The History of Pony Aviation

"ALRIGHT, MAGGOTS." Drill Sergeant, more commonly known as Sarge, walked up and down the newly packed dirt of Bootcamp. "MY NAME IS DRILL SERGEANT, YOU WILL ONLY ADDRESS ME AS 'SIR', GOT THAT?"

"Sir, yes sir!" The 30 or so pegasi standing sloppily, nearly soaking their tails with fright. Sarge had never seen a sorrier sight.

"You fluffheads are going to give me a headache." Sarge coughed under his breath then looked back at his recruits. The nearest pegasus flinched back in terror. Serves him right. "I'M SURE YOU ALL KNOW WHY YOU'RE HERE, BUT LET ME GIVE YOU A DEBRIEF ANYWAY. YOU HAVE BEEN SELECTED TO TAKE PART IN OUR NEW PROGRAM CALLED THE ROYAL LEGION. MY JOB IS TO TRAIN YOU TO BE THE BEST PEGASUS YOU CAN BE IN ORDER TO PROTECT THE PRINCESSES, EQUESTRIA, AND HER PONIES. AS A NATION, WE HAVE DECIDED PEGASI FOR THE LEGION AS WE HAVE THE BLOOD OF WARRIORS. DEBRIEF DONE, GIVE ME FIFTY LAPS AROUND THE PERIMETER."

The pegasi immediately scrambled, trying their best to get moving. Predictably, many fell over their own hooves. There were a few that had already risen in the air and were frantically pumping their wings. Sarge decided that those three had potential. He looked down at his sheets of names and skimmed throughthem, looking for their names. Flash Guard, Hurricane, and Rainbow Prism. Good, strong names. He looked back up and noticed that a mare was still on the ground, cowering behind a tree. Sarge sighed and looked back down.

"RECRUIT DOO, THAT'S A HUNDRED LAPS FOR YOU AND LUNCH PRIVILEGES REVOKED FOR A WEEK. NOW GIT." He shook his head at the state some of them were in before lounging back in his cloud. He was starting to understand why Princess Luna recommended him to be the trainer.

***

Next, Sarge had them do an obstacle course. It consisted of a climbing wall that they had to climb without the use of wings, nigh impossible. Afterwards, there was a pool with the same handicap. Sarge almost drowned while attempting it. Then there was a field of cacti that they had navigate backwards, with no wings of course. He wouldn't be surprised if a few of them ended up hospitalized. And then, for the final obstacle, was Sarge, himself. Defeat him, and you may have dinner. Fail, no dinner. Then, do it all again the next day.

He chuckled to himself, as he watched the trainees scrambling up the wall only to fall back down because they couldn't get a grip. The first day ended with nopony even making it to the halfway point of the wall. The second and third days ended up much the same. On the fourth day, however, Sarge was pleasantly surprised to see Hurricane run at full tilt and with well placed hoofsteps, managed to clamber on top of the wall. She then collapsed in a heap at the top, gasping for air. Despite what he said earlier, Sarge made a mental note to give her dinner.

The next day, both Flash Guard and Rainbow Prism scaled the wall, alongside Hurricane. The three of them gasping and unable to continue forwards. Flash and Rainbow got dinner that night. By the seventh day, Dinnae Doo was the fourth pegasus to scale the wall to Sarge's utmost surprise. He secretly got her double portions that night. By the tenth, half of the squadron had made it up the wall and the Top Three, as they were now called, were already trying their hooves at swimming. It was not going so well.

Sarge had set up a nice and comfortable outlook so he could watch all of the recruits without too much strain. It was on the 15th day that Princess Celestia had come down from the Castle of the Two Sisters to see the progress.

"Ah, Princess. Welcome to Bootcamp." Sarge sipped a refreshing berry drink. He offered one, but the diarch shook her head.

"Prithee, Mr. Sergeant, how doth this create guards?" The alicorn watched with fascination and horror every time a pony fell from the wall or a pony had to be saved from drowning. "Thou art all pegasi, art thou not? What is thou discourse for the restrictions of their wings?"

"Why, my good Princess, if warriors were to only focus on their one good attribute, and then that attribute becomes immobilized, then they are dead. I am training them to think outside of their use of wings." Sarge chuckled when he saw a pegasus finally clamber up to the top and roared with elation before collapsing onto his back.

"When will they be finished?"

"Do you wish to speak with them?"

"We do."

"Then they are finished." Sarge stood up, cleared his throat, apologized, then bellowed. "WRAP IT UP, MAGGOTS. PRINCESS CELESTIA WANTS TO TALK WITH YOU."

All the recruits stopped what they were doing and gloomily made their way to the center of the training field. They snapped a salute as best as they could, many were even swaying from exhaustion.

"At ease, our little ponies." The Princess glanced with a rueful expression at Sarge, he just shrugged. "How art thou? How is training?"

Silence.

"ROYALTY HAS ADDRESSED YOU, YOU ARE TO ADDRESS HER BACK."

"SIR, YES SIR!"

Princess Celestia winced from the noise and nodded somewhat. "Yes, our thanks, Mr. Sergeant." She turned back to the assembled group and asked her question again. This time there were answers.

"I am terrible, training is terrible."

"I am incredibly hungry."

"I've got a muffin waiting for me."

"I...feel sick."

"I'm going to fall over. Can I fall over, sir?" "Permission granted." "Thanks sir."

"...urk."

"I haven't seen the sun in forever!"

That last one got a bit of a pause. In unison, they looked at the sky. The sun was blindening bright.

"...good work, my little ponies. We believe that we shall take our leave. Mr. Sergeant."

"Princess."

And with that, the eldest sister flew off. Sarge smirked when he noticed that she flapped with an extra urgency.

***

Training continued as per normal. Day by day, the trainees got better. They got just that much closer to the finish line. One mare surprised Sarge by nearly sprinting the entire thing. Damn impressive, considering what the course entails. By the end of the second month, everypony had passed the pool section. Sarge became a little bit more lenient by then, giving all of them small dinners every night. They weren't anything to look at, stale hay coupled with bits of old daisies, but to them, it was the best food they ever did have.

It was Hurricane who was the first to break through all of the obstacles and was able to stumble over to where Sarge was standing, waiting in a fighting pit. He first congratulated her, then knocked her over with a single hoof tap. Her dinner was then revoked, as was everypony else's. That motivated them considerably. The next day, Hurricane made it again, collapsed from exhaustion once again. But this time, Rainbow Prism collapsed alongside her.

Throughout the next month, many more recruits finally made it past the last obstacle, but was so exhausted by the end of it, that they barely made a blow towards Sarge. He, for the most part, was enjoying this immensely. Princess Luna came by during this period and asked whether or not his methods were truly working. He merely shrugged. The Princess took that as progress and went along her merry way.

To his total surprise, it was on the sixth month since training started, that somepony was able to defeat him. To add even more to his shock, he was defeated by Dinnae Doo. She had a feast that night and was promoted to Private, the first ever of the Royal Legion. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were both there for her graduation ceremony. There were many bitter tears that night from the other recruits and motivation skyrocketed.

By the end of the seventh month, everypony had beaten Sarge and had graduated. He stood to the side as he watched with pride as the last of the recruits got their Private ranks pinned to their collars. He congratulated them wholeheartedly, many were crying tears of joy, saying that it was finally over. Sarge just smiled and led them to the training grounds for Privates.

Legend has it that they are still crying in agony to this day.