Guardsmare Twilight

The group of recruits was awoken by a scream. Sergeant Fire Trail stood at the door to the barracks and had already ignited the magic lights illuminating the building. A quick look outside showed, that the moon was still high in the sky, the mare in the moon silently watching over Equestria. "What are you waiting for, we didn't go over protocol for you to forget it already, go go go! I want you standing at attention yesterday!" The shift in attitude was jarring to watch, gone was the friendly pony that helped everypony get accustomed to guard life. Instead, there stood one of the drill instructors that Shining had warned Twilight about.

After a minute of frantic shuffling about the group stood to attention. Fire Trail slowly moved through the line, inspecting every recruit she passed. No pony could please her fully, something was always wrong and she made her displeasure known by forcing the entire group to do push-ups. They hadn't even left the barracks yet and most of the recruits were already panting heavily, sweat foam forming on their necks in order to cool their poor bodies down from the exercise.

"You're the sorriest bunch I have ever seen. A bucking unicorn is showing you up." Her hoof landed on Twilight who was panting as well, but was in far better shape than the rest of them. She feared the others would hate her for this. It seemed to motivate them to do better, almost all of them managed to push past their limits already, not wanting to see a unicorn beat them in a test of endurance. Their pride as earthponies was on the line after all.

Fire Trail now stood in front of Twilight who was somehow able to keep up with the rest of the group. It was impressive, but when she thought about it, a unicorn without magic was always trying to find something else to be good at, Twilight Sparkle was not that different. Looking the purple unicorn over, trying to find something wrong with her posture, she noticed the well-kept mane and a small grin crossed her muzzle. This would put her down a peck and bring her back to earth. The guard had no need for overachievers who saw themself as something better. "I think your mane is not up to protocol," Fire Trail simply stated. "Private, fetch me a mane razor." A minute later the pony returned hoofing over the device to the Sargent. Twilight could only watch on, not able to move as the Sergeant went to work, the pile of hair around her growing in size by the minute before it finally stopped. "Much better, you have ten minutes to clean this mess up and report to the training field."

Twilight had to suppress the tears, she was always proud of her mane. The stripes running through it were somewhat unique and even the nobles back home could only voice their displeasure about how unfair it was that a common nopony could have a mane like this. It was something they couldn't take away from her, but now... She would be a laughing stock...

Before she could move some of the recruits approached with brooms, starting to clean up the mess. None of them made any remark about it. To more of a surprise, some even started to shave their own mane, joining in on the look. Twilight couldn't believe it. "Why are you..." She sniffed.

"We're a team, what happens to one of us, happens to all of us. It's just hair, it'll grow back in no time and you looked like you needed cheering up." Spear said, his long grey mane already shorn off. He looked ridiculous, likely the same way Twilight did herself. "I'm guessing ponies where you're from don't look out for each other? You're from Canterlot then?" Twilight simply nodded no longer able to contain her tears, this time however they were of joy. In the end, she calmed down enough to help in the cleanup, her magic easily able to get everything ready in time to report to the training field.

The expression on Fire Trail's face was priceless, she looked over the recruits with a slack-jawed expression, trying and failing for minutes to find her words. Teamwork and union like this were hard to instil in ponies and took a lot of effort but seeing them like this... Her true feelings must have shown on her face, every recruit had the same knowing smile on their face. Finally able to comprehend what just happened, she spoke up, "Who authorized this?" Seeing nopony speak up she continued. "As punishment, you are galloping a hundred laps around the track, go go go!" The smile on their faces never vanished.

Later in the shower rooms. The recruits enjoyed the cold water soothing their sore and overheating bodies as the training for the day finally came to an end. Communal showers were nothing new for Twilight, the schools back in Canterlot had the same setup for the students. Only the nobles made any fuzz about something like this, they simply didn't want to be in a room with dirty commoners. Spear, who was quickly becoming a friend to Twilight stood next to her. She had to admit, he looked pleasing to the eyes, something she had never paid any attention to before. She had to look away to hide her blush when he turned towards her. "See something you like?" He teased, making her almost stumble. A loud "Noooooo" that escaped her lips made him laugh even more. "So what's your story exactly, the Sergeant has it out for you for some reason and you don't strike me as a unicorn with weak magic, the display this morning was already impressive enough."

"You won't hate me if I tell you?" Twilight asked meekly, ready for the rejection that was sure to follow like it always did when ponies found out who she was. Everypony around her shook their head and she continued slowly easing them in. "I'm from Canterlot, that you already know." Watching them nod she gulped and took a deep breath. "Eight years ago I took the exam for Celestias School for Gifted Unicorns."

"Wasn't that the same time she accepted a new personal student? Did something happen to you then? Is that why you're not good with magic?" One of the recruits interrupted from across the room.

Twilight simply shook her head in no. "I'm that student." She let that statement hang in the air, waiting for the sure-to-follow laughter, but it never came.

"Why are you here?" Another asked. "Shouldn't you, I don't know, save the world or create amazing new spells? My father is a teacher and he told me that Princess Celestia's student is a unicorn with unimaginable power." There it was... anger and rejection. "So awesome, we have a hero in our group," she finished, derailing Twilight's thoughts completely. The train of thought then crashed and burned as it fell down a cliff. More and more of the recruits voiced their amazement, none of them had anything bad to say. Had Canterlot changed her this much, is this how normal ponies interact with each other? Tears started to stream freely down her face, thankfully masked by the water of the shower and she basked for the first time in true admiration for something she had worked very hard for.

A thought came to her mind, something she needed an answer for. "Why are you not angry at me? Shouldn't you be mad that I'm something," she had difficulties saying the word, "'special' and you are not?"

A black hoof wrapped over her withers and she was pulled into a tight hug. "Of course you are special, you're already outperforming most of us, and that takes a lot of dedication. I can only guess how much time you put into your magic if this is what you do when it comes to fitness." He let go of the hug and looked deep into Twilight's eyes who again had to hide her blush. "Knowing you have our backs is all that we ask for. I'm guessing in Canterlot it's everypony for themselves?" Getting a quick nod he continued. "Well that's not how ponies work and you should know that. We watch out for each other." He finished by moving a hoof over her head making her fully aware of her very short mane again. "You're one of us now. Buck those stuck-up nobles." That made Twilight giggle and the rest joined in soon after.

The same routine continued for the next weeks, wake up early, eat, train, shower, eat and sleep. Twilight could not feel any great improvement in her endurance, she was already at the top of her class in that area, but the rest had quickly caught up and some were close to overtaking her. She had no illusion that she would fall to the bottom of the list soon enough. There was no way she could keep up with earthponies, but it didn't bother her. She had made a friend and the rest were equally as supportive. She was happy for them to improve, something she never would have thought she could accept.

Today this routine would change. All recruits were standing at attention on the training field. Twilight noticed that the other groups had significantly shrunk in the past few weeks, one of the unicorn groups was completely gone and integrated into the other two. None of them had the matching mane cut her group sported after the first-day incident. It had grown back somewhat but they all agreed to keep the same style to show their unity. Captain Shield Strike observed the gathered ponies. "Today we will start your real training." A few groans came from some of the other groups, but he ignored them. "Group E2 has the privilege to start with crossbow training. The rest will continue their fitness training. You will receive your schedule tomorrow, it will be posted in your barracks, keep an eye on it and don't be late. Dismissed!"

Shooting a crossbow was harder than it looked. To be accurate one needed a good sense of balance on three hoofs and a steady aim. The crossbow itself was secured onto a harness allowing it to be held in place with a single hoof. When not aimed at a target it would fold down to the side and to the ground. In this position, a bolt could be loaded safely before bringing it back up to aim. The string could be pulled by hoof when aimed at the ground or with your mouth when aimed at a target, both were viable options. Twilight fumbled with it at first, but after a minute of vastly of target shots, she got the hang of it. She was also able to pull the string and load the bolt with her magic, allowing her a far faster fire rate compared to the earthponies. Not wanting to show off too much, she opted to not use magic after getting the hang of it. She was still by far the most accurate of the group. Aiming a spell, something she had a lot of practice in already, was not that different from aiming a crossbow.

Spear approached her when they took a break. Not everypony was able to shoot at the same time, allowing them frequent downtime they could use however they wanted. Most simply watched the rest of them, trying to learn as much as they could. Some doing exercises and others taking a short break to catch their breath. "You're the first unicorn I've seen who's able to pull the string with magic, it's impressive."

Twilight blushed again, she was not used to getting compliments like that other than from the Princess herself. "It's nothing, I'm just lucky to be born with this much magic, it's nothing special," she said, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head with a hoof.

"How much did you train your magic?" He asked.

"There were days I spent all day practising and reading. That's not counting the intense schedule the Princess had for me. Just shows I'm nothing special if I needed that much training to get good at magic."

A sharp sting of pain erupted from the back of her head, Spear had his hoof held high. "Stop putting yourself down like this. I don't know much about magic, but I know that there are only a few ponies out there that would be able to pull that crossbow string back with magic and most of them have trained for decades. You're special and you should accept that, it's a gift and not something to be ashamed of." Waiting for her nod and smile he held out a hoof helping her back up. "Let's keep shooting, this is a lot more fun than galloping all day."

With a big smile on her face she followed. 'Joining the guard was the best decision I ever made,' she thought to herself.