drop your cocks!”

The group scrambled to their feet, slipping and sliding off the beds, more than one fell to the cold hard floor and hurt themselves.

The black stallion watched whole mess only to stare at the groggy, groaning and now standing members of the barracks with distaste,” Absolutely disgraceful, how many of you get up like that and think you’ll be better at anything other than leeching shit off the ground?!”

A terrified silence filled the void.

He snorted,“ Well Celestia damnit, I’ve gotta turn you pussies into soldiers and how the hell I’m gonna do it I don’t know.” He shook his head,” Alright, get your shit together, in half an hour you’ll get your standard issue gear, in an hour you’ll be expected to stand clean, groomed, dressed and in full view of the general.”

The sergeant at arms smiled at the nervous looks,” He likes to inspect all the new troops so get ready, if you don’t make him happy with the way you look or act, I’ll have to fix that.”

With a flare of his nostrils to go along with the threat he scanned the room,” Alright now, get moving, chow and all that will take place after inspection.”

Narrowing his already squinted eyes even further he boomed,” Understood?!”

“Yes Sir!” The barracks echoed as they replied in unison.

Samuel quietly cursed himself as the sergeant, who Sam didn’t even know the name of yet, came further into the room screaming at those that didn’t move fast enough.

“ What the fuck did I get myself into?”

Author's Note

Well, uh, what do you guys think?

A Mistake

Author's Note

I am sorry that I hit publish too early and didn’t catch myself, I hope it didn’t ruin this chapter too much.

Let me know what you think of the fight scenes by the way!

A Mistake

“Come on! Move your feet, like I showed you!”

“Get your shield up, you want your head cleaved in two?!”

“Damnit you dumb ass I said move! Stand in one place and you die!”

The sergeant at arms sighed in disappointment as the stallion he’d been shouting at was knocked to the ground. The terrifying gryphoness who had slammed him so easily was already looking at the crowd with vicious yellow eyes, scanning the others for her next victim.

“Okay.” The commander turned from his position in front of the sparing arena to face his recruits, “Now that our example is done getting his shit kicked in, it’s time for the rest of you to take a crack at it.”

Half of Hammer’s trainees looked at him with fear and the other with excitement. Today was the first day they practiced combat, the first bout of sparing to be exact.

Not long ago the troops had been assigned their combat units, about a third of the company was to be made into archers with the rest taking the role of the core infantry. This was determined by the need of the overall army and not by any other particular reason.

The two units types were to be split up during combat training and formation drilling so that each respective trooper was given the necessary experience.

The archer’s kits were changed from what the recruits had been wearing before, they now donned a lighter leather armor set with metal shin and wrist guards. Instead of a sword and shield these soldiers were to carry a composite short bow and wield a long dagger at their side.

They could definitely move faster and pick off their opponents but god help them if they entered any sort of melee.

The infantry wasn’t changed at all, as with other forms of Equestrian infantry, it was standardized. All of them filled the job of a swordsmen, equipped with a xiphos style sword and a round shield like the kind a Classical Greek hoplite might use. They were to act as heavy infantry.

Altogether a burly but fairly decent kit that offered adequate protection.

Over the past couple hours, after receiving their designations and being split, the troops had the first round of drilling in different formations. It was a dismal affair full of mistakes in the line, they restarted more than twenty times and at least an hour of straight angered screaming came from Hammer’s throat.

It didn’t help that the field marched on was already uneven and muddy before the hundred or so beings trampled across it.

They practiced a few types of formations, flanking maneuvers, charging in unison, the basics in terms of battle movement. The soldiers were expected to be able to pull off all of this on even and uneven ground by the end of their training.

By the time they were done though there was no improvement to speak of, the sergeant was pissed off to no end but decided it would be best to move on. They still had two months to figure it out anyway, hopefully the group would be able to get down simply marching in formation by then.

From there they gathered near the recruit’s arena, were given a demonstration by the commander, then watched the examples.

Sergeant Hammer, after the examples fought, proceeded to gather up his “responsibilities” and divided them in two. He had them form up into two lines and face one another, whoever was facing each other straight ahead were going to be sparing partners.

He explained that the pairs would fight for ten minutes a piece, then the lines would be reshuffled and the same process would take place again. Presumably to gain experience as well as learn that fighting opponents of different sizes, heights and skill levels in combat varied wildly.

Their officer announced that he was going to be perusing them as they fought, offering pointers and tips in as harsh a manner as he could the whole time.

Specifically he said, ”I’m going to be separating the dickless twats from the packing cunts and choosing who needs more in depth lessons.”

The would be warriors were to be given wooden swords in place of their real ones and sent out into the arena. They would scramble to find a spot and mark it with a square drawn in the dirt before the sergeant’s whistle went off signaling them to begin.

As he finished Hammer gave a shout and a wave of his hand sending them all flying.

Samuel let out a breath as he grabbed hold of the training sword and lifted it up off the long rack it rested on, turning about he faced his partner. A large red stallion with a blonde mane, his name was Mac or something to that affect.

Together they moved with the rest of the group and funneled through the wide wooden gate into the arena, from there the pairs spread out.

Sam and his comrade made their way to the far left corner away from the others. They drew out an eight foot by eight foot square then took their stances on opposite sides of each other.

The stallion wore a slight smile for those last few tense moments before the shrill sound of the whistle, the scar that went from his forehead to his lips distorting the expression greater than one might imagine. The young man was not looking forward to this and his wide eyes said so, after all ponies in the foreign legion that weren’t officers were mostly criminals.

The majority of them knew how to fight already.

The young man was slowly realizing that he was in for a real ass kicking, with a shaking voice he forced out, “We’re gonna go easy on each other, right?”

The stallion shook his head, “I appreciate ya buddy, that help with the obstacle course was nice, but this ain’t the same.”

Samuel gulped, “Yeah, I figured.” His grip on the shield tightened up reflexively.

That’s when the whistle sounded.

Immediately Mac came forward, the sword in his hand flying.

A clash sounded as the edge of Samuel’s shield deflected the blade, the wooden tip going right by his face as it went by. Mac immediately moved to the right, avoiding any chance his foe had at counterattacking, Samuel stepped back as he did so to reposition himself, unwittingly giving Mac room to attack again.

The stallion stepped back for a moment bringing his shield back up and again shot at Sam, only this time throwing his shield up. Samuel drew his shield up too and they smashed together with a crashing clang.

He realized too late that he’d fallen for the bait.

In his panic to stop the shield from hitting him he left his lower torso open to attack, the stallion’s other hand shot forward and he thrust his sword right under the shield into Samuel’s waist at the weakest point. The boy grunted as it collided with his armor, he was forced to take a step back and he dropped his shield low as his breath had been driven out of him.

Mac didn’t show mercy, immediately angling his shield and slamming it into Samuel’s chest.

Sam slumped backwards and collapsed on the ground, the aching in his torso forcing him to gasp for air. His victorious enemy stood over him, a smug smile on his face.

“Well I think we both expected that didn’t we.”

He bent over and held out his hand, “Come on, get back up so I can do it again.”

Samuel grabbed his hand and lifted himself back up, only to spend the rest of the day getting knocked on his ass by different members of the group.

Supposedly after enough of this you were going to get used to taking hits to the armor, at least that’s what the sergeant had told them. But in the end he never warned them how much it would hurt when they got hit in the weaker points.

When they finally stopped sparing Samuel’s neck, stomach and shoulders were bruised and aching. It was perhaps the hardest lesson he’d learnt so far, but it wasn’t for nought.

As he fought with the others he watched how his seasoned opponents attacked.

The different styles some used, what worked and didn’t, how to use his shield in tandem with the sword. He didn’t make much progress in terms of the actual combat, but the knowledge would be thought over and tried time and time again soon enough.

The news that this sparing would be done every other day till they were made into soldiers did nothing for his morale however, he may have had ideas on fighting but he certainly didn’t want to try them out so soon. The days were just going to be even longer now he guessed, especially when they were to begin sparring in formations like a real battle.

“I’m certain you’re all wondering, why don’t we use the Gryphon and Pegasi’s ability to fly in our army? And why are there no unicorns here?”

“After all why not make use of the abilities of flight or the destructive strength of magic?”

The professor crossed her arms, “I’m going to answer both of these questions today and the reasons may or may not surprise you depending on if you’re a pony or not.”

Turning to the chalkboard she began to write out a couple of different lines, the class was silent for a few moments, only a few small quiet side conversations could be picked out. Eventually she looked back to her students and resumed her lecture.

“Let’s start with our flight bound friends, but before I give you the answers, would any of you like to guess?”

Of the few hands that went up the guesses were good, but none correct.

She smiled as she sat down at her desk, “The main reason is, we do. As scouting units, occasional skirmishing troops when the opportunity presents itself and sometimes even as aerial infantry. However these instances are rare.”

“Through centuries of combat we have found that Pegasi and Gryphons tire very quickly when in flight with full kits, thus making the aerial infantry tactic an unreliable one. We have also found that mastery of the bow in the air is an extraordinarily difficult thing to do. Not to say that it hasn’t been done, but the time and effort that would go into it, never mind the money, is simply not worth it.”

“As for scouting parties of Aerial troops, more often than not it depends on the enemy we are facing. If we are facing ground bound enemies then we will most assuredly use them to scout an area, if we are marching against other flying foes, then that’s tricky. At that point it’s the commander’s discretion, if they want to risk air combat and possibly lose troops or give away a position it’s up to them.”

“Of course all of these rules aren’t set in stone, there’s plenty of examples showing these tactics being successful. However it is important to remember that they are the standard where as most of the successful occurrences we have are the rare exceptions.”

She leaned back, “That’s all there really is to it, if there’s any questions I can answer just ask.”

None of them raised a hand or spoke up, taking the silence as a sign she moved on.

“Okay then, let’s talk about unicorns now.”

She cleared her throat, “Unicorns in the past were great warriors, some even decided the outcome of entire battles. With manipulation of fire and water, earth shattering spells that placed the elements within their command and unbreakable wills these beings once formed the backbone of the military.”

“As most ponies know you’re lucky if you even see one on the streets nowadays. For the past three centuries, due to reasons still unknown despite hundreds of research groups and studies, their population has been in decline. Which for a race that’s never been particularly populous anyway, is a disaster.”

“There’s been measures taken to combat this issue, ranging from incentives for unicorns to marry other unicorns, to restrictions on them joining any part of the military without special permissions. And that’s just one problem they face.”

“Another is the fact that in recent days, the power of magic users and their ability to cast spells has been, stifled. Simple spells like levitation or magical defenses are now overly taxing on the body, never mind trying to teleport without being a master of magic and even then they suffer for days afterwards.”

“According to experts, it has to do with their connection to the flow of energy that allows magic, some think it’s possibly connected to the population problem as well. I don’t understand it very well as I never studied the science of magic, but the point is even if we could get unicorns in, unless they were a master of magic or the princesses themselves, they wouldn’t be able to do anything near what the unicorns of our history could do.”

The blue furred mare turned from the board and set down her piece of chalk, turning around she faced the class. Tapping the points she had finished scrawling out she smiled, “Now remember all this, it’ll be on next week’s test. It will also serve as a preface for our next subject today: modern combat tactics and their proper uses...”

“You know Sam I don’t get why you’d rather read those books when you could be getting some sleep.”

Samuel sighed and lowered the tome to his chest, looking over he glared at Gwindor, “Because I’d just rather? You know you’d be getting a lot more sleep if you stopped interrupting me.”

The gryphon shrugged, “I guess I could be, I just don’t get it is all and besides you said I could ask you whatever.”

“Fine, if you really want to know, I legitimately do like it. History that is.”

The bird cocked his head, “I know that, what I’m asking is why do you like it, after all you spend a lot of time on it.”

It was Sam’s turn to shrug, “I guess I like understanding how we got here, seeing what people did in the past, you know, some of the people back then are a lot more badass than they’re given credit for.”

“I guess that make sense, I’ve never had too much of an interest in it myself.”

The human snorted but went on nonetheless, “It also gives me a chance to study war and politics. That’s always fun to read about even if l’ll only ever play a pawn in both of those games.”

Gwindor hummed, “Is there anything else you read them for? Like any neat things you’d like to share with me?”

Samuel set the book on the blanket, sitting up in his bunk he looked at his friend with a raised eyebrow, “Are you just bored dude?”

“Why yes as a matter of fact I am.” He said bringing his hands up to rest under his head.

A smile worked its way onto Sam’s face, “How about this, just ask me what your curious about and we’ll see where that leads eh?”

“Yeah sure, that sounds good.”

Samuel settled back down and resumed where he’d left off, a few minutes past as Gwindor played around with the number of questions he had.

“I got one!”

He turned to his friend, “You know how whenever we take those tests we have to date it, I want to know why we follow it up with SLR.”

“Well that’s easy, it means Since Luna’s Return. The Equestrians use eras as a means to measure history, there’s four of them so far and that’s the the abbreviation for our current one.”

“Huh.” Gwindor narrowed his eyes,“Well why is it important? And what are the other ones?”

“It’s important for record keeping, that’s all. Now as to the other question, the first era is when history started being recorded, the date cited for its beginning looks like it’s hotly debated and changes source to source. Second one is when the ponies unified under the Equestrian banner, the third is after the Equestrian civil war ended and now the current one is since Luna returned after her exile.”

The raptor nodded, “All right, I’m following you.”

“Well I hope you are, otherwise I’m talking to dead air here. Hey you wanna know something else that’s sorta interesting? There used to be four alicorn princesses.”

“Really? I know there’s a third in the Crystal kingdom but, a fourth? Where the hell did that one go?”

Sam smiled, “About two and a half centuries ago, right before the beginning of the current era, she was Celestia’s prized student. Her name was Twilight Sparkle, I know, pony names are weird. Anyway she played a pivotal role in Luna’s return.”

“The mare was also crucial to solving a number of other crises that plagued the kingdom at the time, she was more or less a prodigy with a crack team of troops or something like that behind her.”

He shook his head, “Now I don’t know how it works but in reward for all her service they made her an alicorn, with a new castle and entirely new set of armed forces. From what I read she was the most powerful unicorn ever seen and as an alicorn rivaled even Luna and Celestia.”

“In fact those two were so confident in her ability to lead they appointed her princess of Equestria. Then, and I don’t know how accurate this is, they ascended to meet their mother in heaven.” He shrugged, “As a side note, that’s why they call themselves princesses. In their religion their god is the mother of Celestia and Luna, the queen, thus they aren’t actually dual queens but princesses ruling in her stead.”

The gryphon nodded, “That is actually kind of interesting.”

“Indeed.” Samuel resumed the previous thread of conversation, “About a century into Twilight’s reign a necromancer named Grogar rose up in the south. With a massive army of undead and subjugated worshippers he attacked northwards. There was a huge war, Zebrica was ravaged as he tore through it like a hurricane.”

“Multiple allied armies of ponies and zebras were overwhelmed by the weight of his numbers.”

“Following these defeats some of Equestria’s largest cities were sacked and hundreds of thousands were slaughtered, in the last battle Twilight died too but in doing so delivered a mortal wound to her enemy. His subsequent death marked the end of the war and his armies dispersed without his will to hold them together.”

His friend raised an eyebrow at him, “Gods damn, that’s brutal.”

The man chuckled, “I know, it reads like a hardcore dark fantasy.”

“Yeah, so continue, what happened afterwards?”

“Luna and Celestia returned, along with Princess Cadance’s help they used the resources of the Crystal kingdom to rebuild and revitalize Equestria. Over the past century and a half Twilight has been deified, the patron saint of magic and friendship. There’s a huge church dedicated to her where her castle used to stand.”

“And that’s what I know about that. I’m still reading though so I’m certain there’s more to it.”

Gwindor gave an approving nod, “I can see why you like history, that’s quite a story and I’m willing to bet there’s more like it.”

He nodded, “Oh sure, my people have similar ones with even more destructive wars believe it or not.”

The raptor grunted as he rose up, swinging his legs off the bunk and dangling them over the floor he cocked his head at Sam, “Have you read much about my race yet?”

“I... well, no but I’m going too. It’s next on my list of histories to study, why? You have an interest now?”

The raptor shook his head, “It’s nothing, just, you got me thinking, I’ve never heard any of the great stories my people are supposed to have.”

Samuel cocked his head, “Why’s that? Didn’t your parents ever tell you anything?”

He chuckled, “Nope, but the reason for that is a tale that includes a good chunk of my life story and I’m not sure you want to get that far into it.”

Sam frowned at the dismissive nature of the comment, “Well now wait a minute, I do want to hear about this and as I recall you’ve been asking me a lot of questions about myself recently.”

Gwindor sighed, “You’re not wrong and I don’t really mind sharing it all, are you sure though? There’s not much to me and what there is... is pretty depressing.”

His otherworldly friend gave a firm nod, “I want to hear it and I want to know why you’re here like me, I am somewhat interested in you believe it or not.”

His beak twisted and doubt beset his eyes, “All right then, well, one of the reasons I don’t know my people is because I wasn’t born in the actual Gryphon Kingdom. I’m a colonial, born in the ports of gryphon colonized Zebrica.” He gave a hollow chuckle, “There aren’t many gryphons in the colonies and those that are happen to always be two things, low life’s trying to get away from the mainland or soldiers assigned to the garrisons.”

“My father was the later, brought his pregnant wife along to live with him and boom I’m not actually a Gryphon citizen.” He smiled mirthfully, “Those fuckers and their stupid ass laws, anyway, I don’t remember much from my childhood till I’m about five.”

“When my parents died.”

“I see the look in your face and don’t worry, no need for condolences, I didn’t know them very well anyway. They died during the north Zebrican unification wars, when a large northern tribe’s chief decided it was time to bring his people together.”

Gwindor looked down, cringing as his memories came out, “The bastard was successful, but he was downright cruel, not that you can expect much more from a people as primitive as them.”

He paused for a moment, “No offense intended towards Chakris, he’s not like the ones in Zebrica, he’s a good guy.”

His shoulders lowered and the bird’s demeanor changed ever so subtly, “Anyways the chieftain didn’t just attack the other zebra tribes in the region but our holdings there too. We held on to some of them but it cost a lot of lives from what I’ve heard. My first full memory is of when he leveled my home town, the smell of the smoke, feel of my fathers blood...”

Samuels eyes softened, his stomach felt queasy, what had he asked his friend to remember?

“My dad rushed to our house after the defenses of the town had fallen, he hid me under the floorboards and told me to be quiet. His intention was to hide with my mom somewhere else but he wasn’t fast enough. I watched through the cracks as they stormed the door and butchered him, then defiled and killed my mother.”

He went silent for a moment, his head low, “I got away and wandered for a while until a group of friendly soldiers found me while out on patrol. From there it’s straightforward, I was sent away north to Appleoosa. There aren’t any orphanages in Zebrica and the closest foreign one that took in my kind was there.”

“After that I was tossed around between Equestrian orphanages until I came of age. Most others I met thought of me as a delinquent shit for brains throughout those years and to be fair I never actually was able to handle living normally. When all that ended I found myself poor and in need of work, so came here.”

He looked up with a nervous smile, “Thats why I don’t know anything about my own people and why I joined the army. I didn’t share to much there did I? It’s not a fun story, I know.”

Samuel thickly swallowed as his friend looked expectingly at him, he was caught completely off guard and pondered how to respond for a moment. This was a far more delicate situation than he had envisioned it ever being.

Taking a breath through his nose he spoke.

“I won’t offer you my condolences or my pity, in fact I don’t feel sorry for you at all, instead I’m fairly sure you’ve earned my admiration. Living through something like that and fighting on afterwords, it’s impressive and I know nobody here, myself included could ever do the same.”

He reached out and place his hand on his friend’s feathered shoulder, “All I know is that I’m glad you’re here, I’ve come to rely on you a lot.”

Gwindor smiled and his eyes lit up, “Thank you Sam, whatever this shit we’re in now leads too, I’ll be glad you’re with me too.”

The pair went on to spend another few hours of their free day talking, the deeper level of conversation that good friends often have coming out now that the possibility of it had been breached.

The rain beat down on the cluster of helmeted heads with a symphony of metallic plinks, an experience that would have been soothing if not for the squish of the mud beneath their boots.

A heavy wind was upon them, blowing the rain against their faces. It’s chilling bite cut through their armor to the bone, leaving them a miserable pack of scrambling rats eager to find warmth.

All two hundred recruits in the batch that Samuel belonged too were currently trudging through an aging trail in a forest in the middle of nowhere. The sergeant was nowhere in sight, despite the fact they knew this was going to happen before it started it still came as a surprise to not have his loud guiding voice there with them.

This was an exercise that they all had been dreading from the moment Hammer told them it was going to happen.

Blindfolded, the troops had been loaded into a series of carts before the sun rose earlier that morning. They were taken an unknown number of miles out in an unknown direction, then dropped off in the wild. The soldiers were given a single map and the directive to reach the fort by sundown.

The rules were that they could only utilize their senses, not including Pegasi flight, and the map if they knew how. There had been a small lesson on orienteering in the classroom but it didn’t prepare them for this big of a task.

If they failed to complete the objective then they would do it again and again until they came back in time no matter how many days it took.

After the departure of the cart train, Andrik, being the domineering personality he was, took the map for himself and loudly proclaimed he could find the way back for everyone. It was a predictable action when Sam thought about it but not quite so preventable.

The bull stated matter of factly that the others needed to follow him or be left behind and he wasn’t one to come back for the lost. So they followed, after all anyone who would have challenged him would probably get a black eye if not worse.

For hours now they had marched behind him, switching directions more than a few times as he grew frustrated getting nowhere.

It was sometime around midday at this point and the conditions began to take their toll on the weary troops. The onset of rain, moist smell of mud and water, even the rain in the trees began to annoy them.

They were also growing tired of Andrik’s “leadership”.

Samuel let out a surprised grunt as he was drawn out of his mind, he bumped into the fellow in front of him as the relatively organized column came to a sudden stop. Muttering a customary apology he turned to his left and looked at his friends, “The fuck is going on now?”

Gwindor shrugged and Chakris shook his head, “Don’t know, but...” He leaned over and squinted his eyes, “Looks and sounds like there’s another argument going on up front.”

“What, again?! We’ve been going in the same wrong direction for hours now!” The boy huffed, “I’m gonna go up there myself, I’m tired of this miserable shit.”

“Hey now that’s...” Chakris and Gwindor watched their friend exit the line and storm forwards, his boots sinking a good couple inches into the ground with each step.

As he approached the front others looked at him in confusion and he ignored them, instead he listened as the argument Andrik was having became more audible.

It was with... the Mac guy?

“Listen asshole, you’ve gotten us lost and won’t admit it, just hand over the map and I’ll unfuck us, no need to say anything to the sergeant.”

“No, I know exactly what I’m doing, get off my dick and get back in line!” The bull roared.

Andrik narrowed his fiery eyes and flared his nostrils, his horns lowered in a bovine style threat.

Mac, not one to be intimidated, did the same. Bringing his body lower he stamped his foot and stood his ground.

The bull recognizing this challenge to his authority puffed his chest out, took a step towards the stallion and threw the map in his hands away, it’s importance meaning nothing to him now.

Samuel, who had been watching the two big beings posture from off to the side, walked over to where the map had settled. He smiled to himself happy he didn’t have to get ahold of it the hard way.

Picking it up he tucked the now damp paper under his shoulder before turning back to the scene unfolding before him.

“Back down, you’re not as big as me. I’ll break you colt.”

The stallion chuckled darkly at the comment, “We’ll see now won’t we.”

The clearing of a throat suddenly broke the tension between the two, in sync they looked towards it’s source with intensity. Standing there was a rather irritated human with the map in his hands.

“How about instead of acting like dipshits I take the lead, because unlike either of you I actually know how to read a map.” He crossed his arms and glowered, “Or you can beat the shit out of me and at least take me out of this misery.”

They both gazed at him in confusion for a second before the minotaur’s face contorted in anger, “I won’t let you do this again!”

He stood straight and took two heavy steps towards the young man, “You pinprick fuck, you aren’t humiliating or stealing from me this time, god help me you will not!”

From the left Gwindor appeared, stepping between them he held up his hands, “Woah woah, let’s calm down here, last thing we need is a fight to break out.”

“Oh?! And who the fuck are you to tell me what to do?!” The bovine fumed, his eyes wide and flat teeth bared.

Chakris came up behind the gryphon and peaked out from behind, “N-Nobody is telling you what to d-do! We just wanted to see if we could help, Sam here has h-helped us out before. Remember on the march to the fort a-and on the obstacle course!”

The logic went over his head but the references to Samuel’s previous achievements served to enflame the bull even more.

He exploded outwards, “Go fuck yourself!” With speed he leaned forward and prepared to charge.

The gryphon in his path went to shove the zebra back and defend himself, only to watch the red stallion behind Andrik grab the minotaur’s shoulder.

The beast halted and whipped around at the contact, hatred flowing from his eyes.

Mac flinched but didn’t back down, “Come on, he’s got a point.”

Andrik’s hatred turned to incredulity, “You too? Weren’t you just trying to take it from me as well!?”

Mac smirked, “Yeah but come on, you and I are fighters not map readers. Why not let these little nothings do the annoying shit for us?”

He shrugged, “Sides’ he’s helped us before, let’s let him do this. Think about it, if he gets us there we get to sleep faster, if he doesn’t then we try again next time and do it right.”

He gave a hopeful look and fell silent.

There was a tense minute of quiet, only the rainfall present as the gears clicked in Andrik’s head.

At last his mouth twisted and with an angry grunt he roughly shoved Mac away, “Fine.”

Turning around he faced the column, all of whom looked at him with wide eyes, “What the hell are you looking at?!”

The troops turned away immediately and not another word was spoken as the bull begrudgingly made his way down the line looking for a spot to inject himself. Eventually he pulled a poor bugger out flinging him off into the mud and took his place.

Meanwhile Samuel stood with his friends and Mac, a dumb founded expression plastered on.

Mac raised an eyebrow at him before speaking up, “Well, are you gonna fix our problem?”

The man slowly shook his head, pulled up the paper and started unrolling the map. They waited patiently as he looked over the scroll, soon enough he let out a huff and lowered it.

Looking at them from over the papers edge he sighed, “I’m going to need one of you to climb a tree and take a look at the landscape.”

The trio before him paused, with apprehension they looked back and forth at each other. Samuel let out an annoyed breath as he lifted the paper back up.

Gwindor finally gave in, “Fine! I’ll do it, just remember you guys owe me for this you asshats.”

Turning to Sam he crossed his arms, “Anything specific I’m looking for?”

The human didn’t look up from the map as he concentrated on its medieval style markings, “Mountains, hills, anything that could be a landmark.”

“Okay.” The gryphon about faced and made his way off the trail. Looking around he muttered to himself then went to the thick trunk of one of the pines and began ascending.

Mac and Chakris looked at each other, shrugged and made their way back into the column.

Before long Gwindor returned from his task and reported to Sam, pine needles sticking from every part of his feathered body, “There’s a small set of hills to our east, can barely make them out in this rain but they are there. North and south look like miles of more trees and in the west there’s a strong looking mountain range a ways off.”

Samuel nodded as he squinted, beckoning his friend over he held the map up in front of them both, “There’s three places we could be on this map.” He drew imaginary circles around three wooded points on the western side of the map, “What I need from you is to tell me what the hills to looked like exactly. Their placement is everything, it’ll tell me where we are and which way to go.”

The two deliberated over the map, with Gwindor describing how the hills were positioned and where they faced. He took another look in the tree, confirmed his knowledge as true and satisfied Samuel’s need to know.

The human placed a finger on a thickly drawn forest on the north western region of the map, “Alright, we’re around here, this section of forest is positioned in the right place for the other landmarks to be where they are.”

He traced a line with his finger that went south eastwards through drawings of pathless forests and hills, “As far as I can see this is the fastest most direct path we can take, it’s not looking to be an easy one however. Our friends aren’t going to like it and neither will we, but we can be home before the sun dips down.”

He looked to Gwindor.

The raptor shrugged with a tired grin, “As long as we don’t have to do this again I don’t think any of us care how much of a motherfucker this turns out to be.”

With an agreement reached Gwindor began to move towards the column, “I’ll tell them.”

Samuel reached out, “No, wait, I can do that.”

Gwindor paused then shrugged again, “Go ahead boss.”

The man moved to the column’s side in order to face everyone and let them see him, the shivering troops looked at him with wide eyes as he came around the edge of their sight.

“Listen up! We know where we are now and I’ve got a route for us to follow!”

“It’s not going to be easy, no paths anywhere on it so we’ll be off road and in some rough patches. Then we’ve got to get through some tall hills, this will probably take us a few hours to reach our destination.”

A few groans could be heard.

“But! If we push hard we’ll be home before dark and we will never have to do this again! I know it’s hard but I’ve gotta ask you guys to move as fast as you can.”

“I know you’re all tired, I am too, but all of us got through that forced march in our first two weeks, we can get through this too. Hell this’ll be much easier!”

“So come on, let’s get this shit done!”

Some of the soldiers gave enthusiastic go getter cheers, others just nodded, none of them communicated it but they were glad the human had taken command. The honesty he gave them was a refreshing change of pace.

As they marched off the trail and into the forest Samuels voice rose up from the crowd, soon many more joined him.

“A recruiting sergeant came our way from an inn near town at the close of day! He said my pony you're a fine young colt would you like to march along behind a military band...”

The Pegasus that had been assigned to keep watch over the wayward wanderers couldn’t help but smile, it wasn’t everyday he watched a unit pull it’s shit together. Their commander would be happy to hear this story.

When they finally did make it back to the fort the sun hadn’t yet fallen below the horizon, according to the guards at the gates they were the only group to have made it back so far that day.

A distinct cheer in gratitude for Samuel could be heard from his fellows, he’d made a promise and kept.

Much to a certain minotaur’s chagrin.

“Who wants to volunteer first then?!”

The Sergeant stood tall, hands clasped behind his back. Behind him the bare sparing arena awaited the first fight to begin, signaling the next hours of pain.

Over the past weeks sparing had become the least looked forward to training. Wounds, injuries and plenty of blood filled spit made the time spent fighting even worse than they imagined it could be.

After so many fights though certain soldiers had distinguished themselves as capable individual fighters. Unlike the rest these soldiers looked forward to sparing.

Andrik was obviously among them, his aggression remaining unchecked, so too was the gryphoness from the first day. All three yaks in the unit had distinguished themselves as warriors possibly even surpassing Andrik and last but certainly not least, was Mac big and fast and ferociously good with a sword.

These soldiers were terrifying, when they entered the arena any bravery the average troop might have had was lost. Each of them loved the reputation, the fear and attention garnered was useful for getting what they wanted.

Once again the troupe of recruits sat before their officer, who was calling for two volunteers to participate in the first fight of the day. A little “tradition” that was done every time they began to spar, it served as an adrenaline boost to get the troops blood pumping.

“Well? Anyone?” Hammer Narrowed his eyes in annoyance, “I’ll pick somepony if I have to.”

“I’ll fight!” A familiar red stallion with his characteristic distorted smile stood up.

The sergeant smirked when the scarred stallion spoke up, giving a nod of approval Mac began making his way through the crowd, “Good to see you again farm boy.”

Mac laughed, “Good to crush another fool sir!”

Hammer snorted before going back to scanning the field, “Well is anyone else going to try?!”

The silence that followed the comment made him chuckle, “Well I guess I’ll pick one of you cowards out then!”

He glared outwards and pointed a finger, “You? No. Maybe...”

“I’ll fight him!”

A sea of surprised eyes turned to look at the now standing human being, who in turn stiffened rigidly at the attention he’d drawn to himself.

The sergeant cocked his head and in genuine confusion asked, “You?”

Samuel saluted, “Yes sir!”

Shaking his head he looked down, “Well if you want to die then be my guest, just come on up and grab a sword off the fence here.” He gestured behind himself.

Samuel obliged, pushing his way through his fellows he emerged off to the side before making his way to the fence.

As he picked up the wooden weapon he turned and met Macs eyes, the confusion in them was visible. Sam gave a smile, “May the best win eh?”

Mac narrowed his eyes and twisted his mouth, the smile he’d had now gone, “Yeah, good luck...”

Walking over to the larger than usual pre drawn square both of them took their sides and fell into position. Shields up, swords drawn and eyes forward.

“Kick his ass!” Andrik’s voice worked its way into Sam’s ears. His teeth emerged as he bared them and a fire lit in his eyes, the silent fury he’d kept hidden suddenly coming out.

Hammer blew the whistle and in a flash the two were moving.

Just as Sam had predicted Mac came forward with a thrust at his head, in response he swung his arm bringing the shield out. The lip of the defensive tool smashed the sword away before it was halfway to him, this caught the pony off guard and Samuel moved forward.

Mac in his characteristic attack style, had lowered his shield to his side as he put everything into a heavy thrust. The thrust that had been shoved to the side.

Taking advantage of his predicament Sam thrust his own sword upwards as he stepped, the stallion gasped and his eyes shot wide as he watched the tip of the blade come right at him.

He couldn’t lean back as his weight had been thrown into the failed attack, so with a loud bang the sword smashed into Mac’s helmet.

The effect was immediate, the onlookers gasped as they watched the undefeated pony reel back from the blow. His sword and shield dropping as his eyes rapidly blinked.

Bringing one hand up he pulled off his helmet and felt his forehead where he had been hit. Letting out a shaky breath he looked at his opponent, eyes wide, Samuel had just done to him what he was trying to do.

The human, stood there, eyes filled with quiet rage, “Go on, we’re not done yet, pick up your sword.” His tone was dark.

Narrowing his eyes Mac let out a breath and slowly lowered himself down, grabbing hold of his discarded weapons he came back up into position.

Suddenly beating his sword on the shield he let out an animalistic yell, Samuel watched in silence his shield held forwards with the sword resting on top of it.

Mac began to run, bringing his shield up he fell into a full sprint, he had the advantage of size so he was going to use it.

His intention was to bash him down and finish him off, just as he’d done with some of the other decent fighters. Unluckily for him Sam had been watching those fights.

Just as he reached his target and began to swing downwards the boy deftly jumped to Mac’s right.

With speed Samuel thrust his sword low, the wooden blade flying with a whoosh moved straight at Mac’s groin. The stallion reacted quickly throwing his shield down to try and deflect it, he managed to push it down only for the sword to hit him right in the unprotected upper thigh.

The pain was harsh and Mac’s leg fell limp, with a thump he fell face forward right into the dirt.

A cheer erupted from the recruits watching, Mac was on the ground and in pain, he had lost the battle.

The stallion’s breath was ragged, the pain in his leg was unbelievable. He had run right into the oncoming sword, he might as well have skewered himself.

As he laid there just pushing through the pain a shadow fell over him. Looking up he saw Sam standing, chin held up, smug smile on his face.

“Well I think we expected that now didn’t we.”

A soft pained laugh came from Mac, the humor of the turnabout was not lost on him.

The human proceeded to turn around and face his ecstatic watchers, even the sergeant, indifferent on most things, had a shocked expression on his face.

“How the fuck did you do that?” Hammer looked at Sam.

The boy shrugged, “Well, I’ve been watching everyone else fight for the past two weeks, watching what works and doesn’t. Then on my free time I worked on my sword play, striking and such.” He gave a smile, “Today I figured I’d finally try it all out.”

“Luna’s tits colt, that’s...” The sergeant flared his nostrils, “That was one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen.”

“Thank you sir.” The young man saluted and his commander saluted back, walking past into the group Sam was received with shouts and jubilation.

His victory earned him a rest for the duration of that sparing period.

Surprise

“The last of our classes for basic training is coming up relatively soon here and that means all of you will be taking a final exam.”

A chorus of groans responded to the announcement.

She flashed an amused smile at her students, “I know, you're all excited to hear that and I am too, but it’s really not that hard. We here in the military don’t expect you to be brilliant after all, just smart enough to follow orders and have decent judgment.”

Her arms crossed and eyes squinted, "I don't know how many of you have either of those skills but it hasn't stopped anypony from becoming a soldier before."

“The test itself is pretty easy, if you’ve followed half of what I’ve taught you at least. Three quarters of it is multiple choice, with questions on topics we’ve covered thoroughly. Basic organization, camp layouts in different landscapes, unit tactics, all of those things.”

The mare raised her brow, “If you don’t remember much then hope you’re good at guessing.”

Lowering her hands and making her way towards her desk she continued, “The last bit of it is a little harder. You'll each be given several sets of maps with different opposing armies displayed in various ways. On the back of each will be a few paragraphs detailing separate situations in which you will be given the available resources you have in a theoretical army. You’ll have to draw out the placement of your forces and then write out your plans with them.”

"The goal is to tell me how you would defeat the opposing force, whether attacking or defending."

The professor stopped before her desk, “It’s just an assessment to see how you’re doing with what you’ve been taught. In the end it’s only going to do anything for those that do considerably well so if the goal you personally have is to only be a soldier then please, make it easy for me and don't fill it out.”

She leaned back on her desk and used her hands to keep her balance, “That's all there is to that. Are there any questions?”

A couple of hands rose, she pointed to the closest one.

One of the yaks stood up and asked, “How long do we get on the test?”

She laughed shaking her head, the recruits in every class were always so predictable, the mare couldn't remember a year when that question wasn't asked, “You’ll have the whole duration of class time, and before you ask, yes. When you’re done you can leave, even if you finish early.”

This statement was met with approving nods and excited smiles from all the classmates.

The next few questions were inconsequential and filled with the standard slightly panicked jargon from those that hadn’t payed any attention over the past weeks, the ones she had no sympathy for.

The professor was glad when they finally finished the tirade of questions, giving a nod and with a wave of her hand she dismissed the class. Sitting down she kicked up her legs on the desk and watched the group file out.

The higher ups wanted low level officers again and she needed to pick out at least a few from the incoming soldiers. There weren't many lesser nobles applying for the position of sergeant at arms nowadays, especially in this army.

And this group seemed to have no natural leaders, a few meatheads that would be excellent warriors sure, but no real sergeant material. All except for the one peculiar fellow.

The older mare was admittedly somewhat curious to see what the red maned being would turn out on the exam, especially after hearing about his training exploits from Hammer. The stallion seemed to have an interest in the colt and was keeping a close eye on him, understandably so if all he said was true.

He seemed like a smart one, weekly tests always came back with high scores and he looked like he payed attention.

She doubted he could get far with the legion's biased officer selection but her curiosity was there all the same.

He would have to crush this academic test as well as get Hammer to vouch for him...

The mare wasn't going to think about all that paperwork now though, she had a date with a lieutenant tonight and he claimed to have some very nice liquor stored away.

Samuel's fellows wasted no time in jumping up and rushing for the door. The young man was thankful for this, he didn't mind the lessons but was always anxious to get on with his day when they finished.

The comrades scurried apart upon exiting the classroom building, going their separate ways underneath the overcast skies as soon as they were clear of the massed group.

The constant training, exercise and admittedly healthy albeit nasty diets, had changed them over the past months. Now physically leaner and with considerably more endurance the amalgamation of different beings who were forced to live and work together developed an abundance of energy that just hadn’t been there before.

Now they could be seen all over the encampment during their free time rather than catching up on sleep. Wide eyed recruits mingling with tale telling veterans, ambitious soldiers loosing arrows and swinging swords on the practice fields, some even did like Sam and went to the library.

Today however the human was up to something different, rather than read about current events or work on his sword skills with his friends he headed towards the tradesmen's side of the fort.

With purpose he made his way over the dirt pathways, reaching the westernmost part of the inner walls he looked about at the collection of small buildings before him. For a moment he scanned the multitude of hanging signs and upon spotting his target shot forth, producing a small bundle of papers from the front pocket of his breeches as he walked.

Standing at the door of the stone hut he knocked heavily, a moment passed before a muffled, "Coming!" responded.

Thudding steps approached from within and the door suddenly swung open, it's thick iron hinges screeching in a shrill cry for lubrication.

Within the now open doorway stood a well built but squat minotaur, with a low hanging beard and missing horn he looked like a fantasy character that had been ripped from some low effort movie or book.

"Well, whadd'ya want?" The layer of soot on his face spewed blackness into the air as he spoke.

Using a hand to waft the floating particles away the young man swallowed thickly, "Your one of the blacksmiths right?"

The figure raised an eyebrow and regarded the human with annoyance, "You can read the sign can’t ya?"

"I, yes, I can, I just wanted to make sure was all it..." Sam stuttered out.

He snorted and gave a laugh, "Right... Well yep, I am, best one here too despite what that griffon says." He lifted his arm and gave the finger towards another similar hut across the way, a sign reading blacksmith hanging outside it.

Looking away from the target of his companion’s aggression the human said, "Anyway I came to commission some work from you, if you have the time that is."

The bull made a horrific sound as he cleared his throat, turning he spit a glob of mucus before looking back and shrugging, "Depends on what it is and how much you're gonna be paying me. If it’s just to refit your current armor or refine your blade that's easy, if you want a custom set that'll cost ya."

Sam's hope for a nice price wavered, "How much might a custom be?"

"I usually charge double for custom work, triple if it's difficult." He winked with a vulture of a smile.

Samuel sighed, his shoulders lowered and face fell, "It's custom, I... I can pay you well."

Raising a brow the blacksmith gave a cautious nod, stepping back he gestured for the man to come in before moving into the abode. Sam stepped in after him, giving a few coughs at the immediate intrusion of smoke into his lungs he took a moment to breath.

When the water in his eyes was dispersed his vision was greeted by a standard looking forge with various tools scattered about.

“Names’ Mokal by the way.” The craftsmen said offhandedly.

Moving further inwards he approached a table in the middle of the room, using his elbow he swept a pile of unfinished pieces of work to the side as he placed his papers flat on the thick scarred wooden slab. Without looking back he beckoned the minotaur over as he spread them out.

Standing beside the man the minotaur cocked his head.

"So ya drew out what you wanted?" Reaching forward he grabbed ahold of the set of crude diagrams and studied them with curious eyes, "Can't say I've ever seen this style of armor before, what is it?"

“Human. Templar order if you want to get specific.”

“Hmm, these drawings aren’t great but I can see what yer getting at, some fairly complex designs.” He side eyed Samuel and pointed to the chain mail, “I don’t know if I’ve ever worked on battle armor this intricate before.”

He smiled, “It’s some of the most effective armor ever invented and I added a few extra pieces to it.”

“Aye... I also see the padding and breeches for underneath it all, made from linen or cotton is it? I can’t make that myself, yer gonna have to contract one of the other workers here.” The bovine shrugged, “Or I can contract it for you, save ya some time. Would probably also help for this cloak and uh...”

“Surcoat.”

“Yeah, that.”

“That’s fine by me, so how about it then, you able to do this for me?”

The minotaur pursed his lips and looked hard at the drawings, with a smile he slammed them down on the table, “Of course, but I’m gonna need time and a lotta bits!”

Sam sucked in his teeth, “How much?”

“Hmm, seven hundred bits.” His smile widened, “That’ll cover the material, hours worked and expenses for who I gotta contract.” He snapped his fingers, “Should take two months with all the other work I’ve got on my plate.”

“Yeah.” Samuel shook his head, “It won’t, you make it top priority, plus forge a new sword and make a new shield for me. I’ll give you a thousand bits, plus all the pay I’ve earned here so far if you get it done in a month.”

The smile on the workman’s face couldn’t possibly get any bigger, he pulled a big breath in and grabbing hold of Samuel’s hand vigorously shook making the boy struggle to keep balance.

“I’ll have it done in three weeks my calf, you won’t regret this investment!”

Chakris hadn’t been assigned to the infantry like his friends, he was assigned to an archer unit and as it turned out he was a regular prodigy. He could hit a target dead on from a hundred and fifty yards away, something none of the other archers in training could do.

The lanky fellow was so good in fact that most of the other archers followed him when they were training rather than the instructor, mimicking his movements with varying degrees of success. Others could come close but never close enough and the sergeant that handled them made a point to show the stallion off whenever getting the chance.

He had garnered quite a name around the camp because of this too, the striped equine had even started participating in unofficial competitions against some of the veteran archers and managed to give them a real run for their bits.

Right now though there was nothing as spectacular as a makeshift tournament going on, just some casual practice with his friends watching. He often went to watch them when they practiced and they returned the favor when he did the same.

A sharp twang followed by a heavy thunk like sound could be heard across the relatively empty practice range. The zebra’s teeth shown happily at the skill he had just demonstrated.

“That’s not bad, but it’d be cooler if you could hit the bullseye.” Gwindor said aloud with a slim grin, his eyes trained on the recently loosed arrow that had just imbedded itself not centimeters away from the bullseye of a target.

An impressive shot.

Lowering his bow and turning around Chakris looked at the raptor with annoyance, his thin eyebrows arched, “Let’s see you do this as well as me, then you can talk.” He stated with an unusual amount of confidence.

Gwindor rose from his seat on the bench as if on queue, narrowed his eyes, a glint of mischief shone for a second and then nodded firmly, “Alright, I will!”

The zebra’s eyes contorted, his sudden confidence toppled, “Huh?”

With energy in his step the gryphon hopped up and walked over to Chakris, without missing a beat he took hold of the bow from his companion, “It can’t be all that hard now can it?”

Samuel watched with his usual mellow demeanor, in silent amusement he smiled from his position leaning against a nearby pole as the two fiddled around now arguing loudly.

“I wasn’t really serious, give it back!”

“Nah, nah, you said it, can’t take it back now!”

“If I have to bring it in broken you’re paying for it dickhead!”

A quiet chuckle escaped the human’s throat at the scene, only to be cut short when his attention was quickly drawn away.

Out of the corner of his eye none other than the huge form of Mac had appeared. The stallion’s figure had seemingly just materialized standing beside Samuel and leaning on the other side of the pole.

With confusion and a little bit of anxiety Sam stepped back and eyed the pony with suspicion, he hadn’t even seen him approaching, “Hey there...”

The red pony gave him a curt nod in response, the almost universal male gesture of hello, then looked back out and watched as the two distracted figures before him continued to pull back and forth on the bow.

The human, still on edge slowly leaned back over, the presence of the new being putting him off guard. An awkward silence followed between the two as they kept their eyes forward.

Only to be broken by the stallion moments later.

“Ah heard you read a lot.”

The man’s blue eyes flicked over to Mac who continued to keep his eyes forward.

“I do.”

A nod, ”You read anything about news er what’s going on in other places?”

His eyes flicked back forwards, “Sometimes.”

Another nod.

“Ya think we might actually get sent out to do some fightin’ when we finish all this?” One of his large hands gestured out at the surrounding fort.

“You mean go to war?”

“Eeyup.”

Sam’s head rested against the pole, “You want the short answer or the long answer?”

“Whichever suits ya best.”

Sam let out a breath as he formulated an answer in his mind.

“Uh... I think so yeah.”

“Lot of shit going on out there. Never any shortage of foreign wars or conflicts, Equestria is peaceful, but it’s quite the exception.”

A slow couple of nods from the stallion followed, “Where would we be goin’ first ya think?”

Samuel was starting to understand this line of questioning now.

“Two places I think stand out the most. Into the north to continue fighting the yak tribes, after all the war never actually ended, just stagnated and it’s been quiet since that last big battle. Or, and this one might be guaranteed at this point, across the water and into the Gryphon Kingdom.”

One of Mac’s ears flickered.

“Ah don’t mind the cold, but that far north would be a mite too much even fer me.” He observed.

A further moment of silence followed, the sound of Gwindor’s pathetic attempts to launch an arrow filling the silence.

“Why would we have’ta go fight Gryphons?”

Samuel couldn’t help but smile slightly, “Their king is seriously ill, he’s got two sons. Oldest one doesn’t sound like a great successor, hasn’t done much other than sit in court and plot, but he supports friendship with Equestria. The youngest looks to be a regular badass, plus a decent political figure, who doesn’t feel the kingdom needs to be on friendly terms with ponies.”

“As you can imagine, the princesses are already throwing support behind the former. Not the best choice for the Gryphons but the best for our kingdom. Princesses are as per usual keen on holding up Equestrian interests without engaging in direct all out warfare.”

“Ah see.” He turned to look over at Sam, “So when ya say regular badass...”

“His campaigns to expand the colonies along the coastline of the deer tribes in the Far East have gone well. The guy’s won un-winnable battles, taken land that hasn’t been taken since the deer overran that side of the continent, hell’s he’s so good he’s been given the nickname the Duke of Death by his own people and the deer.”

Mac’s mouth twisted, the scar on his face looking even more grisly than usual, his green eyes held an anxiety that Samuel hadn’t seen before in the stallion.

“So ya think that’s the guy we’re gonna have’ta fight?”

The man nodded, “I do, it’s an almost guaranteed civil war, both want the kingship and our leaders want the one who’s beneficial for us. Trade with the gryphons is important, lots of resources on their island. The second this army is brought back to strength I think we’re going to be sent over there. That or be on standby until we have to go.”

The Clydesdale gave another nod of understanding as he turned back to the range.

The two stood once more in an awkward position of quiet. The air felt too thick to talk through and when Sam finally worked up the confidence to open his mouth the pony beat him to it.

“Ah think yer too smart ta’ be a grunt like the rest of us.” And with that Mac came away from his side of the pole, Sam watched with an arched eyebrow as he walked away.

Gonna have to disagree with you there.

“See that, I got it go halfway there and I’ve only been doing this for like five minutes!”

Samuel’s attention was drawn back to his friends.

“Stuff a sock up your ass and then in your mouth, you can’t do this at all and you know it.”

Sam’s mind was brought out of it’s contemplating with the Zebra’s sudden “inventive” response, the worry of the future that had just been building was driven away into the ether and an unexpectedly deep laugh came from the very bottom of his lungs.

“For the past three months you bastards have learned every damn thing a soldier needs to do. You’ve marched till your feet blistered, camped in the mud and shit, trained past the point exhaustion, built camps in rain and hail, you even managed to march in formation and I’ll be damned if you didn’t do well in those mock battles.”

“We’re finally at the end now and all I’ve got to say is that I’m damn proud of you, you came here looking like the sorriest pieces of shit I’ve ever received and now, you’ve outperformed all of your fellow trainees.”

“So drink up and drink well, you fuckers have earned it!”

A cheer followed by a round of clapping erupted within the barracks, Sergeant Hammer’s little speech to the soon to graduate troops brought out no small amount of joy, plus the coming alcohol. A clatter of clinks followed as kegs of cider and beer that the officer had procured for this little celebration were used to fill up tankards and glasses alike.

Samuel looked over as Gwindor plopped his body down on the side of the bunk they had chosen to sit on, “Aren’t you having any?”

“Eh, nah, I’m not a big drinker.” He said eying the tankards his gryphon comrade clutched onto.

“Suit yourself.” Gwindor replied with a shrug before proceeding to lift up a glass and take three large swigs like it was nothing, letting out a happy sigh the raptor exclaimed, “Been far too long since I’ve done that!”

Soon the zebrican member of their trio sat beside them as well, the gryphon though found the fact that Chakris wasn’t drinking like the human to be offensive and in no time at all managed to peer pressure the easier target. Samuel couldn’t help but feel sorry for the two, he knew with the way they were now drinking that the hangover was going to be no joke in the morning.

The trio was soon joined by a drunk Mac who sat himself down and refused to leave despite getting the suspicious glare of an also increasingly drunk Gwindor. The tension was quickly dissipated though as the pony quickly joined in on their discussion of the groups drunken antics when they were all younger.

The human was taken aback but not surprised by this, the stallion had been making it apparent that the initial antagonistic attitude he had taken towards the boy was not one that would linger. And thus the three became the four, whether they realized it at the time or not.

The barracks hall around them was filled with the sound of laughter, of voices telling many stories, troops getting drunk and for the first time in a while everyone there felt thoroughly happy. For this moment it seemed like the right choice had been made and all was right in the world.

Hammer moved from group to group, talking with the various soldiers he had come to know. He even told stories of his own and of the exploits of the many units the stallion had trained in his service. Eventually he made his way over to the four friends, standing by them only the sober Samuel noticed his form while the others continued to slur their words in attempts to push out conversation.

Catching the officer’s grey eyes he saw the pony lift a hand and gesture to follow before turning and walking towards the exit of the barracks. Cocking his eyebrow the boy gave the excuse of needing to use the bathroom to his friends before rising up and following the sergeants path out.

Stepping out of the well lit hall and straight into the chilly night air Samuel took a deep breath, the freshness of the ocean filling his senses.

“We haven’t really been able to talk before have we?”

Turning to face the sergeant Samuel gave a nod, “No sir, unless you count the shouting.”

Hammer chuckled in his throat, “Here, come with me, there’s something I want to discuss with you.”

The two began to walk towards the fort’s wall, with Sam lagging behind just slightly. They passed through the rows of barracks, most of which had their own celebration going on, until they reached the nearest set of stairs that ascended the walls.

Climbing upwards Hammer brought Samuel a ways out to a spot that looked over the cliffs and craggy beaches below, the crashing sound of the waves and glow of the plankton within them carried with it an odd feeling of being far away.

Placing his arms on the walls edge and leaning over he started, “Samuel, I’m going to recommend you for the position of sergeant at arms.” Hammer looked back to gauge the human’s reaction.

His brow arched downwards and his lips twisted, “What?” Confusion clear in his voice, “Why?”

Hammer smiled, “Do you recall scaling the rope in the obstacle course?”

Wariness still apparent on his face he answered, “Of course, I hated it. The mud made it almost impossible.”

The officer nodded, “Yep, just like it’s supposed to. But what you did when you got to the top was inpressive.”

“That braggart minotaur went down the other side, forgetting the fact that the objective was for all of you to get to the end. You however didn’t, you turned back and helped get others up, you might not have meant to but you proved an understanding of what it means to keep the objective in mind.”

The human shrugged, “I see what you’re saying but it really wasn’t that big of a thing to lead to giving me this sort of responsibility.”

“Fair enough. How about I remind you about the fortification project then? Your unit started out and couldn’t find its foot up it’s ass and that minotaur certainly didn’t help, but you rose to the occasion whether out of frustration or competition. Just like you rose to the occasion on the forced march here, yes I read that report, both of those times you organized the ponies around you and each time did what what was asked of you surprisingly efficiently.”

Samuel remained quiet.

“Or in the simulated battle when the units in your line were under heavy pressure. You managed to keep the line together when the sergeant was hit and the captain indecisive, then gave a well timed counterattack. You obviously understand battle better than most other volunteers. I’d say you rose to the occasion there too.”

The sergeant shook his head at the soldier, “I see you’re still unsure, will mentioning the hike exercise make you see? You literally seized control once again from Andrik and led them back here on the first day. Of the legion’s entire history coming back on the first day has only been done seven times.”

Samuel let out a deep breath, “Sir I understand, but I just don’t think I’d be the best choice...”

The charcoal stallion came away from the wall and looked Samuel dead on, “All of this alone isn’t why I’m recommending you for sergeant to the high command.”

An unsure look returned to Samuel’s face, “Then what is th-“

“More than a few of your fellow troops have approached me and suggested you be an officer, each giving me a good reason.” He smiled, “It seems you’ve inspired some of your comrades.”

The boy lowered his brow, “I... really?”

“I wouldn’t lie to you about something like this, especially when it could get me laughed out of my position by my superiors. I have to make a good argument to get you in, you aren’t a pony after all.”

“My reason is good leadership is a difficult thing to do but I think you have it in you colt, we’re gonna need officers like you if the state of foreign affairs is anything to go off of.” Hammer nodded, “Plus the word of a member of the Apple family is hard to ignore.”

Sam cocked his head, “The word of a what?”

“That one stallion, Mac, he’s a member of the Apple family. One of the direct descendents of the last element of honesty if I read the file right.” Hammer whistled, “Can’t get a better compliment than one of them vouching for you, even with his harsh temperament.”

Uncertain of what to say he simply replied, “I suppose so.” The human looked out at the ocean, “Then... why is he here if he’s from a family like that?”

Hammer shook his head, “That’s for him to say and not me, besides our records don’t get everything.”

“I understand, personal affairs are personal I guess.”

“Exactly.”

The two stood there for a moment, basking in the salty air as it washed over them. Samuel’s eyes lifted back up to the stars and he gave a heavy sigh.

“Alright, recommend me if you want, I wasn’t looking for that much responsibility but if you think it’ll work out.”

The sergeant placed a heavy hand on his subordinate’s shoulder, “I do, plus it probably doesn’t hurt that you’ll get better pay.”

And with that the two ended the conversation.

Coming away from the sea they made their way back down the stairs and into the fort, the activity from other small parties was dying down as the night was wearing on. It was easy to understand, they all still had a week to go.

As their quarters came into sight however it was clear to see their own unit was nowhere near finished. Morning roll call was going to suck, but it always did anyways.

As the pair approached Samuel unexpectedly did feel the need to use the latrine, giving a quick explanation and obtaining permission to go from his commander he took off in a hasty sprint to the nearest outhouse.

With speed he opened the door, entered and took care of his business.

Feeling relieved as he exited and closed the door the man couldn’t help but enjoy the breeze and as he walked he found himself heading off in the opposite direction of his barracks despite with the warmth it promised.

Taking in the night his mind drifted as his feet found their mark and wandered whichever way they wished.

In charge of troops... he thought to himself. The idea of such responsibility was odd, he had never considered himself any sort of leader. But it wasn’t him shooting for it, it was others who had made an effort, others that wanted him to lead.

It was almost flattering?

Even if it was only being a sergeant that was still more than he could have ever bargained for. Not that he didn’t think he couldn’t do it, he was confident in his abilities and knowledge. However there’s something about knowing how horribly wrong things could go if he made a mistake in a bad situation and he knew there would eventually be a bad situation.

And the idea of making a mistake that cost lives in a needless manner was not pleasant.

Then there was the fact that there was much more to being an officer than most realize, it’s not just leading your men but reporting to superiors, managing logistics, ensuring you do your duty on time and to satisfaction. It was less physically arduous but not by any means easier work than a normal infantryman’s.

Still, he wasn’t entirely sure what to think about it all.

A sound from behind brought the human from his mind and a large hand suddenly encompassing his shoulder stopped him entirely.

With a pull he was roughly spun around, he didn’t even get a chance to register the monstrous being that had hold of him as its other fist shot forwards and into the boy’s forehead.

“Surprise.”

Andrik’s voice graced his ears before the ringing set in, his vision went black for but a moment as he collapsed backwards. He let out a strangled grunt as his back hit the ground.

Eyes bulging Samuel looked up from the cold ground to see the bull’s powerful physical form standing over his own far smaller body. The pain in his forehead made it hard to focus and took away any strength to push himself back up.

He was completely at his attacker’s mercy, his breath quickened and throat tightened.

“You’re so small for such a big shot.”

The minotaur stepped alongside his preys body, his hooves thumping like the tree trunks they were. A loud huff sounded from his nostrils.

Stopping by the human’s head he bent down, Samuel tried to struggle, raising his arms up he tried to stop the bovine beast’s hand from grabbing him. But it was futile.

Roughly ripping him upwards by his hair Samuel found himself dangling in Andrik’s grasp, his feet swinging just above the dirt. Eyes now level he saw the murderous look, the glowering eyes and bared teeth.

“Everyone of those little dirtbags keeps talking about you, how you do this, how you do that, how you might just be the sergeant chosen from our unit.”

Samuel struggled to breath, the hair on his head burned with pain and he could do naught but close his involuntarily watery eyes as the minotaur pulled back again.

“I’m not gonna let that happen.”

This blow came low and drove into his stomach, he felt hair come out as the fist on his head let go and he was again thrown.

Instead of hitting the ground he clattered against a wooden wall with a wheeze, clawing for support he managed to force his back to the wall and slid downwards till he sat upright against the planks in the cold dirt. He was given no time before the attacker was again upon him.

The powerfully thick arms grabbed ahold of Samuel, on both sides of his body just below his armpits the hands gripped, digging and ripping into the skin beneath. Hoisting him up Andrik’s grim smile entered his vision again. He drew the boy in close, his alcohol laced breath choked Samuel up even more and again their eyes met.

“You took away the best chance I had to earn my place.”

Feelings of deep set hatred bore against pure fear and silent panic.

“By the time I’m done here you won’t be able to be a sergeant, I’m gonna make sure you won’t even be able to fight.”

The horned head of the beast suddenly went forth, slamming against Samuel’s own, a sickening crack let them both know that the human’s nose had broken.

Blood splattered downwards and began to flow, the stinging pain drew a steady stream of tears from the corners of Samuel’s eyes. He gasped for air, swallowing instinctively when blood forcefully entered his esophagus.

A terrible laughter erupted at the sound of his choking breaths, moving to the left the bull shifted Samuel around and displaying his great strength threw the hundred and sixty pound man into the air with ease.

For what felt like minutes to the disoriented boy he flew, inevitably though he came down.

Landing face first in the dirt his whole body erupted in pain with the impact, his mouth filled with wet earth and the pain of his nose increased to nearly intolerable heights as he crashed.

Blood mingled with tears as his mind raced, he had to do something, anything, if he didn’t he would die. Understanding that this minor break between being thrown and his enemy walking over was all he had to figure something out he moved as fast as he could.

Fighting the pain he struggled to reach out with both hands, grasping, grasping for anything. Clawing he pulled himself forwards, the thumping steps of Andrik approaching filled him with fear, his adrenaline kicked into high gear as his instincts fought for control.

The steps boomed in his ringing ears as they came closer, his hands swept side to side as short quick breaths came from the bottom of his pained stomach.

The minotaur stopped with a last two thunks, standing just over the object of his aggression’s waist. Squatting downwards he let out another laugh.

“Try to squirm little worm.”

He reached down letting his thick fingers run over Sam’s left shoulder, grabbing hold he dug deep with his digits, the boy cried out weakly in response. Andrik felt his hazy rage reaching its boiling point, he wanted nothing more than to crush this ant right now and he would do just that.

At the same moment as he felt the tug of the beast on his shoulder, Samuel’s right hand found what he had been scrambling for. With a grip as tight as that of the minotaur on him he wrapped his fingers around it, flaring anger started to seep into him with this new found hope.

Working to twist his hated foe around so he could watch the look on Sam’s face as he beat him to death Andrik pulled as hard as he could.

Sensing that this would be his only chance Samuel allowed his body to move as fast as he could get it to, sweeping his right arm across the dirt he gathered all the speed he could. With a deep cry anger flared within his mind pushing him, his torso came up and his arm flung as he came face to face with the now caught off guard Andrik.

The look of surprise in his eyes gave the boy a dark sort of happiness.

The resulting thud of the rock in his hand against the side of the bull’s head was deep and satisfying. Andrik let out a quiet sound of sudden surprise as he was forced to the left, landing on his side with a breathy squeak.

Returning his foes own merciless behavior Samuel forced his body up, the adrenaline in his veins giving him the ability to ignore the pain he came to his knees. Lifting the rock above his head with both hands he didn’t hesitate.

It came down fast, the impact against the bull’s side gave way and the scream from Andrik’s mouth signaled the shattering of a rib or two.

A horrible smile on his face Samuel raised back up again, looking down at the panicking bull he was met with a look of terror.

The tables had turned.

The hard earth came down again even as he scrambled to try and stop it, right on Andrik’s unprotected shoulder, dislocating it with ease, another shout of pain was let loose.

“Please!” He shouted now trying to roll away, “Don’t kill me!”

The rock came back up again and were it not for the next thing to meet his vision Samuel may have killed his enemy.

Andrik, the bull who’s body represented the strength and pride of the minotaur species, lay curled up, gripping at his sides as though it would ease the pain.

Pausing the human held his position, the fog of panic, anger and pain in his mind beginning to clear at the image of this beast pathetically begging for his life. Samuel, a human, a predator, had in a swift comeback bested the physical peak of another race.

Slowly his arms lowered, the stone dropping back to the earth as his hands curled up against his thighs. Sitting there he continued breathing heavily and swallowing thickly, with effort he worked to take account of his present condition.

The pain in his stomach was still there but it didn’t feel like anything other than his nose was broken and his head hurt to no end, he just hoped that he didn’t have a concussion. The blood was still flowing from his nose, not as badly as before but the front of his tunic was ruined that was for sure.

He groaned as he placed a hand on the ground and pushed himself upwards.

“What the fuck is going on out here?”

The brightness of a torch and voice of a night watch pony made him jump.

Ten feet away she stood, torch illuminating the bedraggled human and prone minotaur. Her eyes flicked between the two, suspicion evident on her face.

Samuel’s mouth gaped for a moment as he looked at her, this certainly looked bad, “W-we were uh, going to the bathroom here and um... ran into each other.”

She cocked an eyebrow.

Andrik for his part forced his torso up just enough to rest on his elbows, he glanced sideways at Samuel unsure why the lie was said but he kept a his mouth shut.

“Really now? I’m sorry if I’m not sure I believe you, that looks like a lot of blood and bruises from just a little accident.”

The bull looked terrible in the light, swelling starting in on his forehead and his breathing labored, “Y-yeah, like he just said.” Confirming the story.

She looked down at him, eyes roaming over the wounds across is side, “Is that so? Well, if that’s all then I suppose I can let it go, paperwork isn’t fun.”

“Still let’s get you two to a doctor, you know, to make sure everything’s okay after that “fall”.”

They agreed without another comment.

Gryphons Eh?

So fall in lads behind the drum,
with colors blazing like the sun!

The wind lashed Samuel’s unkempt hair wildly, obscuring his vision with it’s rough force and masking all other sound. The taste of salted moisture in his mouth and feel of light mist on his skin refreshed his mind, even as his brothers in arms slept he himself could not find the power to do the same with such enriching conditions.

The ocean calmly lapped in small waves against the side of the ship, back and forth the vessel gently rocked. Up above the drawn in sails fluttered in the early morning sky, the stars and half moon were still visible.

From the human’s position on the port side rail he could see the sun coming up on the horizon, it’s light reflecting on the wispy clouds that moved above the large port town he found himself floating outside of.

The bay around them was a bustle with other like ships, troops from the legion stuffed like sardines in each to accommodate the slight logistical issue of having to few ships to transport so many soldiers. Only a little more than a third of their actual strength was able to be ferried over in the end.

The town around them was active already, hours ago fishing ships had begun to trickle by the expeditionary force and out of the bay into the wider ocean where those aboard would earn a living. Salmon, cod, crab, lobster, Samuel didn’t know what they were fishing for but he knew the sea was a major provider for the Gryphon Kingdom’s population.

The locals that passed eyed the foreign ships with their cargo of soldiers suspiciously, they knew what it all meant. More pain, more suffering. Samuel figured most of them either remembered or knew somebody who was there for the last war on their soil. The one that placed their now dead king on the throne.

Major shortages, an influx of refugees, disease and pestilence and worst of all the possibility of being sacked and slaughtered if whatever side they happened to be under loses.

Samuel had read much about that war since it was the context of what they were heading into and much about the gryphons in general, they were a merciless bunch when at war. By all means, an unfortunate piece of their culture and their philosophy was the thought that mercy in battle sowed the seeds of weakness.

The explosive and unexpected sound of a trumpet calling to attention the snoozing legion harshly interjected its way through Sam’s thoughts and across the bay.

Fucking great.

With an annoyed grunt he reached down and grabbed his pack, the chain mail hood about his neck clinking all the while.

Two Months Earlier, June Sixteenth Two Hundred Sixty Three S.L.R.

“You have... smartened up I suppose.” The familiar look of disgust in the searching eyes of the legion’s general shown clearly.

His name, as Samuel had learned, was Thorne. General Thorne, as sergeant Hammer had sated Samuel’s curiosity, was from a declining noble family that had once been prominent. Prominent enough that they occupied a seat in Canterlot’s court and was even a member of the legislative council.

They were in fact a driving force in establishing the legal body, so as to make up for the loss of Princess Twilight in the interregnum between her death and the return of the princesses. The council had proved very influential and pivotal to the kingdom’s well-being following that crisis and over time they were recognized by the princesses as fully legitimate. With lawful establishment the legislative council had gained the power to vote or veto laws through the court, have a say in appointing officials and even decided on war. Not that they had done that very often.

But it had been a long hundred and sixty three years since his family’s glory days as a member of the founding families.

They had fallen on hard times and out of favor recently, according to Hammer, Thorne’s father’s mismanagement of their large fiefs was to blame for the families current fortune. His father had apparently been a terrible drunkard and gambler as well as an arbitrary spender, his habits built debts and his debts drove up taxes for his subjects. Rumor had it he would even extort the wealthier common folk to no end to pay what he owed.

For understandable reasons a bout of violence had broken out within their fiefdoms, an organized bout at that, the main goal of the common ponies involved being to remove this stallion from power. Given the situation that came about from his gross incompetence almost all of his lands were confiscated by the state and split between other noble lines in order to avoid outright rebellion.

As a result of all this they were removed from their seat in court of which only those families that hold the favor of the rulers are allowed to be in and they were expelled from the legislative council altogether despite being part of the founders. Power and influence was required if you were to understand and have a say in the future of the kingdom after all.

With little to their name left the Thorne family had been forced to take drastic measures and so here the oldest son of the late duke was. His father having died decades ago left him to move from venture to venture with the objective of making money and now he found himself here. His other family members had helped pay for his commission after the untimely death of the legion’s last general in the recent northern conflict and the stallion was given a crash course on the art of warfare before assuming the position. Word was he intended to make as much wealth as he could, at the expense of his soldiers of course, then leave.

He huffed, grey eyes flicking away, “Your sergeant gave a very persuasive case as to why you should be an officer,” He looked out at the other troops, “And I must admit you took my advice to shape up to heart, your mane and beard are much more becoming of a higher rank now and while you may still be skinny I see some tone now too.”

“But.” He stopped, “I still think your height and smaller stature may get in the way of thrusting authority where it is needed.” He turned back to the human, “Do you understand what I mean?”

Samuel couldn’t help but feel sour at the comment and the overall idea that he was picking officers off their appearance rather than their merit.

“Yes sir.”

This was the long promised second inspection, where all recruits stood in full dress armor so they could be heckled and hazed one more time. This was indeed quite the ‘graduation’.

Samuel, along with the other potential officers that had been plucked from the rest of the masses, stood lined up ahead of all the other soldiers like prized pieces of a collection. Their own inspections were far less... harsh than the others were going to get.

“Good, I’m glad you do, it’s the first step to compensating for those shortcomings. I suppose I’ll endorse this promotion, you’re most definitely officer material if your sergeant’s and professor’s words hold any water, plus you have shown improvement in all fields. And if I’m not mistaken it seems your small size doesn’t quite equate to the fight in you, eh?”

Samuel cocked his eyebrow without compromising any part of his posture or gaze, “Sir?”

Thorne scoffed, “Come now, I heard about that scuffle between you and that minotaur brute, those bruises didn’t get there from a fall of that I’m certain. It is a good idea to not have a fight on your record though.” He smiled, “Can’t say it’s not impressive, you beating him, dashed my hopes for his prowess but in my opinion a good officer should have no qualms rushing towards a fight no matter the foe.”

The corner of Samuel’s mouth twitched, “So you’ve been in many fights then sir?”

The general stiffened, his eyes narrowed as he glared down his long snout, the stallions shoulders wound up as anger swelled within. Behind him the entourage of officers including the handpicked marshals, his son, daughter, and highest paying fellow noblemen, stared at the human with wide eyes. His witty comment was understood by all.

“Being a smart ass won’t get you anywhere colt.” He growled, “If it weren’t for the lack of ponies of good stock applying for your position you wouldn’t be here, so count yourself lucky and pray I don’t replace you the second I get a chance you filthy scum.” He finished his threat by flicking a hand at his followers and continuing on to the next soldier.

Sam smiled inwardly, feeling a little pride at getting that comment out.

They must really need officers...

Samuel’s resentment of his commander had grown exponentially with the interaction and following inspection.

From the beginning the boy figured the first inspection was going to be a harsh hazing purely off the idea of breaking men down to make them soldiers, but he also thought that the last time Thorne saw the troops before they became soldiers he would show appreciation or at least respect to them for hanging in there and doing what was asked of them. But his treatment of all those around him was still abhorrent.

The snobbish judging look he bore, impossible standards he held all his underlings to and most of all the sheer lack of respect pissed Sam off to no end. He didn’t even congratulate anybody and Samuel damn well knew troopers who deserved to be given acknowledgment!

From Hammer’s description of Thorne’s assumption of generalship, to the first hand experiences of others as well as himself Samuel felt no confidence at all in the stallion. He didn’t even treat the officers well, even though some of them were of higher social status than himself politically speaking.

He silently fumed as the inspection carried on behind him. Yes he should have been happy, the promotion was approved and even if it was out of the necessity of needing soldiers days he did now hold a modicum of authority, but this whole thing had left a bad taste in his mouth.

To treat those at your command so poorly was not a practical way to conduct generalship or inspire loyalty and most certainly not the moral way. From all he had ever read and seen he knew this to be true, but it didn’t matter, they were stuck into it now and everyone would have to pay the price of having such a commander eventually.

It didn’t help his temper for this rigid inspection to continue for two more hours, even as they filed off the field he had to keep from letting anymore snarky comments slip. The last thing he wanted to do was salute the bastard.

Mac’s nostrils flared, “Eeyup, he’s’a coming round again.”

The gryphon furrowed his brows, “Oh gods damnit, I don’t care what the hell his culture is like why can’t he leave us alone?”

Chakris simply shrugged, “I’m uh, I’m just glad he’s on our side now even if it doesn’t make much sense to me.”

Samuel sighed.

Since the incident between the human and the minotaur, word had spread quickly. Officially the pair had run into each other and taken a nasty stumble, unofficially the whole unit knew about the fight.

The wounds they inflicted on each other were unmistakably intentional, and the outcome was decisive. Samuel had won, Andrik hid his pain well and pushed through it with masculine might, but the broken ribs, swelling on his head and inflamed shoulder spoke for themselves.

Yes he had just barely come out on top, but that didn’t matter. Samuel had done more than just win the fight, he had won respect and admiration from all his comrades, he demonstrated to them that books are often more than their cover. The other soldiers now looked at him with slight awe when he entered a room or appeared on the training field, after all he had done over the past months, his displays of intelligence, martial skill and surprisingly decent leadership coupled with this most recent unexpected event made him into an anomaly among the common soldier.

All facts considered he was a perfect choice for the position of sergeant despite his own personal qualms.

The need of the many as they say...

His friends had been more then concerned when they heard of it. Mac and Gwindor were ready to find the bull and beat him to death, but Chakris was simply happy Sam was okay. Now though they too looked at him a differently, that same respect present in their eyes too. Such was the result of defeating an opponent like Andrik Samuel supposed.

But it was Andrik’s reaction to losing that Samuel had been surprised by.

In the days following their clash the two had no interaction whatsoever, the bull wouldn’t even look in the human’s direction. Until one evening on the way back to the fort after one of the usual marches, the minotaur pulled him aside.

Samuel had a brief moment of panic, the memory of being jumped at the forefront of his mind and then Andrik began to speak.

“You… shamed me. You have taken my place as an officer and destroyed the fear I once made those around me feel. But worst of all you have taken my reputation as a warrior.”

“Where I was born it might have been better to have just been killed. Reputation is everything, that is what my father and mother taught me. It’s what gives a king the right to rule, his ability is only so much, the reputation he gets from what he accomplishes is what makes him powerful.”

“But you didn’t kill me, I’ve thought about why for many hours now, in my land most would have. When I decided that it must be because you are not of my land I wondered what I should do now that I’ve lost all that made me who I was.”

“That is why I have decided I will follow you. My ancestors will want me to, to fight for someone with a reputation like your’s would be a worthy thing and I think whatever happens in the coming moons will build me an even better reputation than before. It may even wipe away my shame.”

“Together we may have more amazing fights and deeds to our name than any others in this army. It would please not just my family, but the gods too.”

Then he did something even more unexpected, he bent down to one knee and lowered his horned head.

“I will, like everyone else, tell the sergeant that you are suited for duty. I will request to march under your orders if you do become an officer. Please forgive my actions in the past, I didn’t know the kind of bull you were, I am now here to fight for you.”

The change in composure, thought out speech and complete one eighty in attitude made Samuel’s head spin. He had simply stared at the bowing beast with a hanging jaw.

In the end all he could do was stammer out an, “Okay.” in response and since then it was exactly as Andrik had promised.

The bull accompanied the man everywhere, showing him the utmost respect and keeping more quiet than he had ever been before in the three months of training. He even disregarded the perplexed yet hostile attitude of Gwindor with a surprising amount of grace.

In the end his presence was somewhat annoying but tolerable, the friends were all somewhat confused by the whole thing but agreed with Mac when he said, “Ah guess it’s just the way them minotaurs are.”

Samuel was still unable to really comprehend just how bizarre it all was, so he went with it too.

“Well whatever, we just got through all that inspection bullshit, I’m not letting him kill the mood.” Reaching back to the table the gryphon grabbed hold of the deck of cards and took them out of their case.

“Ah agree, so then how much we betting?”

“As much as you’re willing to lose buddy.”

Mac gave a grin, “Yer on.”

The gryphon wore a focused gaze as his claws expertly split the deck and spliced it back together, with satisfying sharp flaps he flicked card after card out to each of them at the table. Then, as though for show, stopped to shuffle them again, the clapping of the cards still retaining its aesthetic nature as he shot them together.

Before long all of them were transfixed on the raptor’s long thin claws and their expert ministrations. When he’d finally dealt them all a hand, none of the others had wanted him to stop.

“All right, we’re good to go, you all got enough cards?”

Chakris was the first to respond, “Yes but uh, where did you get so good at that?” He pointed at the remainder of the deck.

“Yeah I will admit that was a pretty impressive little card show you gave us.” The human followed up.

“Where I learned it?” The gryphon paused eyes moving down to the cards and brow raising, “Well I mean, I guess I’ve had a lot of practice.”

His clawed hands came down to rest on either side of the table and his beak twisted slightly, “Used to watch the older kids in the orphanages I was moved through play with em’ and you know, I picked it up.”

A slight smile formed on his face, “None of them ever liked me or tried to be friends with me, probably cause I kicked their ass in every scrap we had. Which was a lot. But when I learned to do the card thing that made even the ones that hated me the most wanted to watch.”

“Before long I dealt the cards for most of the games we played whether I was in or not because they wanted to watch me. It gave me the time and extra practice to add some of the fancy little tricks.”

Gwindor looked back up out of his memory and shrugged, “Just a little thing.” He held up a card, flicked it up in the air before catching it in his claws and flexing it back and forth.

Samuel nodded, “Yeah I get it’s not big, but it’s a cool little talent.”

“Eeyup, n’fact Ah’d say ya got a lotta slight’a hand talent, I should know after all the times Ah played and got cheated.” Mac laughed with a hearty smile.

Gwindor raised an eyebrow, “You’ve played a lot of Appleoosa hold em?”

Mac’s toothy smiled died down a little, “Yep, Ah have, but not by choice if Ah gotta be honest.”

His demeanor darkened slightly, “In prison, they had’ta let us out once a day er so, give us time ta’ see the sun and move.”

“So we got let out’ta our little underground dungeon cells and they would let us sit in the courtyard of the castle we was kept in.” He laughed darkly, “Not much to do ta’ pass the time other than sit and go insane, work out with those death trap machines they had or play cards. If somepony could get ahold of em’ we’d wear the deck out fore’ they was confiscated.”

He absentmindedly reached up with a hand and placed it over his defining scar, “That's what we did between all the fights at least.”

Lowering the hand he continued, “But yeah, Ah played a lot, got cheated outta mah rations a lot too, till I figured out which of em’ was cheating bastards. A few good head thumpings later an’ I didn’t need ta’ worry bout’ any more cheating.” His smile returned completely and his green eyes brightened.

“Yeah, I know how that is, I was one of those cheating bastards myself most of the time.” The gryphon laughed and his comment drew a little chuckle out of Mac as well.

Chakris stared down as the others laughter died down and they began to look over their hands, in the momentary quiet between conversation he suddenly spoke up, his light wavering voice catching attention, “Each of you guys have such tough backgrounds, I... I feel like I’m useless next to stallions that can walk the walk and talk the talk.”

Mac lowered his hand, looking over he raised an eyebrow and shrugged, “Ah don’t see why you’d feel that way, y’all aren’t exactly as big as me n’ feather brain here sure, but at the same time y’all could pick us off fore’ we even had a chance to git’ ya.”

Gwindor nodded with a sigh, “He’s right, I hate to admit it but I couldn’t use that bow for shit and from what it looks like even the other archers aren’t nearly as good as you.”

“I,” The zebra hesitated, “Suppose that’s true. But I just...” He sighed, “You guys are all the right type to be a soldier and me, well, I can’t even say no to my parents.”

Now Samuel looked up too, “What exactly are you getting at?”

He shook his head, “Nothing, nothing, I’m just anxious, I’ll be fine.”

They watched as he lifted up his cards and hid his face behind them, each shared a glance with one another and shrugged it off. Must be a sore spot.

So they began.

Andrik sat on a nearby bench as the group played, quietly watching and waiting. No attention was given to him but there he stayed all the same.

Before long, as the games continued and money was bet only to be lost, a distinct pattern of Gwindor winning and everyone else losing emerged.

It culminated after a particularly good hand failed to defeat the raptor’s own and Mac exploded.

“Celestia’s sake, yer cheating ya feathered shithead!”

The gryphon’s beak turned upwards in a slick smile, “Of course I am, you would be too if you were any good at it.”

“Go fuck yerself.” Mac grumbled with a death glare.

The zebra to their side chimed in, “Yeah even I figured that out a while ago Mac, nobody wins that many games in a row, it’s just not probable.”

Mac raised an eyebrow and looked at him with a sneer, “Y’all better shut the fuck up, I don’t have ta try as hard ta kick yer ass as I do him.”

Chakris lowered his head and shoulders, “Jeez.”

Mac looked back to Gwindor, “Well come on, deal me in, Ah didn’t say we were done.”

“Gladly, you still in Sam?”

The man shook his head, “No, I don’t think so, I’m not big on losing more money.”

He pushed himself away from the table and stood up, “I’m gonna go get something to drink, you guys go ahead and keep playing I’ll be back soon.”

“Alright, sounds good.” Gwindor went back to shuffling the deck.

The recently promoted sergeant’s footsteps echoed through the empty barracks as he walked, they stopped, then came the sound of the door opening and closing. Only the flapping of the deck and steady breathing of those remaining was left to be heard.

“Chakris?”

“Y-yeah?”

“Ah’m sorry for getting mad at ya, just... got frustrated.”

“It’s okay, I get it. Gwindor is kind of an asshole for cheating.”

He ignored the look of indignation.

“Heh, he is, but... just so ya know Ah understand fighting with yer family and all if’n thats what was bugging ya. Ah got a big ol’ demanding one mahself, so Ah really get it.”

“...Thanks Mac.”

“Course.”

The next round was slow, quiet, Mac silently kicked at Gwindor’s knees the whole time making him jump and each time he jumped the grin on Mac’s face grew. Soon the door opened and closed again as the human returned.

His steps, more staggered this time approached the table and with a grunt followed by a heavy thud he interrupted the ongoing competition as their table shook.

They looked up about to protest when their eyes landed on what he had set down between them all.

Gwindor’s eyes grew nearly as wide as the joy gracing his features, “How in Equis did you get ahold of that?!”

Sam smiled back, “Got Hammer to set one aside for me in case I got promoted, officers privilege and all, figured we could use it to celebrate getting through.”

“Damn straight we can! Come one Chaky my friend help me grab some mugs!” It wasn’t long before enough mugs were gathered and the keg of beer Samuel had “requisitioned” released its precious golden fluid.

Handing out the foam topped mugs Samuel gave an appreciative smile and held up a hand, signaling them to keep on their feet until each had a serving.

When all was ready he stood at one side of the table and took a mug even for himself, then began to speak, “You guys are my friends, even if some of us started out as enemies.” He shot a playfully accusatory glance at the stallion, “We are friends.”

“Gwindor you’re the first creature on this goddamn planet to show me any sort of friendship and I’ll be honest I might of deserted if you hadn’t of kept me on my feet in those first weeks.”

The gryphon smiled and raised his mug accepting the words.

“And Chakris, you’ve also been by my side since I got here, I appreciate how sincere and decent you are, especially next to the Gryphon here.” He laughed, “You’ll be a good soldier, trust me, I wouldn’t want anyone else at my back. You’ve got more loyalty and brains than even me.”

Finally his eyes landed on Mac, who looked at him with a raised eyebrow, “And you, farm boy, no idea why you’re here but I’m damn glad you’re on my side!”

They shared a laugh and with a clunk of their mugs they toasted and Samuel’s voice rang out, “To my friends, may we fight side by side and not a one be wounded!”

He tipped his beer back and promptly choked the alcohol back up.

With a shake of his head and wave of his hand he dismissed the others antagonizing laughter, “I-I don’t really have any other way to pay you back for all you guys have done for me, so I hope this will do.”

And it was true, without them he wouldn’t be a sergeant, probably not even a soldier. Each of them had been instrumental in his accomplishments and he wanted them to have their credit, their recognition.

It’s what they deserved.

He felt real happiness for the first time in a long time as they gulped away, their faces alight and eyes shining. For a moment worry for the future crept in, flashes of imagined battles, but he quickly banished them.

Then another altogether different thought occurred to him. Lowering the mug of alcohol he wouldn’t be able to down no matter how hard he tried he turned around and looked at the only other being in the room.

“Hey, you!”

The dozing minotaur jumped, his wide eyes meeting Sam’s.

“I have no idea why you’re here or why you have this weird idea of reputation but how about instead of being quiet in the corner you have a drink with us?”

A series of emotions flashed across the bull’s face, eventually settling on a cautious smile he warily stood up and made his way over.

Gwindor and Mac might have protested if they weren’t too busy chugging another round.

A knock came at the door.

“Come in.” The regal soothing voice called out, the powerful aura of ethereal nature that always surrounded her echoing even in her voice.

It opened and a well accustomed visitor entered. She allowed a small cordial smile.

“What brings you here at such a late hour sister?”

Her companion glanced about the room, scanning the documents she had just been examining, “I knew you’d be up, I come bearing grave news.”

Her smile faltered, the look on her sibling’s face told of misfortune.

“I believe I can guess as to what it is if our recent fears are any indication.”

“Yes, that barbarian has finally died and, of course, his sons have already declared their intention to fight for the throne.”

She hummed, “This... is indeed bad news.”

“The letter claims it was a painful passing, I take comfort in that, however I came to discuss what our course of action shall be not to celebrate the death of a monster.”

She chided, “Dear Luna we must not be happy at his death, yes he was not a being worth mourning but still. As to what we shall do...” The angelic being leaned back in her large cushioned chair and rested a hand on her desk, “What do you have in mind?”

Her warlike sister scowled, her deeper more authoritative yet still otherworldly voice bore malice, “I would suggest annexation as I have many times before but I doubt you should be of like mind.”

Celestia, a being whose magical power and political experience stood unmatched through the halls of time, giggled.

“No I am forced to agree with your assessment, I don’t believe that shall be our next action. The logistics alone are not possible to pull that off and the benefits of annexing the island would not be worth the cost.” She leaned forward, “What we will do is going to be a little more subtle than invasion.”

“Let me guess, send your pitiful foreign legion?”

“Yes, exactly. Meet our obligations and hopefully secure our interests.” Celestia smiled, “I know they are not an army that wins often, but alongside our allies I believe they may be able to place the... safer son on the throne.”

The deep blue of Luna’s fur shone sparkling in the moonlight that fell in from the window, her deep mysterious eyes looking away from Celestia, “I know that is the purpose of the legion, to preserve our best troops strength at home, but I feel our military here is badly hampered by the utter lack of experience, experience they could gain in this conflict.”

“Besides,” She continued, “We must guarantee he takes the throne, his brother... his brother has all the strength of his father alongside a brain this time. And with his view of our meddling in his lands, well, he would make a formidable foe. I would like to ensure his downfall if possible.”

Celestia’s face turned down, “You know why we can’t send anything else.”

“Goddess damnit, I know exactly why, I simply hate being so cautious, so worried over some prophecy that we no longer exercise our full potential!” She huffed, “It’s almost a worse death for our people to fade away too scared to do anything than to face the possibility of a coming storm.”

“Luna it is going to happen, you know what mother told us... we must prepare for them. Our time is almost up, we won’t be able to help, our little ponies are maturing and mothers gifts are fading. They will-“

“Need all the strength they can get I know.” She shook her head, waving the starlight of her mane with the motion, “Very well, I will send orders for the legion to move at once.”

Celestia’s face brightened again, a fine juxtaposition to Luna’s still annoyed expression, “Good! Thank you sister.”

“Yes, yes.” Luna turned about and marched her way back to the door, gripping the handle she paused and looked back, “I hope you’re sure of our course sister, I do not wish to disobey mother, our ponies need for leadership is great but so too is their need to become self reliant...”

She left without another word leaving Celestia to sit in dark silence.

”When he returns they must be ready, they must be.”

The news broke out nearly a month after Samuel had finished basic training. He had been with the other newly minted sergeants undergoing logistical training for their units when a runner burst into the room.

“The gryphons are at war, we’ve been ordered to their aid as soon as possible!”

Even though he had expected it and many of those that listened to him talking about his expectations weren’t surprised either, the announcement still served to shock them. The rest of their officer training over the next month was a blur, sped up by high command to rush them out in time for the upcoming campaign.

Hell only a week before Samuel left he was assigned his unit of twenty troops, as expected most of those he had trained with were in it. Including Chakris, Mac, Gwindor, Andrik, the gryphoness who had dominated the sparring field, her name was Yara, the three yaks who he came to learn were all siblings, Rayvik, Yukon and Mager. In the end only one of the soldiers placed under his command was from another batch of recruits, one he recognized as the poor changeling girl who got the shit slapped out of her.

The sudden campaign preparations were swift and disorganized. Civilian ships were requisitioned to make up for the small Equestrian naval detachment they were sent for transport, most ended up being too small and the logisticians struggled to secure not just transports but supply ships too. On top of that nightmare there were still troops that had not been assigned a unit scrambling to figure out where they were supposed to be up until the day of departure. The newer officers were routinely unsure of their orders, almost always ending up in the wrong place with the wrong unit.

Worst of all, the leadership. After giving the orders to move out and leaving it to the inexperienced to organize it did hardly anything other than look confident in their shambling corpse of an army. The utter organizational failure of this military undertaking was a disaster and should have been stopped in its tracks. But it wasn’t.

The day they departed it had been cold.

The ports of Baltimare were the jumping off point into the Celestial sea in this section of the kingdom and this was were the portion of the army that was going to be sent gathered.

Standing on the shoreline near the piers as his men waited to be given the go ahead to board a ship, Samuel couldn’t help but feel anxious. The sound of the gravel beneath his feet as he paced, the roar of the waves all about him, neither of these traditionally calming things helped to unknot his stomach.

His mind had raced beneath the calm features of his face that day, questions as to why he was here, was this all worth it, did he really have any chance of surviving considering the history of this army. Had it not been for Gwindor’s steadying hand landing upon his shoulder Samuel may have worked himself into a panic.

Nevertheless after hours of waiting their lieutenant finally showed up and with a barked order they obediently clamored onto a ship, not one of them knowing if they would ever return.

The voyage itself wasn’t particularly bad, the winds were strong and favorable, as was the water itself. It was crowded below and above deck but the soldiers seemed to remain docile despite being forced together. Samuel speculated that the realization that they were heading into combat might have brought about thoughts of their own mortality, which was a line of thinking strong enough to keep most people down.

The trip only took three days, it could have been a day faster if the ships weren’t so heavy with living cargo.

When they finally reached the port town of Talon Point, a decently sized settlement on the westernmost tip of the Gryphon Kingdom, it was almost relieving. They had at least made it that far without any disasters befalling them.

After unloading from their transports the army regrouped in the town while their commander met with a party of their allies. From there they began to march with the goal of linking up with the allied gryphons.

A cold wind bit at the legions heels as they exited the town…

“Hey! Get your ass in gear, last thing we need is a real officer up our ass!”

“Yes sir!” The changeling picked up her pace, catching up with the rear of the column.

Samuel smiled as she followed his orders, his unit was now all together, organized to a T and marching in a double column. Alongside the other units that constituted the expeditionary army their march under the early morning sun almost made it look like they knew what they were doing.

Himself marching with his troops the human kept them on the track, turning and maneuvering the force in the right direction when needed. One of his duties was to help ensure the unit kept up with the overall movement of the army.

He was glad for commissioning the cloak that now rested about his shoulders, it’s thick copper colored fabric kept the cold out well. The armor altogether fit perfectly, it's quality apparent in every aspect, from the fitting of the nasal helm to the tight knit chainmail, the thickly woven padding to the hefty shield, he was glad to have spent such an investment to get it.

Their forces were headed up along the coast, following a dirt road that was to take them to the capital Griffonstone where the allied Gryphons waited. The plan was to unite the armies before heading east as fast as possible with hopes to contest their enemy's landing, seemed ambitious to Sam but orders were orders.

They marched on high ground, on cliffs that overlooked the sea and ran along the entire island's western shoreline from south to north. The wind was even worse up here then out on the sea, so harsh that the soldiers were having trouble keeping their eyes open and their marching pace when it's gusts blasted by.

Samuel wondered how the few bent and wind shaped trees they passed managed to survive so long in these conditions.

Stopping for but a moment he looked to stare back along the barren wind beaten landscape and muttered to himself.

"Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies..."

Push Harder

Author's Note

I am sorry for how long this turned out to be. Got lost writing for a while. If you like it give it a like and comment what you like so I can keep it up for you guys. If not then feel free to give it a downvote.

Push Harder

“And what do we have here?” A loud and exaggerated hum sounded from the stallion’s throat, "Another weak willed desperate Changeling?"

"Y-Yes sir!" The insect saluted.

A loud smack resounded, the sound echoing across the silent field. Samuel could almost feel the sting.

"Did I say you could answer me worm!? And for Celestia’s sake, salute with the right arm you damnable fool!" The tall and imposing figure turned to his entourage of marshals and captains, "The nerve of this is not to be overlooked! Anymore of these mistakes and I will punish all of you. Am I clear!?"

A terrified chorus of yes sirs was shouted in unison.

His glowering eyes ripped into his staff like daggers, "Good, I want no more of this, now let’s continue."

The sad bastard who'd been hit, to her credit, didn't make a sound. Tears streamed down her face over the now cracked chitin shell but she kept her posture straight, chin up and eyes forward.

With slow and deliberate marauding steps down the line the general of the Equestrian Foreign Legion continued tormenting his underlings.

"A minotaur I see." Andrik kept silent as he had been instructed, "Not many of you join, so why have you? Not that it matters I suppose, you're quite big for one of your kind." The high ranking officer reached out and gave the bovine's exposed muscular bicep an invasive squeeze, "You’ll be useful in battle, I can feel it. Now please, show me you can salute correctly unlike your comrade."

The minotaur wordlessly obeyed, he gave a full proper salute, his legs clamping and heavy fist slamming into the bronze colored breastplate upon his chest. The boom of the metal was impressive.

His observer gave a small and conceited smile, "Well done, I look forward to seeing you on the field.”

He made a point to again look back to his fellows, “This one can salute correctly, if the rest of them can’t do it this well by next inspection replacements to your positions will have to be made.”

They nodded solemnly at his thinly veiled threat.

It had been almost an hour since the general began his "inspection", as expected it was nothing more than an intense unnecessary hazing process for soldier and officer alike. The general, who Samuel was certain was a wealthy noble that had bought his way into the position, was a middle aged pony.

His fur was chalk white and short cut mane a deep grey. He wore armor similar to what the rest of them had been issued only well fitted and embroidered with gold along all the edges and muscle indentations.

The noble, as Samuel had noticed, seemed to be more concerned with the the appearance of his men than anything else. As he marched up and down the lines he made a point to tell troops to freshen up better, others to cut their hair or shave their beards, he even asked a few why they had even joined if they were unable to look good for inspection.

Seeing how well he groomed himself and how loftily he acted the young man suspected the general fancied himself a master chess player. One that needed his pieces to be uniform perfect just like him.

Any mistakes made in answering questions, saluting or even standing the right way by the nerve wracked solders were punished without mercy. Ruthlessly he would slap, kick and punch anyone who had the gall to falter in any way. A few even made him so enraged when they tried to explain themselves or talk back that he unsheathed his short sword and hit them with the flat side of it.

The sadistic son of a bitch even had one of the troops, who kept attempting to stutter out an apology with every mistake, taken away to be locked up in the fort’s hold for the rest of the day. Somehow that was going to help him understand how to behave the right way in the presence of an officer.

The knowledge that this was to be his commander for the next four years gave Samuel a queasy stomach. He could only imagine how bad it would be if they actually went to battle under this guy.

At least two hundred recruits had arrived the same day as Sam's group, all in different sized sets. Lots of different types of peoples had coalesced here, gryphons, zebras, changelings, crystal ponies and even a few yaks.

Alongside all of this multiple cartloads of low level pony criminals had been dropped off too, choosing to serve their court sentences here rather than in some dark dungeon. Which one was the better choice though that was a definite debate to have.

Altogether the six rank deep formation of would be warriors was one of the most diverse and patchwork groups he had yet seen in Equestria. Hell, some of the foreigners could barely speak Equestrian all that well, but they sure as shit knew not to mess around right now even if they couldn’t understand what exactly was going on.

Because he was so busy torturing the crowd it took the general a full half an hour after interacting with Andrik to near Samuel's position in the ranks.

He stood in the fifth row back, towards the right end of the line. Gwindor steadily waited at ease to his left and to his right a tall lanky zebra stallion who looked, understandably, more scared than a fly in a spiders web, shook in fear.

The closer their commanding officer came the more the zebra panicked. His posture, beginning to falter, drew Samuel’s attention.

For a moment he watched, then the sod even began to quietly hyperventilate. Feeling an unfortunate bout of compassion, he hoarsely whispered, “Hey, it’s okay, we’re all in this together. Just gotta do what the sergeant said and you’ll be fine.”

The zebra looked startled for a second, then sending a side eyed glance over towards the hairless ape, he confirmed that it had been talking to him. A small shaky nod was given to show understanding of the human’s words.

Deep breaths came from his mouth as he slowly calmed himself, forcefully holding his arms at his sides and keeping his back straight he managed to pull himself back into an almost proper stance. It wasn’t great but far better than the degenerating situation he was in just before.

The striped equine managed to come together in time for the general to reach Gwindor down the line.

“Another gryphon? So many of you joined up, I suppose the warmonger reputation must be true.” He rapped his knuckle on the bird’s helmet, “Can’t help joining an army no matter where you are eh?” Not having been looked in the eyes when he was asked the question Gwindor didn’t respond.

“Now, since I’m certain you’re dying to ask, if we take a city or win a battle I’ll have no indecency. I’m not like some of the barbaric commanders famous in your homeland, no looting, pillaging or raping is to take place at all.” He gave a small chuckle, “Of course, by the time we’re done making you battle worthy you’ll be to busy fighting and dying for anything like that to happen.”

His demeanor sporadically changed back to the harsh disciplinarian when the gryphon remained resolute, “Give me a salute.”

The raptor complied immediately, his salute was prompt and adequate so the general, seemingly satisfied, payed him no more mind.

Another couple steps forward and he stood before Samuel.

His eyes narrowed and head twisted, “What in the Tartarus damned hell are you? Never seen anything like you before, like some kind of monkey.”

He had looked down right into the boys eyes, “A human sir.”

The interrogation continued as he raised an eyebrow, “A what? Hu-man did you say?” He shook his head, “Never even heard of anything like you.”

He gave an exaggerated look up and down, “Can’t say your making a good first impression for your kind though human. Skinny, short, raggedy.” He reached and grabbed hold of Sam’s chin, pulling his face from side to side the General continued, “You’ll have to cut the long hair and shave this filthy beard.”

A sigh came from him, “So what is your name then?”

“Samuel sir.”

“And what are you good for Samuel?”

“History sir, military history specifically. My own people’s of course.”

“Hmm, why would something like you join my army then?”

“My expertise isn’t much good for making a normal living in Equestria and since I’m not much good at anything else I joined up.”

The stallions eyes narrowed, “So you’re completely useless at everything important and decided to mooch off of our good graces here to make some money? That’s what your saying?”

The human kept his eyes forward and mouth shut, he silently resigned himself to his fate.

“You selfish fuck!” The generals arm exploded from his side and the tightly clenched armored fist it carried slammed into Sam’s stomach with a heavy thud. The young man gave a wheeze and fell forward.

With the wind knocked out of him he barely managed to land on his knees, his mouth gaped as he gasped rapidly struggling to pull in oxygen.

Gwindor watched with horror, two rows forward Andrik smiled smugly.

The white stallion, standing over the struggling boy, roughly grabbed hold of Samuel’s hair and lifted his head up, “You join the army in such a sorry state and expect us to just accept and fix you?! Why?! How are you going do in battle if we suddenly had to march off to fight, how are the people standing next to you going to know they can depend on you?!”

With a frustrated shout he ripped a handful of red hair out, “Fuck, at least have the strength to get back in line maggot!”

Wheezing and struggling Samuel fought the pain as best he could, slowly he shakily rose upwards working to follow his orders. Still doubled over he got to his feet and took a few tentative steps backwards, involuntary tears fell off his face onto the ground.

The general continued shouting as he watched, “Now I don’t care who or what you are, but if by my last inspection you still happen to be so weak, I’ll throw you out of the gates to fend for yourself with my own bare hands!”

Samuel nodded, the air, slowly coming back to him, allowed the boy to push out a final, “Yes sir.” And in a tremendous display of willpower pushed his upper body up to give a salute.

His legs came together and his fist made a strong heavy sound on the chest plate.

This gave the general pause, for a moment he eyed the stance, the sudden change was unexpected. He harrumphed, shook his head disapprovingly and resumed his forward march to the next one in line.

There were a few mess halls in the fort, after all one wasn't enough to feed the maximum capacity of thirty thousand troops. They were fairly well thought out buildings with two big entrances, one was for meat eating troops to line up and the other where herbivores formed up.

Everyone got the same looking greyish brown slop though, one had meat chunks mixed in and the other had vegetable chunks. It was quite similar to the slop eaten on the march here and as Sam had noted the only thing making it better was the much more filling portions.

The only rules of the mess halls were to keep your head down, conversation quiet and once you chose a place to sit you were there till you were done. Any breaking of the rules and you were presumed done with your food, if this happened you got sent outside and your food was taken while you waited until everyone else had finished.

Not particularly lenient but at least you could talk.

After the terrible event that the inspection was the sergeant, who finally introduced himself as Hammer, had brought them over to get some food. Thankfully he had taken it easy on them so far, toning down the insults and threats, it was going to come back as soon as the meals were over but in the very least he seemed to understand the troops better than the general did.

Samuel was sitting at a table near the back of the mess hall, of course his friend sat across from him and they talked quietly as they ate.

“That son of a bitch hitting you like that, couldn’t hit someone his own size so he took it all out on you.” He growled quietly, “How are you feeling dude? Your head okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” He took a spoonful of the chunky meal in, “It’s just some hair, there was a bit of stinging and it was over.”

Gwindor shook his head, “Maybe it’s not so bad now but gods damn I wanted to break his fucking nose Sam.”

The human gave a quiet chuckle, “Look my friend, I was close to losing it myself, but I would have had the shit kicked out of me if I’d hit him back and then I’d have been kicked out without a cent to my name.” He smiled, “I appreciate how much you actually give a shit, but in this case it’s better to let the guy have his power trip.”

A sigh came from his beak, “Your right, no arguments from me as per fucking usual, just wish it hadn’t of gone down like that ya know.”

“I do, trust me, better than anyone else I think.”

They shared a small laugh.

“Yeah, well anyway, at least it’s over.” He took a gulp of water to wash down the bland taste of the food, “You know I gotta admit though, some of his questions about you were ones I had too.”

Samuel raised an eyebrow, “You know you can ask me whatever you want, I know I’m not exactly an open book but I don’t mind talking about some things as long as you don’t ask like he did.”

“You really don’t mind? I’d just figured you might not want to talk about certain things, after all you did join this, uh...” The annoyed deadpan look he received made him stop, “Right, should’ve of figured you weren’t exactly sensitive to begin with.”

Samuel snorted, “Anyway, if you want to know something, ask. If there’s something I don’t wanna talk about I’ll let you know.”

He nodded, “Right, well, I know what you are but I’m still kinda unsure about where you’re from?”

“Where I’m from?” He grinned, “A different planet and possibly plane of existence.”

The gryphon cocked his head, “Huh?”

Samuel smiled, he knew this was a ridiculous story, “So a little over two years ago I was coming home from work then poof, everything goes blue and I pass out.”

He shrugged, “No idea why and nobody else here seems to have an answer for me. Anyway I woke up just outside of a small village near Los Pegasus, got found wandering aimlessly, brought to the local authorities and the princesses were brought in.”

His friend narrowed his eyes suspiciously, “Luna and Celestia, the demigod monarachs of Equestria, personally came?”

He nodded, “I only actually saw them for maybe a few minutes, they and some special higher ups checked me out to make sure I wasn’t a danger. When they decided I wasn’t they got a teacher for me as well as kept me under observation and over time I learned to speak the language as well as understand the culture of the kingdom.”

He smiled, “Not much more to it, the bureaucrats I was placed under let me go once they thought I could acclimate to society and gave me a startup loan.”

“The rest of the story and the reason I’m here you heard when the general asked.”

Gwindor’s beak twisted and his eyes turned down, “I’m not sure I can believe all that.”

“That’s fine.” Sam laughed, “Nobody since it happened has believed me.”

The gryphon shook his head with a smile, “Heh, well, alright.” He dropped his spoon down into the empty wooden bowl beneath, “So since yo-“

He was cut short by a new figure joining them at the table, the pair looked over to watch as the zebra who had been in line next to Sam. The pair stared as he set down the bowl of food and cup of water.

Plopping himself next to Gwindor he gave a slow little wave with his hand and a sheepish smile.

“You need something?” The bird eyed him piercingly.

He averted his gaze from the intensity of the gryphon over to Sam, who looked puzzled rather than murderous, “I, just wanted t-to say thank you.”

“Ah, yeah.” Sam waved with his hand, “No need to be so hard on him.” He looked to the zebra, “Your welcome friend, no need to worry about it.”

“N-No it is important, you uh, took a hard beating back there but you helped to stop me from getting the same thing.” He looked down, “I just, have no real way to pay you back for that.”

“Well you’re welcome and there’s no need to, it’s nice to meet you...” He leaned over and held out his hand, which the zebra took.

“Chakris.”

“Chakris, haven’t heard a name like that before, I’m Samuel.”

Gwindor watched with confusion as they went back to eating, “Wait a minute, who is this?”

Sam explained it all as they ate the rest of their meal, soon enough it was over and the slog of military life resumed.

“Okay, let’s get some things explained before this whole three month cycle of pain starts for you new pieces of meat.” Sergeant Hammer stood before the company of recruits, all of whom sat cross legged on a patch of grass.

“When we’re training you’ll be in full armor with your swords in their sheaths and shields on your backs. You won’t be wearing your packs with any normal training, after all you’re never going to actually fight with them on. Only time we train with them is when we march.”

He squinted, “This means I expect the gear we use to be cleaned and oiled every night, maintenance of your equipment is important, especially in the field. We will cover how to do that before down time tonight.”

The stallion paced back and forth, his head on a swivel and eyes focused on them, “Another point, battle ready gear as opposed to dress gear isn’t quite that regulated. The armor and weapons you have now can be used for both battle or dress but must be used for official events that require them to be worn, like parades.”

“If you so choose though, in your free time you can commission weapons and armor for battle from our smiths in whatever style or design you like. As long as you can still fulfill the role of whatever unit your assigned to in battle not a single one of the higher ups will care. If you can’t however you won’t be allowed to use it.”

“Now before anyone asks what unit you’ll be a part of, infantry or skirmisher, that will be decided soon. Formations, making camp, constructing fortifications and such will be drilled after thats all figured out.”

“Finally, be prepared for sitting at a desk because all of you will go through some basic traditional military school classes, when that will start I don’t know, it’s not my area.”

“Those that do well in these classes may just be plucked up and made a sergeant like me. I doubt any of you will, but it’s possible.”

He stopped walking and a devilish smile overtook his face, “So, now that bullshit is all out of the way, we can finally begin”

The first bout of training for the group was rough, they were to run an obstacle course with the objective of making it through in fifteen minutes or less. The troops would all continue doing it until every single one of them made it through in the time limit or they had been at it for three hours, which meant they would probably be at this for weeks.

The course started out with a field of mud, over which was laid a layer of sharp wire held up barely two feet off the ground. They had to crawl under it on hands and knees, much to the disgust of many.

There was no room underneath for any of them to get their bellies off the ground and the more claustrophobic of the bunch managed to cut themselves up in a panic. By the time those that got through were out, they had mud all over themselves, hair, mouth, ears, everywhere was touched by the wet dirt.

Andrik was the first one out, his strength and endurance negating the effects of the mud on him and earning praise from the sergeant for his feat. The bull made a point to grab the struggling Samuel’s attention and shout obscenities, Hammer had to remind him to move on.

Samuel couldn’t help but feel more than a little annoyed by this seemingly unjustified antagonism.

Sam and his friends barely made it, the human didn’t do so well, taking more than five minutes to get through and choking down more mud than anyone ever should. The gryphon fared better, his feathers stuck to his body but he pushed through.

Chakris though, he freaked out and managed to cut his hands up before Gwindor grabbed him by the wrist and simply dragged him along.

The next objective was to run a half mile, covered in mud mind you, all the way to a twelve foot tall structure. At the top of said structure was a long thin platform, beneath which dangled a series of ropes. The recruits needed to climb all the way to the top, then climb back down on a second set of ropes on the other side.

By the time the huffing and puffing trio reached it the minotaur was already climbing down. They and the others trickling in beside them struggled, their arms strained and shook with each pull upwards.

The zebra fell only once, from about halfway up, his arms giving out on him. His second attempt was slower but he made it. The raptor, being in better shape than his friends climbed up relatively well, it was a struggle but not a difficult trial by any means.

In the first two minutes, Samuel fell down at least six times. With frustration turning to anger he squared his shoulders and grabbed hold.

With his emotions driving him onwards he climbed, each shaking arm pulling him up further and further. He was nearly at the top when he let out a yell, his grip failed him and he once again flew through the air to thud on his back...

And so the day continued, with all the comrades restarting after every fifteen minutes. Samuel and some of the others got stuck at the second obstacle every time.

By the end of the three hours all the soldiers were in pain, their chests were sore, shoulders dead and a terrible fatigue held sway over them.

Only Andrik and a scary looking female gryphon made it to the end of the course.

It had already been a long day when the sergeant revealed they were moving on to practice long distance marching.

“Alright, now these classes have two objectives. Number one is to teach you all basic tactics, flow of battle and to give you a general idea of how the standard conflict might go.”

The professor, a blue furred older mare with glasses, a scar across her forehead and a grey mane done up in a bun continued, “Number two is to test and see which of you have potential for leadership, if any of you meet the requirements or show astounding promise, you’ll be made a sergeant at arms.”

She sighed, “Not that any of you should get your hopes up for it, it’s a small chance no matter what. Usually we don’t offer raising from the ranks but since the war in the north took such a heavy toll we need more low level officers again.”

The mare walked over to the chalkboard at the front of the room, from their tables they watched as she wrote out her name across it and the date beneath, March first two hundred sixty three SLR. Beneath that the subject of the day, the legion’s organization and chain of command.

Despite how boring it sounded this was a much more welcome activity than the past week’s training gauntlet.

Every Saturday classes were to be held for Samuel and his batch, other groups of recruits went on separate days so that they all got these classes without too much administrative scrambling. From nine o’clock to two o’clock they would learn from a teacher who had once been an officer in the legion and presumably seen action.

What they all looked forward to though was after class, when done the rest of the day was free to the soldiers. It was recommended they use the time to study or train more but there wasn’t anything telling them they couldn’t just sleep the duration of that free time.

The group welcomed this change of pace even if it was only for a single day out of the week.

Today’s class wasn’t exactly invigorating, mostly just how the ranks worked, who listened to who, why it was set up that way. Only a few payed real attention and one of those few was Samuel. After all having had an interest in historical militaries back on earth this wasn’t all too unfamiliar to him.

He followed quite well in fact and as the class neared it’s end, when she gave a summary of what they had covered in detail, he already had it down.

“Okay, so just to make sure I’ve covered all the main points in this lesson let’s review before you go." She stood up from her desk, grabbed a wooden pointer and tapped the diagram on the chalkboard.

"The lowest level of the chain here is what you’ll all become in a few months time, a soldier. These are the standard troops that do most of the work. Fighting, constructing defenses, setting up camps and whatever else that needs to be done. At our full strength we are allowed to field around twenty eight thousand of them. Is that all correct?”

Nods and yes ma’am’s confirmed it.

Her pointer moved up, “The next rank up we have sergeant at arms, they handle the training of recruits, logistics of those under their command and in the field they lead around twenty troops each. They ensure orders are followed and work to meet whatever commands the unit is given. At full strength we have fifteen hundred of them.”

She eyed the classroom and ensured they were still paying attention.

“Next you have lieutenants, they number a hundred and fifty at our full strength. They are the ones responsible for the sergeants with each one being given the charge of ten of them. The duties they have are as follows, relaying commands from captains, keeping the front line formation organized and shepherding the units in the right direction.”

More yes ma’am’s signaled her to continue.

“Finally you have captains." The board rattled as she tapped, "Top of the enlisted troops achievable rank. They take orders from the marshals and pass them down then make sure they are followed. They also work on keeping up morale during battle, correcting mistakes made by other officers beneath them and in keeping command informed of deserters or fleeing troops. Ten of them are assigned to each flank in any battle meaning there can only be thirty altogether.”

She set the stick down in the slot at the bottom of the board and turned to the students, “Last of all you have the three marshals who oversee the deployment and overall movement of a flank in any given battle, they are also the officers to which all captains report and receive orders from. These ranks are held by whoever the general assigns them to, they report only to him and take orders only from him.

She talked as she walked towards her desk, "The general himself, is somebody that the princesses personally assign and is basically impossible for any of us to ever hope to reach no matter how good we are.”

She let out a heavy breath, “That’s all I think you guys need to know from today, it’s a lot, so I suggest you take the papers I gave you and study them as much as you can. Next meeting we’ll open with a short test to see what you remember then review it again before our next lesson starts.”

She sat down and cleared her throat, “Any questions?”

A resounding no shook the classroom, they had enough information for the day and were ready to get to their free time. She smiled to herself as they all scrambled to leave, the door didn’t even get a chance to swing as they swarmed out. Memories of her first year here surfaced as she kicked her legs up on the desk, the excitement of free time and the illusion of relaxation. It was always nice to see that things hadn't changed that much after so long.

Closing her eyes she leaned back for a moment, only to reopen them and see the odd creature who had been in the class standing before her desk.

She gave a polite smile, “Is there anything I can help you with?”

He nodded, “Yeah, I had a question actually, if you don’t mind.”

The mare shrugged, “Sure, go ahead, it’s why I’m here.”

“Right, well I was wondering, if the general is the one who picks his marshals, can he pick anyone at all or are there rules?”

Twisting her mouth she answered, “Well I suppose so, though it’s somewhat taboo to not choose a pony with military experience there’s no actual rules in place saying whoever is in charge couldn’t just grab some pony and make them a marshal.”

Samuel pursed his lips and looked to the side, thought crossing his face, “Interesting, well thank you ma’am.”

“Of course, though you better not be getting any grand ideas from this news.”

He shook his head, “I don’t plan to, I’m not all that ambitious, just curious.” He paused for a moment, “After all I doubt anyone who’s not a family member or someone with money gets that rank anyway.”

“Ah, so you really do get it.” She gave a half smile.

He nodded with a small smile of his own, “Not so different from old armies back home. Say would you happen to know if there was a way for me to get some books here?”

“Books?” She cocked her head.

“Like books on history or maybe geography, I’m interested in all that and, well, I want to learn what I can in my free time rather than sit around bored.” He scratched the back of his head, it embarrassed him to admit how much of a geek he was out loud.

The mare was somewhat surprised, “I can help you with that, that’s the first time anything like that has been requested though, just caught me off guard.” She brought down her legs with a grunt and opened a drawer, pulling out a pen with a piece of paper she began to write, “We have a small library past the second set of walls, you should be able to find it easily, it’s on the ocean facing side of the fort.”

Handing Samuel the paper she set the pen down and gave a last smile, “This’ll get you past the gates, when you find the library hand it to the librarian, he’s an old friend of mine. Tell him what you want and he can help you.”

They said their goodbyes and off went one of the weirdest troops she’d encountered in a long time, who asks for books on a day off?

The library wasn’t that big, with just enough room to store a few thousand books it contained a rather small collection all things considered. Though once the knowledge that it was only really here for the officers, the normal soldiers not being expected to spend much time reading, it made some sense.

The caretaker here was an old crystal pony, much older than the professor, but he remembered her and because she requested it, allowed Samuel in.

They spent a while discussing what exactly the boy wanted but eventually came to agree on a small bundle of selected books. Histories of the Equestrian Kingdom, Gryphon Kingdom, Zebrican tribes, petty Yak kingdoms and more. Even a book of the most up to date maps, with geographical details and political borders was included.

With the agreement that any damages to or loss of the tomes would be taken from his pay Samuel gave his thanks and left. He went on to spend the rest of the day in the barracks reading as the rest of his fellows lounged happily enjoying the rarity of rest.

This was the sixth time so far they had been set to work on overcoming the obstacle course, once again it was like being put through hell. The acidic salty ocean air, moist morning fog and constant pressure from the Sergeant made it almost unbearable this particular morning.

Nevertheless they began.

They started out quickly crawling underneath the wire as fast as they could, mud splattering them all. All of them had gotten better at it over these past two weeks but still it took a sizable amount of effort to pull through.

Chakris performed well this time, his claustrophobia having been beaten down by force. Doing this over and over again helped and it showed. His skinny form slinking it’s way through the mud with haste proved that he no longer needed a helping hand.

Samuel had improved too, Gwindor noticed his speed and determination growing with each passing attempt. Now the human kept up with the gryphon most of the way, spearing through and disregarding the mud he doggedly pulled himself along.

By the time the bird had gotten passed the wire Samuel had even overtaken him and was already hopping to his feet. Gwindor watched from the ground impressed as his friend didn’t even stop to breath, he shot into a run as soon as his feet were on the ground and at a breakneck speed.

That was when the raptor saw, ahead of Sam was Andrik. Now he got it and the situation surprised him, the human was actually competing with the brute this time. Something that hadn’t yet happened.

The two had built this rival like attitude towards one another over the past weeks, stemming from something insignificant that happened before the training ever started. The other recruits noticed it too, but most just figured that eventually the bull would kick Samuel down without much of a fight. Gwindor felt the same too as much as he didn’t like it.

However it looked like now Samuel was actually starting to push back, there might really be some kind of substantial rivalry now and no matter how it turned out the gryphon liked that.

Samuel, to the others surprise, was quite fast on his feet. Even faster than Andrik when going all out and now that his body had acclimated to running daily he was able to show off how fast his form could move consistently.

He ran with determination, his breathing steady and paced. Before long the human was almost caught up with his foe and as he neared the bovine made a move to stop him.

His elbow suddenly shot out and his armored forearm cracked loudly against Sam’s helmet. The blow was hard and the boy was immediately thrown backwards, the minotaur kept running as his human enemy landed on the ground with a metallic clatter.

A deep laugh sounded.

Samuel groaned, the throbbing in his head made his vision double. He fought to sit back up and as he did so his head head seemed to spin back and forth. It took a moment but as his vision came back to normal he saw the bastard up ahead climbing already.

A surge of anger shot through his body and with a shout he threw off his helmet and leapt upwards. Forward he charged with his full strength put into every step, his face contorted in rage and others around him couldn’t help but feel trepidation at the sight.

When he reached the ropes he didn’t stop, beside the others who had run by him in his stupor he climbed. Andrik was already down the other side now but it didn’t matter.

He grunted with each pull, his arms through sheer force of will held strong. Even Hammer who had been watching Andrik’s impressive run turned to watch when he noticed.

With another yell the young man grabbed the edge of the platform and in one power filled pull hoisted himself up to the top.

The first time he had ever made it.

Wasting no time in enjoying the personal victory he moved to the other edge, dropped to a knee and went to grab the nearest rope.

Inexplicably he stopped dead, his face slowly changing as though suddenly in deep thought.

The sergeant raised an eyebrow.

Slowly Sam turned to look over his shoulder, back below many of his fellows still struggled trying to climb. Making his decision he stood back up, went to the front side and knelt down again.

To the surprise of the others climbing upwards his dangling hand seized the closest climber, he gave her a pull and worked to raise her up. When she made it up over the edge and to the platform proper he shouted, “Come on then, you’re this far already now get back down and keep running, let’s finish this shit!”

“Yes Sir!” The mare shouted instinctively before moving on.

And so he continued, with all his strength he pulled as many as he could up. The recruits he helped were all surprised, yet despite the confusion at his actions they all gave their thanks as they continued down the other side.

When the time limit on the trial ended he had helped more than half the group pass over to the other side. More than had ever made it before.

The other trainees started looking at the young man a little differently. He received pats on the back and some of the others even started helping him on further attempts in the course just as he did them when he needed it.

The whole time the interested gaze of the sergeant lay on him, his focus on Andrik lost at the sight of the earlier scene. Every movement, word and action was watched and analyzed.

So too did the minotaur look and watch, furious eyes boring holes into Samuel. Once again his performance was upstaged by the smaller figure and his pride as a minotaur had been damaged...