Heresy

Heresy-Unforeseen Developments

Mac's training schedule was incredible.

He awoke early thanks to a smaller buzzer that seemed to know exactly when to turn on in the mornings.

The stallion who trained him was on the older side, but was obviously a veteran of quite a number of wars, from what the farm pony could tell. He had him start off his morning with a small bag of oats, and a six kilo run, followed up by a mixture of obstacle courses that changed daily. It was amazing that the place was large enough to be different, or that it even had the equipment to have constantly changing circumstances.

This thought occurred to him as he was climbing a rope ladder, blood falling on him from an unseen spot above him. They did their best to keep him physically focused on the task, regardless of what things got in his way. The tax of real combat would come soon enough, the old war horse constantly assured him.

The veteran that trained him never really berated or even yelled at him. He called loudly enough for Mac to hear, and always made sure to be stern. He didn't NEED to yell. His tone betrayed a deep sense of duty and absolute trust in the strength of his own doctrine. When he wasn't working Mac's flank off physically, he had the young stallion studying military tactics and the current Equestrian Guard doctrine. In places, he would tell Mac to find flaws, and to correct them. It was incredible how many things the old Captain had him cross out or write in. His own experiences were latching onto Mac's brain, and were giving him a much clearer picture of what a battle would be like.

Everything from a small skirmish to a full scale battlefield was covered by his teacher. He said no one doctrine would be right in all situations and that all situations changed. He said to survive, that adaptations must be made. It was why he was training Mac. Special divisions and forces needed to have a different mindset going into a hot-zone, or combat area. Front line tactics were going to get him a glorious death, and rob them of his abilities. Better a smart veteran that pulled the weight of the military, than a headstrong FNG that went on his final charge during his first mission.

Cold sweat soaked McIntosh's overworked body as he finished the physical portion of his exercise. At least for this morning. He was still getting used to the cool underground air, and the lack of being able to view the great fiery ball in the day lit sky, at least from the outside. He felt it inappropriate to call it the sun though, as he did see Celestia every day. Saying he didn't get to see the "Sun" would have been contradictory in his own mind.

All in all though, he liked the place. He was alive and the Queen (though she always told him to call her Celestia or even other...pet names) had assured him that his sisters were doing fine and would be looked after. She even promised that he could visit them once his training was done.

What she never said, was how long it would take, or how difficult it would be. She said he was the perfect candidate for some kind of experiment she had going. He didn't like the sound of that until she explained that he wouldn't be poked and prodded with needles and other such instruments, very much, at any rate. He was a natural born warrior, and she herself was sure that his size alone was an indicator. His cutie mark seemed to disagree, but she told him that in time, even that part of him would change.

That thought alone shook him to the core, but the Queen always managed to keep him calm and explain things in a manner that kept his worry under control. She had a way with words that he'd never imagined was possible, considering that he himself didn't speak much. Growing up with hardly any free time had done that to him. In fact, he couldn't remember a time in his years as a younger colt in which he wasn't working every single day...

He didn't really feel manipulated at any rate. He HAD fallen under the selective service program and that was something that all males had to sign up for. It was a random draw and it wasn't as though he was alone. Sure, now he was in a different program to some different end, but he knew he wouldn't be in service forever. At least, he hoped he wouldn't be. The Queen always told him that he would be free to do what he wished. He also had the promise he'd made to himself, and AJ.

All of these thoughts passed through his head as he made his way through the large hallways, passing many ponies. Some were in lab attire, others were wearing armour, and some were like him, wearing nothing but a few bits of clothing to absorb sweat. This was very common really, though normally he was done with his daily training later. It left him some extra time at any rate, before the Queen arrived. Maybe he could actually eat and wash himself before he had to be in Her presence. Regardless, he was happy at the thought and actually started to walk at a bit more a brisk pace to reach the cafeteria. In this case, it wasn't treated like a mess hall, as only full military personnel and science lab workers had access to this level of the installation.

As he walked along, he started to consider the true scale of the place. It was enormous. A labyrinth of hallways, staircases, offices, laboratories, training rooms, recreational rooms, and two cafeterias, on the four levels he was able to access. The bottom three were his to move around at his leisure, at least when he wasn't on the bottom floor for his training exercises. He still had yet to be assigned to any group training, and as of late, he mostly worked with scientists and a single Major that had a very low tolerance for even the smallest mistakes. Traversing large rooms full of obstacles quickly, lifting and pulling obscene amounts of weight, learning to fire projectile weapons stationary as well as on the move, and even learning close range martial combat with large mauls, axes, glaives, halberds, and even his hooves, armoured, and unarmoured.

He quickly dismissed the thoughts as he entered a set of double doors at the end of a short side hallway and came to the showers. He sighed to himself as he felt the soreness of his body overtake him. He pushed the door open and let it shut behind him. From there, he proceeded to remove the sweat soaked clothing and push it into a slot in the wall, where it fell down a long chute. No sooner had the slot closed, than he had opened up the side door to the washroom, and relieved himself before starting up the multi-faucet, letting hot water spray out from the head of it and on to the floor of the wash area. He slid underneath the torrent of water and gasped at the feel of it on his tired muscles. This was his greatest pleasure of the day, as it reminded him of home the most. The feel of hot water pouring over his body as he let the tension flow away from his massive frame.

A few minutes of water pouring over him left him sleepy, but he still managed to soap himself up and shake the dirt and blood loose from every little crevice. He even took the time to dry himself off. As he finished drying, he looked into the mirror by the sink, and was a little startled at what he saw. This was the first time he'd seen himself since he had gotten here. His manecut didn't bother him. He had most of it chopped off before he got on the train leaving Ponyville the week before. What startled him, was the nearly instant change in his own frame. He as a little less circular, and a little bit more toned and sleek, while at the same time, bulky. His chest swelled with pride, and his half lidded eyes opened a little bit more widely.

He departed the washroom and made a line straight for the adjacent mess hall.

Hundreds on ponies were sitting at tables, talking and eating and being generally casual and happy while they tucked into their meals. On his immediate right was a small area covered in railings that served as separators for the lines that inevitably built up. He slid his way through most of the pathway and was only about the sixth pony in line at the time. He knew the place could seat thousands and would probably start to get hit within the next fifteen minutes, he guessed as he looked at the clockwork time-teller above the door leading in and out of the cafeteria. It was 16:43. Close enough, he thought. He'd have time to eat and make it back to his class with the old veteran soon enough.

He was greeted quickly by the colts and mares that were behind the serving counter, making small talk and asking about his opinion on their food as well as what he wanted from the daily choices. He smiled and responded to their questions honestly, which got him extra portions of food and winks or more smiles in return. He loved the food they served and loved speaking with the cheerful kitchen staff. Most were young mares or older colts that always had a minute to talk about something interesting. As he made his way through the line, acquiring his hot food, one of the mares batted her eyes at him in a playful manner.

At the end of the line, he lifted up his tray and meandered to a table close to the door, making sure he had his back to the wall near it and an open view of all that was in the room. It was something he was taught on his first day in close combat fighting. Keep your back to a wall and watch everything, while appearing complacent. It was good advice, or so they told him. He had never once had a problem with being inattentive, but if he was to be a soldier, he'd have to focus even harder on heightening his senses.

Nopony had really become acquainted with him since he had gotten here at any rate. He didn't really trust or distrust any of them, which was somewhat surprising, considering the situation he found himself in. Eh. He could just enjoy his meal in peace and think about what his lessons would be on today. His last had been about the last ditch efforts of a pony named "Stonehoof Hadric." Stonehoof had apparently been one of the strongest warriors of his time, but beyond that, was a brilliant tactician. His campaigns against the Saddle-Arabians had led to a treaty being formed, shortly after his death.

This odd campaign story was worth telling at any rate. The war with the Saddle-Arabs had been going on for quite some time about two centuries before, and Stonehoof had constantly stopped the enemies advances, while not assaulting them himself. His own forces always seemed to take very minimal casualties, and even with the greatest war heroes that the sand beasts could get together, seemed to break against Stonehoof like the waves against a cliffside.

Out of nowhere though, some eight months into the war, Stonehoof led all of his forces, and penetrated to the very heart of the Muudi Desert, taking the capital of Dromedor, and annihilating the defenders in his way. This happened over the course of four days.

From there, a counter strike was mustered, and the entire nations of Zebrica and Camelu deigned it necessary to intervene, assaulting the occupied capital with all the forces they could muster, backing the plight of the Saddle-Arabs. A week later, Stonehoof and his forces were gone, along with half of the army that set out after them. The casualty rates between the Equestrian's and their three aggressors had been over twenty to one in the way of their soldiers. This may not have alleviated the broken hearts at home, but statistically it was one of the greatest recorded campaigns in history.

Two weeks later, a treaty was written up that had been upheld until about thirty years prior, when the sand dwellers had felt it fit to strike back at their ancient and still hated enemies. It was all very interesting to the stallion, if a little morbid. Death was his job now though.

As he continued eating his meal of mashed tubers, wheat biscuits, cinnamon crusted apples, and asparagus, he noticed the time moving by. His indicator being the small flood of ponies that arrived at the cafeteria for their supper, along with the arrival of more than just the science staff. A couple of...different, looking ponies showed up. There were about a dozen of them. Four mares and eight stallions. The mares looked sleek and fast, as well as strong, and he noted all of them were pegasi. One he had seen a while back in a training room, and he remembered the speed and precision with which she moved. The stallions that arrived as well, were all rather different in outward appearance, save for their size. Five of them were bigger than Mac himself, and the other three were at least as large, if only slightly smaller, but even then, all of them looked incredibly sleek, yet at the same time, bulging with muscle and great tone.

Other ponies seemed to melt away in their wake and they quickly were at the front of the line, getting huge portions of food from the silent and blank faced kitchen staff. The cheerful mood around them quieted and it seemed as though the volume had dropped by half. Nopony around the room seemed to be directly looking at the group. All except for Mac, who couldn't seem to tear his eyes from them. Two of them, he saw as they moved away from the line with their trays loaded up, had some odd metal...things, protruding from their flesh.

He looked down and continued eating his meal, but he noticed a scraping of chairs near him, and saw that the group had chosen the table next to his. The two adjacent tables quickly cleared themselves of everypony at them, and they quickly relocated themselves. Mac didn't understand why, but he assumed that they must have been intimidating for some reason to all of these others. Hmph.

Ignoring the group, he finished his tray's worth of food, and moved to place it on the end of the rack near the door. As he stood, two of the group halfway looked at him, and in return, he nodded at them, giving them his own mild acknowledgment.

The entire room seemed to freeze at this. Somepony seemed to have turned off the sound, because the chatter stopped abruptly, and everypony in the room had eyes on him. The mares who had looked at him both smirked as he awkwardly shuffled his way to the door, doing his best to ignore everypony and get out of the odd situation he found himself in.

As soon as he passed the threshold out the door, he felt a tap on his right flank, and turned to face the two mares that had met his gaze. The dark blue one with the blond mane started looking him up and down, while the other, a white pony with a magenta mane stared at him with an intensity he hadn't ever felt before.

He started to say something, but the dark blue one started to stare at him too. As his own gaze flickered back and forth between the pair, he noticed something out of place. Maybe that was what had disturbed him the most. Their eyes. They were the exact same shade of gold.

Not a single word passed between the groups, but by some unspoken communication, the two mares abruptly turned around and left him alone. He shuddered slightly for some reason, and made his way back down the hallway towards an elevator. How odd it was that he could explore the bottom floors, but had to go to the top floor by elevator to stay in his own room. Anything to get away from those two mares...

The elevator itself, he considered as he arrived at it's doors, was a marvel unto itself. Maybe he would ask Celestia how it worked. The time-teller above the elevator marked the time at 17:12, and he knew she wouldn't arrive until around 18:30 or so. She was normally there before he was, but on the first day, he had been there early enough to know about when she would arrive. He pressed the button outside of the door, and it the portal quickly slid open. The elevator was normally for "Emergency" use, but he had absolute privileges to it. All he had to do was put in a code that he had memorized, and it would take him to the top floor without stopping.

This, he did, and quickly exited the contraption. His door was just a little ways around the circular hallway. He then took the time to marvel at the way it was built. His room was at the top of the structure, overseeing everything from its height and overall position. The circular ring that ran around the center of the complex at this level, had maybe a dozen rooms, but he had only ever entered the elevator, his classroom, the library, and his own room. As curious as he might have been about inspecting what lay behind the other doors, he never tried to stray beyond his boundaries.

He stopped by his own room and quickly put on a service shirt. The old veteran always told him to look sharp when learning. Now that he thought of it though, he'd still never once heard the war horse's name. Just his old rank. For now he supposed he'd just think of him as the Captain.

Once he had straightened out his sleeves, he made his way out of his room and around the great ring, coming across the classroom. The time-teller read 17:56. A little early as always, but the Captain never once said anything bad about being early for things like this.

This time was different though, he noticed. As he entered the room, he came across a pair of students in the room already. He'd always been given lessons alone and now...wait.

Two pairs of playful amber eyes stared at him as he entered the room, the two pegasi mares that he had seen earlier greeting him without a single word between them. What were they doing, he wondered? He'd never seen them up until today, and now it seemed as thought they were going to share in his classes with the Captain.

The Captain entered the room. If he was surprised by the newcomers, it didn't show on his face. The small room held a large table in the center, each with a set of seats, a main desk, and a blackboard. The walls were just lined with history and tactic books, ranging quite some ways back. They took of the majority of the space in the room. Mac did his best to ignore the two mares as they were tasked by the old veteran to look into a specific battle.

The time drug on as the Captain hardly spoke throughout the lesson, preferring to grind his chalk on the slateboard and draw diagrams as well as formations that pertained to the battle they were studying. Mac couldn't focus as the two mares continued to bother him as though they were in a high school.

At about 19:30, the class ended early and while Mac made to leave, he only made it so far as the hallway before the mares stopped him. The dark blue one cleared her throat and was the first one to speak to him. Her voice was rather clear and sounded very...nice. Singsong almost.

"I'm Flash. This is my sister, Starlight," she said as she gestured to her cream colored companion. "Sorry we acted to weird, but we're just fascinated by you. You aren't like any of the other Shock Guard that we've met."

"You're quite the piece of flank, is what my sister is trying to say," the one who identified as Starlight said, rather frankly. Her voice as well was rather light, but had a bit more of a rasp to it.

Regardless, Mac was thankful for his dark red fur, as he started to blush. He stammered, trying to find an excuse to leave but they both laughed simultaneously. It seemed that they really did enjoy watching him squirm.

"Seeya round, big boy." Flash said, as she lived up to her name in passing him by. Flicking her tail up just a bit while she turned and winked, the slightest hint of pink catching his eye while...while the pair slunk off, laughing the whole way. He was blushing furiously and retreated to his room, quickly ditching his shirt. He took this all as an initiative to lie down and rest...

He felt a slight heat on his cheek, and as he opened his eyes, he saw a colourful, flowing mane. He glanced sideways and saw the Queen's closed eyes and her muzzle pressed against his cheek. As soon as he made to look away, she pulled away and her eyes opened, meeting his, with a twinkle. She laughed and smiled.

"Well it seems you're coming along rather nicely." she said with a rather smug tone. He didn't say anything, but he did smile a little. He'd never really had many feelings for anypony back home, except for his sisters and grandmother, and even then, the few relationships he'd had were based around mares that wanted him for his...well, rather impressive physical build. Being one of the few males in Ponyville, as well as the only real stallion, made him a prime target for many young mares. Some of which had managed to seduce the stallion, though it really wasn't very difficult. He just didn't have the time once he started having to strike up business deals with others and his free periods had dwindled. While in some cases, he had...other means to releasing his urges.

Though, overall, Mac was still rather shy to anypony new, and this showed. His encounter with the sisters earlier was rather a large indicator of this, at least to himself.

As his mind touched up on the thought of old memories again though, he felt a little heartache, but it was quickly dismissed as the Queen's horn began to glow. The light of the lamps started to dim, and he didn't understand why, until he saw the look in her eyes. He knew that look from his lovers. He felt his heart starting to pound, adrenaline pumping through his body. The Queen was making advances on him and he wasn't sure of what to do. His thoughts slowed to a standstill as she pressed her lips against his.