The train ride towards Fort Everfree was a long and boring one. Twilight was only allowed to bring two personal items with her, everything else would be provided. The first was the history book Princess Celestia had read to her before she allowed her to join the guard, the other was a small stuffed animal that helped her sleep comfortably. The sound of the train whistle startled her for a moment. Her thoughts were still back home with her parents and brother. She noticed that a lot of ponies her age started to get ready to embark. She had not paid much attention until now, and a quick look out of the window confirmed it, they had finally arrived. Most of the new recruits looked far less prepared than she was and only a few had any real muscle on them. Had she done something wrong in her early training, had she overdone it already and ruined her chances? Shaking that thought out of her head she jumped from her seat and followed the small herd out into the station.

This train line had one primary purpose, shipping ponies from Canterlot to the guard training camp. Only a small town was even close to this location and it was the final stop of the line. This place was in the middle of nowhere and bordered one of the most dangerous forests in all of Equestria. In hindsight, it made sense to build it here. Guards could keep watch on the forest and the location was remote enough to not disturb the training.

"Attention!" The loud, booming voice of a stallion rang through the station. Most new recruits fumbled around or jerked back at the surprising shout but Twilight knew better. She stood up straight, her hoofs pressed together as close as she could manage without losing her balance and her head was held high. Standing to attention she snapped a salute, bringing her left hoof towards her right shoulder. After the abysmal display during evaluation, she had asked Shining to show her how to properly do it and he happily obliged. Now that she was able to see the other recruits, she was not sure if her training was a little overkill for what was to come, but she was intent on graduating at the top of her class, no challenge would be too great for her.

"I see some of you have at least a little training. The rest of you will have to work hard to keep up." Twilight could hear a little bit of murmuring and slight winces as the severity of what was to come sank in with the rest of the ponies around her. "Let me make one thing clear. You might think this will be a trot in the park, ask yourself how hard can it be to become a guard. Yes, the first two weeks might make you believe that, an easy beginning to a lot of hard work. We will push you to your limits and then push you even further. You will break, both in body and in mind. Only after you endured will you be able to call yourself an Equestrian Guard, the elite of the elite, the envy of other nations. For those who have studied a little history will know, even the griffons fear us and they have every reason to." He watched the crowd for a moment, sometimes lingering on a recruit that piqued his interest and after a minute, his eyes fell on Twilight. She straightened up even more, her gaze straight ahead and out of the corner of her eye she saw a small smile on his muzzle. "Good, you all have been assigned to your groups, simply find the officer holding up your group sign. They will show you around the barracks and get you settled in. Dismissed!"

With that, the herd erupted into pure madness. Ponies rushed around trying to find their spot as fast as possible, not caring in the slightest who they ran over. Twilight took her time, even helping two ponies back to their hoofs before they could be trampled. There was no reason to rush, no time limit was given after all.

She reached her group nearly last, the looks she was getting from the earthponies in her group were a little uncomfortable, but she was used to it by now. "You're in the wrong group," one of them shouted over the loud conversations. He was a large, black-coated young stallion with a spear cutie mark. His mane was a stone gray colouration and it flowed down over his left shoulder almost reaching the ground. It was expertly braided, he clearly took great care of it.

"Twilight Sparkle?" The officer in front of them questioned. Twilight responded with a swift "Yes, Ma'am," standing to attention and saluting again. "You can drop the protocol for now, there is no need for it in the first two weeks, most of the new recruits need to learn how to act properly first."

She was a little surprised by the relaxed attitude of this officer, the muscular earthpony radiated authority, the orange coat in harsh contrast to her dark green mane. Twilight was sure just by looking at her that this would be a very strict pony, but her attitude was the polar opposite of that, for now at least. "I'm sorry, Ma'am, I try my best."

Her answer was a simple shake of the head. "I know this is a little unusual, but I was told to treat and teach you just like I would any other earthpony. Are you okay with that? You can still switch to the unicorn training."

That took Twilight a little by surprise, wasn't that group already full? Had they tricked her, trying to make her fail? This alone stoked her ego. If they thought she couldn't keep up with earthponies they were wrong, this was a challenge she would not back down from. "Yes, Ma'am. I'm sure this is the right place for me."

"Very well, it's not uncommon for unicorns that are unable to perform well with magic to go through earthpony training. Don't be ashamed if your magic is not up to standards, we can make use of almost anypony as long as they put in the work."

This didn't surprise Twilight, outside of Canterlot not many ponies knew who she was and she was not about to correct her officer. There was one important question she had to ask though. "I can add some magic training to my schedule either way, can I?"

That got a big smile out of the orange mare. "Yes. It's good to see you so eager to learn, but as I said, don't lose that drive just because you're not able to keep up with other unicorns." The short interaction finished she addressed the group again. "Okay with that out of the way let me introduce myself, I'm Sergeant Fire Trail, record holder of the fastest one-mile gallop and I will be your commanding officer for the duration of your group training. If you have any trouble with your training you can come to me and I make sure you're discharged as soon as possible." She winked slightly making sure the joke came across as just that. The uncomfortable shuffling of hoofs and silent clearing of throats made that more than necessary it seemed. "Anyway, you might think this will be easy, but rest assured, after the two weeks of theory are over and you have your first real training day, you will wish to die. Now follow me, I show you around."

The tour was shorter than expected, everything that was needed was no more than a short walk away. They visited the training field, a large area with a galloping track around it and room for other sports activities as well as three sparring circles for combat training. Off to the side was the archery range with room for ten shooters simultaneously. With a group size of thirty that would allow a reasonable amount of training without a long wait between firing. The indoor gym was far less extensive, only having two combat circles and other exercise equipment. It was clear that most of the training would take place outside and this room was only used when the weather got to bed. The proximity to the Everfree Forest and its wild weather would make this a necessity at some point, Twilight reasoned. The last stop was the barracks and the adjacent mess hall. Each group had its own building, limiting the interaction between the groups for now. Later on, there would be joint training to get each tribe used to the abilities of the other. Pegasi fought differently than earthponies or unicorns after all.

Twilight was not looking forward to the first night in the barracks. On more than one occasion the other recruits had given her strange looks, she was the only unicorn in her group after all. "So what's your story? Is your horn broken or something?" The same black stallion from before asked, slowly closing in on her. He stopped in front of her and looked her over for a moment. "Well, you do look like you can handle yourself, names Spear Point. Twilight Sparkle right? That's what the Sergeant said."

Giving the outstretched hoof a bump Twilight smiled a little. This was the first time somepony had approached her and not started to throw insults at her. The nobles and servants in the castle always saw her as the 'pet of the Princess', she winced slightly at the thought. In school, she was too focused on her studies to make any real friends. "I'm pretty sure the officer during evaluation couldn't stand me, that's why he forced me into this group."

That got a snort out of some of the other recruits. Spear spoke up again a knowing smirk on his face. "So you're a prodigy and they couldn’t stand the competition, typical for you horn heads." Twilight tried to be outraged by the insult, but he was right. Almost everypony with power was afraid to lose it to some degree and the nobles in Canterlot took this to the extreme. Even the Princess struggled with their need to control everything. "Looks like I'm right," Spear added noticing Twilight's expression. "Don't worry, you're not getting that from us," he turned towards the group, "right?" All of them sounded their agreement, not one of them looked down on Twilight. She felt happy at the moment knowing somepony had her back, she was no longer alone.

The first two weeks ended quicker than Twilight could hope for. Most of what was taught she already knew, but the others needed the training. She was not about to make fun of them for that. Her brother instructed her for even longer before she could get the proper protocol right. Most of the lessons were about how to behave in front of an officer, how to stand at attention and salute and a bit of history. On a few occasions, Twilight managed to learn something new but these were rare cases and often mostly irrelevant outliers of the protocol. Tomorrow the first week of training would begin and Twilight couldn't be more excited.

Author's Note

Thanks again for all your support and helpful critisism. Still can't believe this many people are interested in my story.
I'm with my family for the next day so don't expect another chapter to soon. Wish you all a happy holiday.