What the hay did I get myself into?

Azimuth stared into the darkness, toward the wooden floor of the extended carriage as it bumped along the dirt trail.

The vehicle was huge. Not quite as big as a train, but still the largest carriage he had ever seen. There were two of the vehicles waiting when he had gotten off of the train. It was late, a few minutes past midnight when the large group of recruits had been herded into the long vehicles and sealed into darkness. The wagons, or 'buses' as the pullers called them, had no windows.

Time seemed to crawl in the pitch black. The stallions around him were silent, each wallowing in their own self doubt and worry. If he had to guess, Azimuth would have said that nearly thirty minutes had passed before his mind had gotten over the shock of being corralled into the cramped, uncomfortable, and quite frankly terrifying vehicles. He didn't know where they were going, what was around them, or how to even get back to the train station. He was lost, the buses taking many turns as they made their way to Camp Sandblast.

It was at this time that Azimuth was beginning to have some second thoughts. He wasn't a Guard. Heck, he wasn't even a very good unicorn, his magical talent limited to little more than simple telekinesis. What possible benefits could he bring to this new Corps of Protectors? He didn't have any training. His family didn't have any military background.

He was just mad.

He buried his face into his hooves. Maybe rushing to a recruiter as soon as possible was a mistake. He was mad about the attacks. More mad than he had ever been in his life, and perhaps that had clouded his judgement a little. Now he was nervous. He had no idea what was waiting for him when he would finally get off of the bus.

He let out a sigh, letting his mind go blank in an attempt to calm himself. It worked to a small extent.

Little late now. Not a whole lot I can do about it, other than maybe jumping out the door.

He entertained that thought for a second before shaking his head. He let out a half chuckle.

That's not really an option... I'd never be able to live with myself if I quit before training even began.

He shifted a little in the seat, attempting to find a comfortable position on the hard wooden bench. He let his eyes close.

Maybe I should try to get a little sleep. Celestia knows how long it'll be before I get another chance...

Jason stood outside the somewhat large administration building just inside the main gate of Camp Sandblast. Flanking him on either side were the instructors, mentally preparing themselves for the task ahead. He could see just the touch of a smile making their way to each stallion's lips.

He raised a hand to his forehead, lifting up the campaign cover a little and rubbing the spot where the hard plastic ridge was beginning to irritate his skin.

Note to self... He thought quickly. Padding is a virtue. He let the cover return to it's position, the hard edge already pressing into his skin. The covers had been an afterthought. The recruits wouldn't be able to mistake the human, but the other instructors needed some symbol to make them easily identifiable to the recruits, thus the campaign covers were created. They matched the style Jason had feared throughout his own training, modified slightly to accommodate the unicorns' horns.

Jason glanced around him quickly. Behind him was a large slab of concrete. The slab was marked with countless yellow dots, representing hoofprints. The phantom formation faced a few large signs, printed on which were oaths that each recruit must repeat before they would be herded into the building to begin their in-processing. The oaths were a formality. They stated basic rules that each recruit must follow while undergoing training.

Another sign bore the Instructors Creed, something Jason and his instructors would read in unison to the recruits. Again, this was mostly a formality. Chances are, most of the stallions were going to be so stressed out they wouldn't know what was going on. However, for the few who would be attentive the Creed would tell the recruits why the instructors did what they did.

Jason heard a faint rumble in the distance and returned his attention forward.

"Alright. Copper, Razor, you'll be the ones on to get on the buses. You already know your spiel. Carbon, you'll be the one to hurry them to their hoofprints." Jason let a smirk cross his face. "Make sure they can understand what you're saying. I want 'em scared, but they should at least sort of know what they're supposed to do."

The stallions chuckled. "Aye sir."

Jason's smirk widened. "Have fun, gents."

Azimuth's world was thrown into chaos all at once. His vision exploded as the enchanted crystals lining the walls bathed the bus with brilliantly white light. He felt the vehicle shift as he rapidly blinked, attempting to clear the spots from his eyes.

"WAKE THE FUCK UP AND EYES FORWARD."

The loud growl from the front of the bus drew the attention of every stallion in the vehicle. Standing at the front was a deep-blue pegasus, clad in a splotchy tan uniform and wearing a brown hat with a wide brim that formed a circle around his head. The stallions in the bus were silent as they stared at the pegasus.

"FIRST THING. IF MYSELF, OR ANYBODY ELSE HERE SPEAKS TO ANY OF YOU SACKS OF SHIT, YOU WILL RESPOND WITH 'YES SIR, NO SIR OR AYE AYE SIR'. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"

Wait...Any...Body? What does that mean?

The stallions in the bus all responded with a hesitant chorus of 'yes,sir.'

"YOU BETTER FIND SOME FUCKING VOLUME!" The pegasus shouted.

"YES SIR!" Every stallion, including Azimuth, responded in unison, attempting to get as much volume from their voices as possible.

"WELCOME TO CAMP SANDBLAST. I AM SERGEANT RAZOR, AND I AM ONE OF YOUR DRILL INSTRUCTORS. I AM HERE TO BUILD YOU SORRY MOTHERFUCKERS INTO THE GREATEST FIGHTING FORCE EQUESTRIA HAS EVER KNOWN. WHEN I TELL YOU, YOU WILL GET OFF THIS BUS AND FIND A SET OF YELLOW HOOFPRINTS TO STAND ON. GET THERE AND DON'T MOVE UNTIL TOLD TO DO OTHERWISE. ANY QUESTIONS?"

Razor continued before anypony had a chance to respond.

"GOOD. GET OFF MY BUS." The pegasus turned and stepped off the vehicle.

The stallions surged to their hooves and pressed into each other as they attempted to file off the carriage. Azimuth was swept up into the flow of stallions, his sand colored form being consumed by the mass of ponies.

As they stepped from the bus, they were herded toward a large building. Or rather, the large slab of concrete that lay on the ground before it. A black stallion, clad much the same as Sergeant Razor, was screaming at them and speeding them towards the yellow marks on the ground.

From the corner of his eye, Azimuth saw a tall figure standing to the side, watching over the group as they scrambled. He attempted to look and get a better view of the creature before he was screamed at to fall in.

As the stallions fell in, they grew increasingly cramped, the space between the spots allowing the minimum space possible between each recruit. The gathering grew silent as their movements stopped. They remained standing there for a couple of minutes. Anypony who attempted to look around was promptly yelled at by one of the instructors who stood vigil over the group. The instructors each walked around the group slowly. Sergeant Razor and the black pony were joined by a copper colored stallion and eventually they formed a line facing the group. They stood together silently, hard eyes looking carefully over the entirety of the group.

They didn't look any bigger than anypony Azimuth had ever seen, yet the aura that poured from their bodies seemed suffocating. He had no doubt that any one of them would have no trouble making him their mare.

Before long, the tall figure Azimuth had seen from the corner of his eye made it's way before the group, standing directly in front of Sergeant Razor. It's strange, bi-pedal form towering over the entire crowd. It crossed it's arms as it looked over the group.

Azimuth could feel himself shrink subconsciously. The presence of the other stallions had been suffocating, and even mildly frightening. But this... Having this creature looking at them like this was terrifying. Azimuth had no idea what the source of these feelings was. Just the way the creature stood. How it held itself. It was like it would be able to tear him apart without a second thought. Like it had done it before.

Azimuth watched with rapt attention as the creature began speaking.

"Welcome to Camp Sandblast. You have volunteered to be among the first members of Equestria's Corps of Protectors, the organization that will become the best trained, best equipped and most lethal fighting force in the entirety of Equestria. My name is Captain Jason Sinder, and I am your Senior Drill Instructor. Behind me are Sergeant Carbon, Sergeant Razor and Sergeant Copper. We are the first members of this brotherhood, and together we pledge to you."

Captain Sinder raised his right hand, an action mirrored by the line of instructors behind him. From memory, they recited in unison.

The group of instructors lowered their arms. Captain Sinder began speaking again.

"We swear to you this oath, so you may understand the hell we will put you through. The next few months are going to be the most stressful and exhausting times any of you have ever faced. Both mentally and physically. You will be tested. You will be pushed to your limits, and some of you may not be able to make it. This is for the best. We want the strongest stallions in Equestria, and we will weed out anypony who can't handle it. We will tell you when to eat. We will tell you when to sleep. And we will tell you when to shit. You will respond to every order with 'Aye Aye Sir.' Try to second guess us. I dare you. Every time we address you, you will respond. If you don't, only the wrath of the Drill Instructors await you. At this time, look at the sign over my right shoulder and raise your right hoof."

Azimuth did as he was ordered. He balanced as he raised his hoof and strained his eyes to read the poorly illuminated sign behind the Captain.

"Repeat after me. I, State your name..."

"I, Azimuth." The stallion responded. Around him, other ponies said their names. In the distance, he heard somepony actually say 'state your name.' The group fell into silence.

Captain Sinder remained silent, his eyes drawn to the offending voice. He calmly looked over his shoulder to Sergeant Copper.

The Drill Instructor snapped into action, and with inpony speed moved to the stallion who had made a mockery of their oath.

"YOU WANNA GET FUCKING SMART? ALREADY? NOT EVEN TEN MINUTES IN AND YOU ALREADY WANT TO GET ON MY SHIT LIST. DON'T YOU FUCKING WORRY. I KNOW YOUR FACE. I'LL HAVE YOUR ASS!"

"Drill Instructor!" Captain Sinder called. In an instant, Sergeant Copper was silent. He quickly returned to his position beside the other instructors, eyes locked forward.

"Now, let's try that again." Captain Sinder said evenly. "I, State your name..."

"I, Azimuth..." The group repeated the words. There were no incidents this time.

Captain Sinder lowered his hand, an action the group of recruits mirrored.

"With that oath, we begin your training. Remember this as you fight your way through the next months. You are not alone. To your right and left, and in front and behind you, are stallions who are going through this struggle with you. Find strength in them. Build a bond stronger than steel with them. If anypony fails, it is not their fault. It is the fault of every pony around them, as they were unable to provide the support they needed.

"That being said, do not attempt to take things on alone. We are a brotherhood, and we work much better together than we do as individuals. If things become to much for you, tell somepony."

The Captain looked over the crowd. "Any questions?"

Much to Azimuth's surprise, the creature waited a decent amount of time, actually giving the stallions a chance to ask questions if they needed to.

Of course, nopony raised their hooves.

"Very well. With that I turn you over to your Drill Instructors. We will speak again in due time."

The Captain turned and began walking away. The formation remained silent.

Sergeant Carbon took a step forward. "OKAY, I KNOW WE RESPOND WHEN AN OFFICER SPEAKS TO YOU!"

Most of the ponies in the formation jolted in surprise before ringing out in chorus. "AYE AYE SIR!"

The three instructors began moving quickly, their motion seemed jerky as they bounced between various recruits, screaming into their faces. Over the din of the instructors, Sergeant Razor bellowed instructions.

"ALRIGHT, WHEN I SAY, FIRST SQUAD WILL FILE INTO THE DOUBLE DOORS IN FRONT OF YOU. SECOND SQUAD FOLLOW FIRST AS THE LAST PONY PASSES YOU."

The stallions in the first squad began moving towards the door quickly, bumping into each other as they awkwardly moved.

"DID I TELL YOU TO FUCKING MOVE YET?! GET BACK ONTO YOUR FUCKING HOOFPRINTS!"

The stallions stumbled over each other as they tried to get back to their original positions. After a short few seconds, they stood at attention, once again staring forward. A few cast nervous glances around the group.

"EYES FRONT!" Sergeant Razor shouted. He circled around the group slowly. "Let's try this again. WHEN I SAY, FIRST SQUAD WILL FILE INTO THE DOUBLE DOORS IN FRONT OF YOU. SECOND SQUAD FOLLOW FIRST AS THE LAST PONY PASSES YOU."

Nopony moved this time.

"READY...MOVE!"

The stallions jumped to motion, moving quickly to the doors.

"GET BACK!" Sergeant Razor shouted.

The stallions froze and looked toward him again.

"I SAID GET BACK! DON'T MAKE ME SAY IT AGAIN!"

The stallions returned to their hoofprints. a few of them were beginning to show signs of irritation.

"I KNOW WE TOLD YOU TO RESPOND TO OUR ORDERS." He paused.

The group of recruits remained silent.

"WELL? 'YES SIR'? SOME SHIT. IT'S LIKE I'M FUCKING TALKING TO MYSELF HERE."

"YES SIR!" The group cautiously responded.

"RIGHT, NOW WHEN I SAY, FIRST SQUAD WILL FILE INTO THE DOUBLE DOORS IN FRONT OF YOU. SECOND SQUAD FOLLOW FIRST AS THE LAST PONY PASSES YOU."

"YES SIR!" The group shouted in response.

"READY...MOVE!"

"AYE AYE, SIR!" The stallions once again surged forward, the line closest to the building snaking it's way through the door. As the last stallion in the line passed the beginning of the second, the ponies in that line began to move, following the first.

This is going to be a loooong few months... Azimuth thought to himself as he gently trotted, attempting to keep pace with the stallion in front of him.

Jason stood to the side, observing as his Drill Instructors ran the new recruits through the wringer. He resisted the urge to grin at the fun the Instructors were having.

He didn't envy the recruits. He remembered perfectly well what it was like to be in that crowd. What it was like to be wrong in everything you do.

He had to suppress a snicker as Razor made them get back a third time for not responding to his commands.

Jason turned and began walking towards the squad bay. It was a long, single story building lined with windows. Inside was a wide open floor plan, with bunk beds running along the entire length. There was an empty area towards the front of the building, near the door, known as the quarterdeck. From the quarterdeck, one could access the head and showers, as well as the room where the Drill Instructors on duty would sleep.

Camp Sandblast was exactly what Jason had wanted. There were obstacle courses, a decently sized parade deck, a chow hall, and all of the training space he needed.

Civilians ran most of the base, including the chow hall and armory. The MOR had sent some qualified experts along with the shipment of PCRs, in order to maintain and repair any of the weapons that may get damaged through training. They were also here to observe the weapons in use and see if there were any improvements that could be made to the design.

Jason stepped into the DI duty hut and sat down. The recruits would be going through in-processing for most of the following day, led from place to place by the other Instructors.

They needed to go through medical for a few screenings as well as initial inoculations. They needed to go to the armory to be issued a rifle. They needed to be issued their gear, including cammies, covers and other clothing as well as all of the other miscellaneous gear they will need. There was also all of the administrative paperwork they needed to go through, papers they needed to sign and information they needed to fill out.

Not to mention the haircuts. Dear god, the haircuts were going to take forever.

Jason slipped off his blouse and sat to relax. He fiddled with his campaign cover for a while before remembering back to the irritation the hat had caused. He looked around quickly and found a small piece of felt laying on one of the tables. What it was doing there, he didn't know but he dismissed the thought quickly and snatched it up. He took a couple pieces of tape from the desk and quickly stuck the fabric along the hard edge of the cover. Experimentally, he set the cover on his head.

It was still far from comfortable, but at least it wasn't cutting into his skull anymore.

He took off the cover again and set it onto the desk. He had some time to rest, and he'd be a fool not to take it. The DI's could handle in-processing just fine, but as soon as that was over Jason was going to take them and begin their true training. He needed to be prepared for it.

He leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes and letting his mind wander, looking for that familiar touch of sleep at the edge of his mind.

He didn't find it.

What he did find was a voice. One that had been silent for several years. It was his voice of self doubt. The little thoughts in the back of his mind that made him second guess himself. The last time he had heard it was the first time Twilight had kissed him. He remembered the turmoil in his mind as he argued the grounds of bestiality and xenophelia. It had been silent ever since Jason realized he didn't care.

What the hell are you doing? The voice asked.

Trying to sleep. You don't mind do you?

You know what the fuck I mean. Why are you doing this? Do you really think it's a good idea for you to get this involved in a war?

It's not a war yet...

Bullshit... You and I both know where this is headed. That's the only reason you agreed to create this boot camp. So I'll ask again. What the fuck are you doing?

Jason let out a sigh. He couldn't believe he was arguing with himself like this, but he had a feeling it wouldn't just go away. He decided to entertain that portion of his thoughts a little.

I'm making sure the ponies of Equestria are trained well enough to handle the situations the Guardians of the Sand are going to put them through. Surely you can understand that.

Don't you think that's messing with nature a little? I mean, these ponies are normally pacifists. Why the hell should we give them the tools to destroy themselves?

We gave them the tools to defend themselves...

Are you really that naïve? We just jumped their war tech from bows and spears to assault rifles in less than six months! You have no idea what kind of negative repercussions that may cause in the future.

well they need the ability to defend themselves now. The Guardians attacked before they even had these weapons, so the war was going to happen regardless of our input. If we have the ability to assist Equestria, then I'll be damned if I don't.

And why should we defend Equestria? There has to be a reason the Guardians started this whole conflict. It's foolish to go to war without knowing what the enemy is fighting for.

Jason paused. The voice was right. He had no idea what the Guardians' motivation was. Why were they fighting? Why did they attack us? He didn't know. In the end, he decided he didn't care.

I'm doing it because the Guardians have attacked civilians. Not just the ambassador and her aides, but normal Equestrian citizens working at the embassy. Ponies just trying to live. Just like my mother.

So, what? You're going to turn this into some matter of personal vendetta? It's not like the Guardians are the ones who killed mom.

No. I'm doing it to protect the ponies of Equestria. The faster we can eliminate that threat, the fewer chances they have to hurt innocent ponies, including Twilight and Rainbow.

So your willing to kill an unknown number of Saddle Arabians for that?

If it means keeping my wife, and my partner safe, then you bet your ass I am.

The voice went silent again, letting Jason fall into a quiet, dreamless sleep.

The clothes Azimuth wore were uncomfortable. The fabric was rough, the seams hard and they didn't feel like they fit quite right. Then again, what did he know? He never had any reason to wear clothes before. He didn't really understand why he was wearing them now as a matter of fact. But, Sergeant Copper had ordered them to put them on, so here they stood. Clad in the strangely stained clothes.

His head itched. The barber had not been kind in the cutting of his mane, if it could even be called that anymore. His dark brown hair was now barely longer than his sand colored coat. His flanks still ached from the countless vaccines the doctors had injected him with, and he was tired from the effort of using his telekinesis to sign so many pieces of paper.

The sun had risen and fallen over the time it had taken them to complete all of the in-processing. Other than that little nap he had gotten on the bus, Azimuth hadn't slept in nearly two days. He felt his eyes growing heavy as he stood in front of his bunk bed. To his left stood an emerald pegasus, to his right was a dark gray unicorn. He hadn't gotten a chance to speak to any of the other recruits around him, much less learn their names. Every time he tried, one of the Drill Instructors would leap down his throat and silence him.

He was tired, uncomfortable, stiff and mentally exhausted. So much had happened that day, rushing from place to place before his mind had the chance to catch up to his body. Even now, his thoughts were trying to process everything that had happened today.

He cautiously looked around the squad bay with his eyes. he didn't dare turn his head to get a better view. It hadn't taken him long for him to learn of the Drill Instructors' unnatural ability to spot even the tiniest movement, and their quickness to correct it.

The recruits around him didn't seem to be faring much better. Their eyes all wore the same tired expression. Behind each of them was a green duffel bag, filled with all of the gear that had been given to them at the very beginning of their processing. The bags sat on top of metal boxes at the end of the beds, two per bunk.

The former guards were easy enough to spot. Their customary white and gray coats standing out among the rainbow of other recruits. They seemed to be faring only marginally better than the other recruits, yet it was still fairly easy to see the tiredness in their eyes.

"EYES FRONT, RECRUIT!" Sergeant Carbon had materialized in front of Azimuth, seemingly appearing from nowhere. His eyes snapped forward and his limbs stiffened.

He stood there silently, Sergeant Carbon stared at him expectantly. In his tired state, Azimuth didn't know what else he could do.

"RESPOND!" Sergeant Carbon screamed, rivulets of spit flying into Azimuths face.

"AYE AYE SIR!" Azimuth screamed in response. He couldn't get much volume from his weakened voice. The day of near-constant screaming had reduced it to little more than a raspy shout.

"SCREAM IT!" The Sergeants face was getting closer and closer to the recruits. In the back of his mind, Azimuth wondered how the instructor was still able to scream with such volume. The recruits had been screaming alot, but not nearly as much as the instructors had.

"AYE AYE, SIR!" Azimuth attempted to squeeze the last bit of volume he could from his strained voice.

This continued for what felt like a small eternity. Sergeant Carbon demanding more volume and Azimuth trying to give it to him. Before he knew it, all three instructors had swarmed around the recruit. They screamed in unison at the unicorn.

Tears of exertion were beginning to flow from his eyes as Azimuth scremed his responses. Eventually the instructors dispersed, dissappearing nearly as suddenly as they appeared. They spread to other recruits around the room.

Azimuths limbs were stiff, his muscles quivering at the shock of the ordeal he had just been through. His mind remained blank as he attempted to calm himself. The screams of the instructors continued to reverberate around the room.

The white door at the end of the room opened quietly. From the corner of his eye, Azimuth saw Captain Sinder step out and take a position at the front of the room. He crossed his arms and watched the instructors do their work..

The volume of the instructors increased as recruits attempted to turn and look at the Captain.

After a few minutes, the Captain finally spoke. His volume was even greater than the Instructors'.

"DRILL INSTRUCTORS!" He shouted. In an instant the Instructors were silent. They continued walking in front of the recruits, drilling into each stallion with their eyes as they passed them.

The Captain began speaking again. His voice was quieter. He didn't need to scream like the other instructors did. The recuits had only seen him once before, yet they felt the power that emanated from the strange creature. If there was one thing none of them wanted to see, it was their Senior Drill Instructor angry.

"Instructors, dissappear. I'm going to have a little heart to heart with the recruits."

"Aye, Senior Drill Instructor." The instructors responded in unison as they began moving to the front of the squad bay. Together they dissapeared into the room the Captain had emerged from, the door swingin shut as the last tail vanished from view.

"Ears."

"OPEN, SIR!"

"Eyeballs."

"CLICK, SIR!"

That had been one of the first things taught to the recruits. Ears meant listen, and eyeballs meant to look at the instructor who was speaking. They had used it countless times that day, although it usually involved much more screaming on the instructors part. Azimuth was a little surprised by the conversational tone the Captain used, but he was honestly relieved at the reprieve from the near-constant screaming.

"When I give you the word, you will form a school circle around me. Ready...MOVE!"

The recruits didn't move. They hadn't been taught what a school circle was yet.

"Ears!"

"OPEN, SIR!"

"Eyeballs."

"CLICK, SIR!"

"When I tell you to get into a school circle, you will form three lines around me in a half circle. Understood?"

"Yes, Sir." The volume of the recruits had dropped to match the Captain's tone.

"Okay, volume."

The recruits jumped a little. "YES, SIR!"

"SCREAM IT!" The Captain's scream was unlike anything Azimuth had ever heard. His voice was gravelly, a little pinched and absolutely terrifying.

"AYE AYE, SIR!" The recruits screamed louder than Azimuth thought possible.

"THAT'S WHAT I WANT TO FUCKIN' HEAR! WHEN I SPEAK TO YOU, YOU WILL RESPOND WITH SPEED AND INTENSITY. YOU THINK THE INSTRUCTORS ARE BAD? I TAUGHT THEM EVERYTHING THEY KNOW. YOU DO NOT WANT TO PISS ME OFF. UNDERSTOOD?"

"YES SIR!"

The Captain exhaled quickly, the tension seemed to flow out of him as he relaxed a little.

"Now, when I give you the word, form a school circle around me. Ready... MOVE!"

"AYE AYE, SIR!" The recruits shouted as they scrambled. The formed three lines around the Captain and stood at attention.

The Captain looked around him quickly. "Prepare to seat!"

"PREPARE TO SEAT, AYE AYE SIR!"

"Prepare to seat!"

"PREPARE TO SEAT, AYE AYE SIR!"

"Ready... MOVE!"

"DROP LIKE A ROCK!" The group dropped simultaneously, sitting as they were taught and giving their undivided attemtion to the Captain.

If there was one thing Azimuth had noticed, it was that the instructors liked to repeat themselves before giving a final order. He assumed it was so that each recruit understood what they were supposed to do before the actual order was given.

Captain Sinder ran his eyes over the group, looking into each stallions eyes before he spoke again.

"At ease, gents. Every night before you hit the rack, we will gather together to talk about the days training and to address any issues you may have. I will also pass along information pertaining to future training. Now, what is the first thing you notice about this discussion?

The recruits were silent. They glanced around at each other quickly, attempting to find the answer. Eventually, a mint-colored earth pony spoke up.

"SIR!"

"Stand when you speak to me." The Captains gaze was cold and the stallion immediately stood.

"SIR! THE OTHER DRILL INSTRUCTORS AREN'T HERE!"

"Exactly. Sit down."

"AYE AYE SIR!" The recruit responded as he dropped.

The Captain looked to the group as a whole. "This will be a relaxed discussion. I don't want you screaming at me in this environment. Understood?"

"YES, SIR!" The recruits shouted in response

The Captain gave them a steady glare.

"...Yes, Sir." The recruits said again, their voices dropping to a more conversational tone. The day of constant screaming meant they were responding by instinct now, rather than consciously speaking.

"Better." The Captain quickly dissapeared into the duty hut, emerging a second later with a wheeled chair. He placed the chair in the middle of the semi-circle and sat.

"Okay, first off. Have any of you been addressed as an individual while you have been here?"

A few of the recruits responded with hesitant 'Yes, Sir's. The Captain shook his head quickly.

"Getting screamed at isn't what I meant. I meant a one-on-one conversation with any of the instructors."

The group remained silent for a moment before a voice in the back of the group responded.

"No, Sir."

"That's exactly right." The Captain said. "The Corps of Protectors will be the greatest warriors in Equestrian history, but that can't happen if you work as a bunch of individuals. Your individuality is the first thing we will strip from you in this training. You will get it back when you earn your title, but one of the primary purposes of this training is to build a sense of camaraderie and teamwork. You will be trained as a group. You will work as a group. And you will act as a group. 'I', 'me', 'myself', and 'we' are now meaningless fucking terms. From now on, you are 'this recruit' or 'these recruits'. Understand?"

The group responded with a chorus of "Yes, Sir!"

"Good. Next, if you need to speak to myself or any of the other instructors, you must request permission to do so. You are not entitled to anything. Approach the instructor, stand at attention, give the proper greeting of the day. The instructor will ask you what you need. After that you will say 'This recruit requests permission to speak Senior Drill Instructor or Drill Instructor Captain Sinder, Sergeant Razor, Sergeant Copper or Sergeant Carbon.' You will use their proper title and rank when referring to any of the instructors. They earned their title. They earned their rank. You will refer to them as such. From there, if they decide you are worth their time, they will give you permission to speak. If they tell you to go away, you better fucking dissappear. Understand?"

"Yes, Sir!"

"Now that we have that out of the way, we can begin talking like we normally will during these conversations. As you can probably tell, I am not here to slay you. That's what the Drill Instructors are for. I am here to ensure you are properly trained. I will ensure you have everything you need, and also I am here to resolve any issues you may have, as long as it's a truly serious problem. Don't waste my time with minor complaints like 'The Drill Instructors yelled at me too much'. If you have any medical problems, or if you feel yourself breaking under the mental pressure, tell me and I will work with you. I am here to help you, but hear me, do not take my kindness for weakness. If you piss me off, I will personally fuck you up. I will PT you until you fucking die. I will crush your hopes and dreams. Don't fuck with me. Understand?"

"Yes, Sir!"

I still don't know what a fuck is... Azimuth thought to himself. He had heard the word countless times while he had been here, yet he still had no idea what it meant.

Cpatain Sinder visibly relaxed.

"Now, here's how this is going to work. We've got a little time for questions, so I will ask one and I want input from at least two of you. After that, I will answer one question of yours. Understood?

"Yes, Sir."

The Captain nodded. "First, who here is beginning to have some second thoughts?"

Azimuth was shocked. Was he that transparent? Did the Captain have some kind of sixth sense about things like that?

The group remained silent.

Captain Sinder gave the group a dubious look. "I know there's a few of you. Believe me, when I went through training I definitely had a few of my own. Come on, show of hooves, who is feeling like it may have been a mistake coming here?"

Hesitantly, Azimuth raised a hoof. Around him, several other stallions mirrored his action.

"That's what I thought." He looked around quickly before pointing to one of the recruits, a rust colored pegasus. "You. Stand up and tell me what you're worried about."

Hesitantly, the pegasus stood. "Sir, Honestly I..."

"I?" Captain Sinder said, his voice even.

The stallion blinked. It took a few seconds before he realized his error. "Sir, honestly this recruit was expecting this to be purely about combat. All these recruits have done so far is be yelled at."

"Your actual education hasn't really started yet. Today was all in-processing and administrative work, although your training has begun in a sense. Combat is the primary focus of your time here. The reason the Drill Instructors will always yell at you is to keep you under stress. The reason for this is so you will be able to function under the stress of combat. When rounds are flying and bombs are going off, you need to be able to make snap decisions. You will get the best combat training we can possibly give you, and you will be under stress the whole time. This is to make you more effective as warriors. Understood?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Good. Sit down." The Captain looked around again. A couple of the recruits still held their hooves up. He selected another and told him to stand.

"Sir, this recruit is wondering if he made the wrong decision coming here."

Captain Sinder exhaled deeply. He looked around the group quickly. "How many of you recruits share this feeling?"

A couple other recruits raised their hoof. Hesitantly, Azimuth added his own to their number.

"I won't lie to you, this training is going to suck. It will break some of you. Get it out of your head that things will return to normal once you graduate. You will be changed, along with your lifestyle. My suggestion is to embrace the suck. The sooner you treat the suck as normal life, the better life will be for you. Any little concession life gives you from now on will seem like a gift from Celestia herself. You will gain a special appreciation for life. Understand that we do this job so that civilians don't need to live through the hell that we do. There are countless families in Equestria, and we do everything in our power to ensure they don't have to see the things we see. We are a special breed. A select few who are willing to sacrifice some of life's comforts so others don't have to. Take this to heart as we go through training and then into combat against the Guardians of the Sand."

"Aye Aye, Sir." The recruit said quickly before sitting.

"Alright. Now, what questions do you have for me?"

Azimuth raised his hoof somewhat hesitantly. Captain Sinder saw the movement and pointed towards him. "You. What is your question?"

Azimuth rose to his hooves, his legs stiff. "Sir, what exactly are you? I...This recruit has never seen or heard of your species before."

Azimuth realized the mistake in his words no sooner than they left his lips. He suppressed a shudder as the Captain looked at him evenly, his expression blank and unblinking.

Captain Sinder's response was even, and touched with just the trace of venom."I am a Protector officer, and your Senior Drill Instructor. That's all you need to care about. Maybe when you get closer to graduation, I will tell you more about myself and the things I have done." He turned to look at the rest of the recruits. "Do not pester me with questions about me or my history. When I feel like you've earned it, I will tell you about myself." His gaze returned to Azimuth. "Understood?"

"Y-Yes, Sir." Azimuth stuttered quickly.

"Good. Sit down."

"Aye aye, Sir." Azimuth said, sitting on his haunches quickly.

"Any more questions?"

The group was silent. Nopony was willing to ask anything after Azimuth's little bombshell.

"If I don't have any further questions, then I will turn you over to the Drill Instructors to prepare for sleep."

The group was in turmoil. The day had been long, and they were all exhausted, yet they were terrified at the aspect of having the Drill Instructors upon them again. The group was remained quiet. As he looked around, Azimuth could see a few recruits' faces twisted in thought, trying to think of a question.

After a pregnant pause, Captain Sinder spoke again. "Very well. Sleep well tonight. Your formal instruction will begin tomorrow morning. If you think you're tired now, you haven't experienced true exhaustion. Standby..."

The Captain stood, wheeling his chair against the wall and standing at the center of the circle.

"DRILL INSTRUCTORS!"

No sooner than the words left his lips did the door to the small room at the front of the hallway explode open, the Drill Instructors swarming out and rushing to the gathering.

"ON YOUR FEET!" Sergeant Carbon shouted.

"AYE AYE, SIR!" The recruits shouted in a panicked urgency.

"GET ON LINE!"

"AYE AYE, SIR!" The recruits stumbled over each over as they rushed to get to their assigned racks.

The Drill Instructor was counting down from one hundred. The numbers ticked past as fast as Sergeant Carbon could speak. Azimuth could have sworn the Drill Instructor was skipping numbers in his countdown.

"TWENTYNINETWENTYEIGHTTWENTYSEVENTWENTYSIX, TWENTY FIVE FOUR TWENTY!"

Azimuth made it to his rack and turned to face the center of the long bay, his legs stiff as he stood at attention.

"TEN NINE EIGHT, SEVEN SIX, FIVE!"

"GET ON LINE!" The recruits shouted in unison.

"FUCK YOU, FIVE!"

"GET ON LINE!" The recruits squeezed as much volume from their voices as they could.

"FOUR THREE TWO ONE YOU ARE!"

"DONE SIR!"

"YOU ARE!"

"DONE SIR!"

The room was silent and Sergeant Carbon looked around slowly. The other Drill Instructors walked in frontof the recruits, staring each one down as they passed.

"On MY COMMAND, YOU WILL HAVE FIFTY SECONDS TO REMOVE YOU BLOUSE AND PLACE IT ON THE HANGER. UNDERSTOOD?"

"YES SIR!"

"BLOUSE, BLOUSE OFF THE BODY. READY. MOVE! FORTYNINEFORTYEIGHTFORTYSEVEN..."

Azimuth focused quickly, concentrating his magic on the buttons securing the shirt to his body. The buttons came off easily and he slid the garment off. He set the shirt on the floor and turned to retrieve the hanger from the cross bar of his rack.

Sergeant Copper was on him in an instant.

"GET YOUR FUCKING BLOUSE OFF THE FUCKING FLOOR! WHAT THE FUCK IS FUCKING WRONG WITH YOU?"

In his surprise, Azimuth's magic disappeared, causing the hanger to clatter to the floor. He struggled to focus his magic on the shirt that lay in a crumpled heap. "AYE AYE SIR!" He screamed.

"PICK IT UP! PICK IT UP NOW!" The Sergeant's screaming was not making things any easier.

"...SEVENTEENSIXTEENFIFTEEN..."

"GET THE BLOUSE ON THE FUCKING HANGER, RECRUIT!"

"AYE AYE, SIR!" Azimuth struggled to slip the sides of the hanger into the sleeves of the tangled and crumpled shirt.

"TEN NINE EIGHT, SEVEN SIX, FIVE!"

"GET ON LINE!"

"FOUR THREE TWO ONE YOU ARE!"

"DONE SIR!"

"YOU ARE!"

"DONE SIR!"

Azimuth was, in fact, not done. His blouse was still twisted upon itself and hung at an awkward angle off the hanger that floated beside him.

From the corners of his eyes, he could see that he was actually closer to done than a vast majority of the recruits. Most of the earth ponies and pegasi were still tangled in their blouses, unable to easily remove the buttons that secured them. The group stood there silently, all in various stages of completion of their given task.

Sergeant Carbon looked around slowly, his eyes taking in the scene around him.

"GOOD. SINCE YOU SORRY SACKS OF SHIT DON'T WANT TO MOVE FAST, WE GET TO TRY THIS AGAIN. BLOUSE, BLOUSE, ON THE BODY, READY MOVE!"

This went on for what felt like hours. Put the blouse on, take the blouse off. Put the blouse on, take the blouse off. It took seven or eight attempts before the recruits had managed to complete the task in the given amount of time. It took twice as many to remove their trousers.

There were no clocks. Everything was done on the Drill Instructors time. What felt like hours could have only been twenty minutes, and what felt short could ahave been an hour. Azimuth didn't know, and in the end, it didn't really matter. As long as he moved quickly, and didn't mess anything up, the Drill Insstructors left him alone.

Eventually, the recruits stood naked in front of their racks, their uniforms hanging from the cross bars of the bunk beds. Many panted from the effort of the whole ordeal.

"CANTEEN ON LINE. READY, MOVE!"

Azimuth concentrated and floated the one-quart canteen of green plastic in front of him. The recruits around him mirrored his action, the unicorns with telekinesis, the earth ponies and pegasi holding the canteen in their hoof.

"Throughout your stay here in Camp Sandblast, it is imperative that you stay hydrated. If you are unable to keep up because of dehydration, it's your own fucking fault. Before you hit the rack each night, you will drink one full canteen. Throughout the day, you are expected to drink six to eight canteens on your own. Understood?"

"YES, SIR!"

"WHEN YOU RECEIVE THE COMMAND, YOU WILL UNSCREW THE CAP AND DRINK THE ENTIRE CANTEEN. WHEN YOU ARE FINISHED, HOLD THE CANTEEN OUT IN FRONT OF YOU. READY, MOVE!"

"AYE AYE, SIR!" Azimuth's magic enveloped the cap of the canteen and quickly removed it. He pulled the canteen to his lips and began drinking quickly. It was hard. A quart is a lot of water. He struggled against his own gag reflex and a growing discomfort within his stomach. The Drill Instructor wasn't counting down, instead he watched and waited until each recruit held their canteen in front of them.

Azimuth couldn't drink any more. There was still about a quarter of the water remaining, but he didn't think his gurgling and churning stomach could handle anymore without vomiting. He held the partially full canteen in front of him.

"STOP!"

"AYE AYE SIR!" The Recruits all held their canteens before them.

"NOW, HOLD THE CANTEEN OVER YOUR HEAD!"

Azimuth levitated the canteen into position. A growing sense of dread forming itself in his mind.

"TURN THEM OVER!"

Azimuth closed his eyes in defeat. Hesitantly, he rotated the plastic container over his head.

He shivered as the cool water splashed over what was left of his mane, soaking into his coat. Drips of water falling to the ground. Around him, he heard numerous splashes as other recruits who had failed to drink everything poured the contents of their canteens over themselves.

Azimuth was tired, cold, wet and miserable. He looked jealously at the recruits who were dry.

"CAP 'EM!"

"AYE AYE, SIR!"

"Now you see what happens when you don't follow our orders. Every time you don't listen to us there will be a consequence, whether it be physical or mental."

Sergeant Carbon's voice was lowered down to a more conversational tone. Azimuth was grateful. He was in no mood to be yelled at anymore. He just wanted sleep. That's all he wanted.

"CANTEENS, AGAINST THE FOOT LOCKER. READY, MOVE!"

"Aye Aye, Sir." He didn't shout. It wasn't in him anymore. He floated the canteen against the metal box behind him.

Sergeant Carbon checked the watch strapped just above his hoof. "IN BETWEEN THE RACKS. READY, MOVE!"

The recruits moved between the racks. He faced the bed. Across from him was a grey pegasus, and beside him was a dirt brown earth pony who faced the other direction.

"PREPARE TO MOUNT!"

"PREPARE TO MOUNT AYE AYE SIR!"

"PREPARE TO MOUNT!"

"Prepare to mount aye aye Sir." He looked longingly at the bed before him. He was still wet, but he didn't care.

"MOUNT!"

Azimuth jumped onto the bed and lay on his back on top of the blankets, his head resting on the pillow. He felt a gust of wind as the pegasus flapped up to the top rack. The bed shook a little as the pegasus settled. The bay grew silent. The Drill Instructors continued walking in front of the racks, their hooves clicking on the hard floor.

After a few minutes, Azimuth could hear faint music playing from somewhere outside. It was a solemn song, played on a bugle.

"LIGHTS LIGHTSLIGHTSLIGHTSLIGHTSLIGHTS!" With a click, the room was cast into darkness. The bay was silent as the song played to it's conclusion.

"Good night, gents." Captain Sinder said from the front of the bay.

"GOOD NIGHT, SIR!"

The Drill Instructors moved to the front of the bay and disappeared into their room, the door closing behind them with a click.

Azimuth rolled over, pulling the tucked covers over himself and trying to get comfortable. He had almost fallen asleep when he felt the bed shift above him.

"*Psst* hey!" Said a voice from above him.

Begrudgingly, Azimuth responded. "What?"

"I'm Jet Stream. What's your name?"

"Azimuth..." He didn't want to talk. He wanted the pegasus to go away so he could sleep in his damp, stiff, rough, and unreasonably comfortable bed.

"Hey, look. This is gonna suck. I say we work together to make it through this. It'll be easier if we both have somepony to work through it with."

"Sounds good to me..." Sleep was already beginning to take him away.

"Alright Azimuth. We'll talk more later. G'night."

Azimuth was already gone, his head sinking into the damp pillow.

Jason let the door click behind him before removing his cover and letting out a sigh. He looked around the duty hut quickly, observing the instructors who sat sprawled out in the various chairs around the room. He walked to the desk, setting his cover down before occupying the last vacant chair. The instructors were exhausted.

Jason was immensely proud of the performance of the instructors. They did exactly what they were trained to do, and did so with an enthusiasm befitting of their position. The recruits were terrified of them, which was exactly as it should be.

The instructors had a right to be tired. They had been awake with the recruits throughout the entire duration of the in-processing, and had been screaming at them almost nonstop.

Jason turned around and pulled open one of the drawers of the desk behind him. From it, he took a bottle of honey and passed it to Carbon.

"Here. put a drop on your tongue, it'll help with your voice." Carbon took the bottle.

"Thanks..." His voice was raspy, and betrayed his tiredness. He dripped a little onto his tongue before passing it to Copper.

Jason leaned back in his chair. He was still fairly awake, thanks to the small nap he had taken earlier that day. He hadn't done nearly as much as the other instructors. "So, how was your first day?" He asked.

He watched as Carbon worked the thick liquid around his mouth quickly before swallowing.

"Tiring... But on the whole, I guess it was kind of fun." Carbon's voice was still a little haggard, but the honey had taken some of the dryness from it.

Jason let a small grin form on his lips. "Good. As they say, you should always enjoy what you do." He watched as Copper passed the bottle to Razor.

"Yeah, it was a good time... But it's gonna be a long three months..." Copper added.

Jason took the bottle as Razor passed it to him. "Don't worry. You guys are still pretty new at this, but you'll eventually fall into a rhythm." He said as he returned the bottle to the drawer. "The first couple of weeks are going to be the hardest. Before long, the recruits are going start getting it, and you won't have to yell about them about every little thing, just the major stuff. Reprimands for when they royally fuck up."

"Can't come soon enough if you ask me..." Razor said as he extended his legs and wings stiffly. "I don't know how much more of this yelling I can take."

"Just fall back to the frog voice when you need to. It's not as loud, but it can be just as intimidating."

"Aye, Sir."

Jason shook his head. He had told all of them to stop calling him Sir when they were relaxing, but he guessed old habits died hard. He glanced at his watch quickly.

"Alright gents, it's twenty-two fifteen. I'll take duty tonight, so you don't need to be here until zero-five. You're on libbo. You can sleep here or head on home, it's up to you."

"I'm rackin' out here..." Razor said as he stood, making his way to the bunk in the corner. "I wanna get as much sleep as possible."

Carbon stood and grabbed his cover, setting it on his head. "I'm headed home, 'Tavi is waitin' for me."

Jason grinned. "Alright. Make sure you get at least some sleep tonight."

Carbon returned the grin. "No promises, Sir."

"Wait up, Carbon. I'll walk with you." Copper said as he stood, snatching up his cover.

"Alright. Make sure to take your weapons and some rounds. It's dangerous on that trail."

"Sure thing, Sir. Have a good night."

"Yeah, you too." The Instructors left, clicking the door behind them.

From the other side of the door, Jason could hear their voices.

"Where the fuck do you think you're going?" He heard Carbon say.

"This recruit was going to the bathroom, Sir!" The shout was muffled.

Copper spoke up. "It's called the fucking head! Hurry the fuck up!"

"Aye Aye, Sir!"

Jason chuckled lightly. Razor had already stripped and was settling into the rack.

Turning, Jason pulled open another drawer and took out a book he had been reading. It was a series of stories about Protectors long past.

He read silently, keeping his ears open for any disturbances from the other side of the door.

Razor's quiet snoring eventually filled the room. Jason leaned back, letting his thoughts wander.

"Not a bad first day." He said quietly to himself. "Not bad at all."

"Let's go, Jet Stream!" Azimuth called to the pegasus. They were weighed down with their combat load. His rifle hovered beside him, suspended in a field of magic. The majority of the formation was beginning to pull away from the pair, while a few stragglers were further behind them on the trail. The pegasus had kept up for a majority of the run, but his strength was fading quickly. If the pegasus had been allowed to fly, he wouldn't have any problem. In the distance, he could could hear Sergeant Copper's shouts of "encouragement" as he motivated the recruits who were falling out to run faster.

"Come on, man. We don't want Sergeant Copper on us. Let's catch up to the platoon."

Jet Stream's response was strained, the words spaced between deep breaths. "I don't... Think... I can... Go any faster... Right now."

Azimuth slowed down slightly to run beside his winded companion. "Just push it out, man. We're almost done." Indeed, before them, he could see the formation slow to a walk and begin moving in a circle. "Look at that, the rest of the formation is already done! Let's finish strong! Come on, push it!"

Jet Stream struggled to get as much speed from his legs as possible. The harness which held his rifle bounced awkwardly on his body. The straps weren't tight enough. In his rush to put the weapon on, he neglected to ensure a tight fit. Before long, the pair of recruits joined the rest of the group in their cool down.

The recruits had fallen into a routine. In the morning, there was PT. That meant a lot of running. More often than not, they wore their combat load while they ran. 'In order to get used to the weight' the instructors had said. After that, they split into their different subspecies to get specialized training in their specific abilities. The unicorns would go with Sergeant Copper and Sergeant Carbon. The pegasi would fly with Sergeant Razor and the earth ponies would go with Captain Sinder.

Azimuth didn't envy the earth ponies. While the unicorns and pegasi had their magic and flight to improve, all the earth ponies had was their strength. Their individual training usually consisted of more PT. Evidently, the earth ponies would be given heavier weapons, such as fully automatic machine guns and rocket launchers. These weapons were going to be heavy, yet they needed to be able to move as if they were regular rifles. In their morning PT with combat load, the earth ponies were required to weigh down their saddlebags with rocks and sand, to simulate the added weight.

In the afternoons, the recruits were taught combat tactics, field survival skills, martial arts, land navigation, basic first aid, pretty much everything they needed to know in a combat zone.

At least, that's how things went in this, their second phase of training. Throughout the first four weeks they spent at Camp Sandblast, they spent countless hours in classrooms. They were taught military rules and regulations, uniform regulations, expectations of them as Protectors, how to act. It was all a lot of stupid common sense shit, but based on the intelligence of the recruits around him, Azimuth agreed that most of them needed the classes.

Now that they had moved to the true combat portion of their training, Azimuth was relishing in the education. He felt at home in the field. The saddlebags he wore felt at home on his back. He soaked up as much knowledge as he could from every lesson they were given. He excelled at nearly every aspect of these kinds of military operations. Especially land navigation. He had completed the entire course in a fraction of the time given, allowing him some much appreciated rest as the rest of the recruits finished.

This week was mostly weapons training. Azimuth had yet to fire his weapon, yet he knew his rifle inside and out. He knew how it functioned, what it was made of, what it's effective range was, how the RCO worked and how to use it. He could hardly wait for the next week to come. He itched to pull that trigger for the first time.

As they walked, Azimuth noticed that the three instructors stood facing away from the recruits. Their eyes were carefully scanning the forest, weapons at the ready with magazines inserted. The recruits were still to early in their training to be trusted with live rounds yet, so it was the instructors' responsibility to keep a lookout while they were on the trails.

Azimuth fought to steady his breath as he heard several hooves approaching the circle of recruits.

Captain Sinder turned and looked toward the stragglers, a frown forming on his face. He turned to the recruits walking behind him. "ALRIGHT. LET'S MEET 'EM AND GUIDE EM HOME!" He began running toward the group who had yet to finish. "LET'S GO!"

The remainder of the platoon shouted a chorus of "AYE AYE, SIR!" And followed the Captain.

"Son of a bitch..." Azimuth heard Jet Stream mutter under his breath. He had only begun to regain his breath, and now they were running again.

A roar unlike anything Azimuth had ever heard erupted from the forest beside them. A majority of the recruits froze in shock, including Azimuth and Jet Stream. In his terror, the magic holding his rifle in place beside him vanished, letting the weapon clatter to the ground.

About fifty meters before them, roughly halfway between the Captain and the stragglers, a huge beast burst from the woods. It was a strange creature, looking like a combination of a lion and scorpion with massive leathery wings. As it landed in the center of the path, it looked toward both groups of recruits. It let out another mighty roar before turning toward the stragglers. It was a much smaller group, and looked to be the weaker and easier prey.

Captain Sinder, Sergeant Carbon and Sergeant Razor all moved into action. The Officer and the unicorn began sprinting forward, weapons at the ready while Sergeant Razor took a wide stance and aimed at the creature.

They opened fire simultaneously, filling the forest air with a loud cacophony of rapid fire shots. Blood blossomed from the creatures back as numerous bullets tore into its flesh.

To Azimuth's horror, the creature didn't fall. Instead it turned around and belted a loud, pained roar toward them.

The instructors continued firing. Massive sections of the creatures face and head were torn asunder as countless rounds found new homes in it's wounded body. From his position at the center of the group, Azimuth could see a few of the rounds exiting from the back of the creature's head, followed by contours of pink mist.

The creature collapsed with a wet thud. It's unmoving form took up a majority of the trail. A thick pool of blood slowly oozed from the dead monster, flowing into the various little cracks and troughs running through the dirt trail.

Slowly, the instructors lowered their weapons. Cautiously, Captain Sinder walked up to the dead beast. With the muzzle of his rifle, he prodded the body to ensure it was no longer a threat. Satisfied it was dead, he walked around the beast and waved the group of stragglers forward. He waited as the recruits, followed by Sergeant Copper, walked past. He turned and followed the recruits back to the main group.

Once all the recruits were gathered together, Captain Sinder removed the magazine from his weapon and inserted a new one, pulled from one of his pockets. The instructors followed suit, filling the trail with a series of metallic clicks as they refreshed their sources of ammunition.

The three pony instructors formed a triangle around the recruits, taking defensive positions and watching the forest carefully. Captain Sinder looked inward toward the recruits.

His eyes fell upon Azimuth, a cold look forming on his face.

"Recruit Azimuth... Where is your weapon?"

Azimuth's eyes widened. He had forgotten he dropped it. He kicked himself as he looked around quickly. He located it on the ground and wrapped it in telekinetic energy. Sheepishly, he pulled the weapon to his side.

"THIS RECRUIT'S WEAPON IS RIGHT HERE SIR!" Azimuth shouted.

"And why the FUCK, was it in the FUCKING DIRT?!"

Azimuth stood at stiff attention. He deserved this ass chewing. "SIR, THIS RECRUIT DROPPED IT WHEN THAT... THING JUMPED OUT!" It was a lame excuse.

"WHY THE FUCK DID YOU DROP IT?!" Captain Sinder roared.

"SIR, THE BEAST MADE THIS RECRUIT LOSE CONCENTRATION AND LOSE CONTROL OF IT'S MAGIC!"

"THAT'S FUCKING UNSAT! WHAT THE FUCK HAVE SERGEANT CARBON AND SERGEANT COPPER BEEN TEACHING YOU?"

"SIR, DRILL INSTRUCTORS SERGEANT CARBON AND SERGEANT COPPER HAVE BEEN TEACHING THIS RECRUIT HOW TO MAINTAIN HIS MAGIC IN COMBAT SITUATIONS!"

"REALLY NOW? I GUESS THEY FUCKING FAILED THEN, DIDN'T THEY? I'LL BE SURE TO HAVE A NICE TALK WITH THEM ABOUT INCREASING THE DIFFICULTY OF YOUR EXERCISES!" The Captain turned his attention to the group as a whole. "PLATOON! I WANT A STAGGERED COLUMN SPLIT ON THE ROAD. FIRST SQUAD UP FRONT. READY, MOVE!"

"AYE AYE, SIR!" The recruits shouted as they quickly moved to their positions in the tactical formation.

"PLATOON, MOVE OUT!"

"AYE AYE, SIR!" The formation began moving slowly down the trail, walking toward the outdoor classrooms they had been using for the past few weeks. As they moved, Captain Sinder pulled out a small gem and placed it into his ear.

"Range control, this is Alpha..." The Captain paused as he awaited a response through the communication gem.

"Be advised: Alpha was attacked by a manticore during our morning run. Threat was eliminated with no friendly casualties. We need somepony to clear the body from the trail. It's a little more than six clicks down the road from camp, along the path going to classroom CS-Thirteen... Copy, Range Control. Alpha out." The Captain pulled the gem from his ear.

While the Captain spoke over the radio, Sergeant Carbon made his way over to Azimuth.

"Gonna drop your fucking rifle, eh?" His voice was low and menacing. "Looks like you want some Incentive Training...With Rifle... Stand the fuck by, numbnuts." The Sergeant moved back to his position between the lines of recruits.

Fuck... Azimuth thought to himself. He hated getting IT'd. It was a five minute slay-fest, consisting of high speed, high energy exercises designed to physically exhaust the recruit. It was a form of punishment used to great effectiveness by the instructors. Azimuth dreaded the thought of doing it while maintaining a hold on his rifle.

He deserved it though. He had no doubt that he did. He walked slowly, resigned to his fate. Behind them, the bloody corpse was already beginning to draw flies from the trees.

"The RCO is designed to require only occasional adjustments. The real beauty of its design is the bullet drop compensator displayed witihin the scope." Captain Sinder pointed to a diagram plastered on a board beside him. Depicted on it was a long line, tipped with a thick, upside down 'V'. Short tack marks intersected the line at various intervals, labeled with numbers.

The Captain pointed to the very tip of the chevron. "The tip of the chevron is what you aim with if the target is within one-hundred meters." He moved his finger down slightly, pointing at the crotch of the chevron. "Here is two-hundred meters." His hand moved again, pointing to the tips of the shape. "This is the three hundred mark. From here, it's pretty straight forward. Moving down this line, you can see the little tack marks. Each tack adds another hundred meters to your range." He turned to look at the recruits. "Any more questions before we move to the firing line?"

Azimuth was impatient. He had been waiting the entirety of second phase for this, the day they finally got to shoot their weapon. His muscles twitched with excitement and he was beginning to grow angry. He wanted to shoot something! And the stupidity of the other recruits was delaying it. The firing line was right there!

However, much to Azimuth's disappointment, the Captain had stopped them under the small, open walled classroom for a final round of questions. They'd been stuck here for what felt like ages. Apparently, not every recruit had been paying attention during the classes, and the Captain was having to re-teach things he had already gone over.

Azimuth had to suppress a groan as yet another recruit raised their hoof. He could have sworn the Captain let out just the hint of growing impatience as he pointed to the recruit.

"Recruit Sky Wraith, what is your question?"

The deep purple pegasus stood. "Good morning Sir!"

"Hurry up, we don't have all fucking day!"

Yep, the Captain was getting pissed.

"Sir, why do we need to change where we aim? This recruit thought bullets flew straight."

The Captain fixed the recruit with a steady gaze before bringing his hand up to the bridge of his nose, pinching it lightly while he shook his head.

"It's not a fucking laser. Bullets have weight, and the explosion which propels them have only so much power. Eventually, that energy begins to wear off and gravity starts pulling the round to the ground. That's why you have to aim up as the target gets further away, otherwise your rounds are going to fall short. Does that answer your question?"

"Yes Sir!" The stallion sat quickly.

"Alright, everypony up and file into your fire teams."

The group stood quickly and started splitting into their assigned four stallion groups.

The instructors watched closely. About a week ago, Azimuth had noticed they hadn't been yelling at them quite as much as they used to. Either the recruits weren't fucking up as much anymore, or they thought the training was too important to interfere without good reason. Either way, Azimuth was happy for the reprieve, even if he was starting to get used to the constant shouting.

He stood beside Jet Stream, weapon floating at his side. The pegasus rolled his shoulders quickly, shifting his harness to a more comfortable position.

"FIRE TEAMS, YOU HAVE YOUR TARGET ASSIGNMENT. MOVE UP THIS ROAD AND FILE DOWN THE FIRING LINE. STOP AND FACE DOWNRANGE ONCE YOU FIND YOUR TARGET!" Captain Sinder shouted. It wasn't an angry shout, merely an increase in volume so all the recruits could hear.

Azimuth and Jet Stream were on target seven, along with Wind Shear and Birch Bark. an orange pegasus and white earth pony respectively. They had been together as a fire team for the entirety of their training. Birch Bark and Jet Stream had been fairly passive throughout most of the training, seemingly satisfied at just doing what they were told. Wind Shear, on the other hand, was constantly butting heads with Azimuth. Each of them wanted to be fire team leader, and they constantly competed for that cherished spot at the top of their short chain of command.

Unfortunately, they were roughly equal in terms of military skill. Neither had any background in martial arts, so all they knew was what the instructors had taught them. Azimuth was good at land nav, Wind Shear was good at observation and intelligence gathering. Azimuth was an expert in the workings of his rifle, Wind Shear could maneuver the weapons in ways the unicorn had never thought possible.

They were equals, which made their competition that much more fierce. Whenever one of them managed to get hold of the position, they only held it for a few days before the Drill Instructors would find some reason to switch them. Azimuth swore they were just doing it to mess with them.

Together with his fire team, Azimuth moved to target seven and formed a line facing down range. A ways away, he could see their targets, large white squares of paper with black circles placed dead in the center. All Azimuth wanted to do was start putting holes in it. He chewed on his tongue with anticipation.

They stood there for a short while. From the corner of his eye, Azimuth saw a small building on wheels being rolled into place. It stopped rolling and the recruits who pulled it locked the wheels before collecting their rifles and joining their fire teams. After a couple more minutes, Captain Sinder's voice boomed from the speakers mounted around the trailer.

"GOOOOOOD MORNING ALPHA COMPANY!"

"GOOD MORNING SIR!" The recruits called in response.

"BULLSHIT I CAN"T HEAR YOU! I SAID GOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING ALPHA COMPANY!"

"GOOD MORNING SIR!" Azimuth was already growing irritated. Stupid procedure and it's slowing of the range...

"AS YOU KNOW, I AM CAPTAIN SINDER AND I WILL BE ACTING AS THE RANGE SAFETY OFFICER. FIRST OFF WE WILL RECITE THE WEAPON SAFETY RULES. I WILL SAY THEM FIRST, THEN YOU WILL REPEAT THEM LOOOUD AND MOTIVATED!"

"AYE AYE, SIR!"

"SAFETY RULE NUMBER ONE: TREAT EVERY WEAPON AS IF IT WERE LOADED!"

"TREAT EVERY WEAPON AS IF IT WERE LOADED!"

That's how the first half hour was spent. The Captain would reiterate safety rules that everypony should already know and the recruits would repeat it. He went through the procedure of the range, their course of fire, what to do in case of emergency, how to get a Drill Instructor's attention on the range. It was all stupid stuff that Azimuth half payed attention to. Eventually, the fire teams were split in half. Two of the recruits filed off and went down range, disappearing into a ditch beneath the line of targets. They would mark the shots and change the targets while the other two shot. As the current fire team leader, Azimuth chose Wind Shear and Birch Bark and sent them to the pit. Like hell he was going to wait any longer than he needed to to finally shoot.

While the pit recruits walked to the targets, ammunition was distributed to the shooters. Azimuth collected his rounds and sat at his target point, awaiting further instruction. He ached to begin loading the ammunition into his magazines, but he learned fairly early in his training that doing something he wasn't told to do was a sure way to receive an ass chewing.

"YOUR FIRST COURSE OF FIRE WILL BE THE TWO-HUNDRED METER SLOW FIRE. LOAD THREE MAGAZINES OF FIVE ROUNDS EACH."

"AYE AYE SIR!" Quickly, Azimuth began placing the rounds into the metal containers. He was quivering in anticipation.

"RECRUITS! YOUR FIRST MAGAZINE WILL BE FIRED FROM THE PRONE POSITION! FOR YOUR SECOND MAGAZINE, UNICORNS WILL PROCEED TO THE SITTING POSITION, WHILE EARTH PONIES AND PEGASI WILL FIRE FROM THE STANDING. UNICORNS AND EARTH PONIES WILL FIRE THEIR THIRD MAGAZINES FROM THE STANDING POSITION WHILE PEGASI WILL TAKE TO THE AIR! FIRST RELAY, TAKE YOUR POSITIONS BEHIND THE RED LINE!"

Azimuth stowed his magazines into his combat load and moved to the red line behind his target point.

"SHOOTERS, TAKE YOUR POSITIONS!"

The unicorn moved to the rubberized pad.

"AT THIS TIME, ASSUME THE PRONE SHOOTING POSITION!"

Azimuth laid down, his body weight slightly sinking into the pad. He pulled his rifle to his side, looking through the combat optic exactly the way he had been taught. He adjusted himself slightly in order to get a perfect sight picture.

"WITH A MAGAZINE OF FIVE ROUNDS! LOOOAD, MAKE READY!"

He pulled a magazine from his combat rig and slid it into his rifle. He shivered in excitement as the ammunition clicked into place. His determination was reinforced as he telekinetically pulled the charging handle to the rear and released it, letting the weapon chamber a round. He canted the weapon slightly and looked at the ejection port. Gingerly, he pulled the charging handle halfway, ensuring a round had fed properly. Satisfied, he let the bolt slide home once more and aimed down the sight. His mouth felt dry.

"SHOOTERS, YOU MAY COMMENCE FIRING WHEN YOUR TAAAAAARGETS APPEAR!"

As the words boomed over the range, the targets slid up and out of the pits. Azimuth felt his breathing steady. His rifle was held in a rock solid grip, unmoving and centered perfectly on the target. He exhaled, waiting for his natural respiratory pause, the small gap of time between exhale and inhale. His body steadied as his lungs emptied. He squeezed the trigger slowly.

*KRA-KCOW!*

"So, how do you think they did today?" Jason asked. His blouse hung loosely off an open cupboard and he relaxed in his customary chair in the duty hut.

Razor and Carbon laid sprawled on the two mattresses while Copper was showering. Jason could smell himself. While the heat of summer had passed about a month ago, spending an entire day in what was essentially a rolling oven had taken its toll. He didn't look forward to the rest of the week, but he was resigned to it.

Razor exhaled deeply before responding. "The unicorns did extremely well, as expected, but the pegasi and earth ponies are going to need some serious work."

Jason leaned back and looked up toward the ceiling. "That's what I figured. Those harnesses are awkward as shit."

Razor let out a chuckle. "That's an understatement, but we don't really have any alternative. Unless we wanna find some way to hold the weapons in our teeth."

Jason shot him a mock-abashed look. "Oh god no. I don't really wanna lose a third of our recruits to dental after our first day of shooting." He held his charade a moment before letting out a chuckle of his own. "I'm not all that worried about it. The recruits all did decently well. I'm sure they'll get used to their harnesses pretty quick. Hell, you seem to be doing a perfectly good job, and we all no how terrible a shot you are!"

All three instructors laughed quickly before Razor responded with "Eh, fuck you."

Jason went stone face and shot Razor a look. "Pardon?"

Razor raised an eyebrow, a smirk still on his face. "Oh. Right. Fuck you, Sir."

"Better." Jason said as the grin returned to his face. "So, we got any standouts? Whether good or bad."

Carbon rolled over to face Jason. "Well, there's Gold Eyes, who can't seem to figure out which way the rounds go in the magazine. Then there were at least three recruits who were shooting at the wrong target. Thankfully, I only had to IT two safety violators..."

"Weren't there any good shots?" Jason interrupted.

Carbon chuckled lightly. "There's actually quite a few. Midnight Blue was shooting in the black all fucking day. Then there's Azimuth's fire team. They all seem to have their shit together."

Jason's grin widened with a combination of relief and amusement. "So Azimuth's in charge again? What'd Wind Shear do to lose it this time?"

The door to the head opened and Copper stepped out, a towel draped around his shoulders. "Missed a button on his blouse. I think he had command for about nine hours this time."

Jason laughed as he stood, snatching a towel from the desk behind him. "Running out of stuff to hit 'em on, eh? At this rate, I'm kinda curious which one of 'em is gonna have it on graduation day."

"Honestly, I kinda want both of 'em to get it. They've been working their asses off and they both deserve it." Razor said.

Jason thought for a moment. "Well, let's keep 'em together a bit longer. That contest between 'em is good motivation. It'll push them to make themselves that much better, if only to spite the other. After that, we'll restructure the fire teams a bit. They'll get what they deserve."

"Good to go, Sir."

Jason stepped into the head, fully prepared for the shower that awaited him. He shut the door behind him.

Azimuth hit the wall next to the door hard. He let the solidity of the building absorb the impact as it halted his sprint. His shoulder ached slightly from the impact, but that was a good thing. He hadn't been spotted or shot at. Jet Stream hit the wall behind him, his harness clattering against the concrete of the building. Midnight Blue and Morning Mist followed the pegasus closely, forming a stack against the wall. Each recruit looked in a different direction, covering every avenue of approach around the fire team.

This was it. Thirteen weeks of training led to this culmination of their countless lessons. This was the final exercise. It was a fifty-two hour combat simulation. On top of their combat load, each recruit wore a vest of enchanted crystals. Attached to the end of their rifles was a small barrel plug with another enchanted gem. Their magazines were loaded with blanks and every time they fired, the plug would send a magical signal in a straight line from the end of their weapons' barrel. If that signal hit one of the vests, the crystals in it would light up and mark the target as a casualty.

If anypony became a casualty, it was up to the remaining recruits to carry the wounded back to a "medical station" where they had to wait while technicians turned off the crystals. It was time consuming and tiring, and not something anypony wanted to do, which made them increase the caution with which they operated.

The squads split into four groups of three fire teams each. Each group was led by one of the instructors, Sergeant Carbon being in charge of Azimuth's group.

They were in the last few hours of the exercise and sleep deprivation was beginning to set in. Azimuth's fire team had been kept busy with objective after objective, whether it be collect a flag from this point, eliminate this target, "destroy" an enemy piece of equipment, base defense and so on.

Azimuth didn't want to brag, but he believed his fire team was by far the most effective under Sergeant Carbon's command. They had completed the most objectives and had only had to return to the medical station twice.

They rested for a short time against the wall. It had been a harrowing sprint into the enemy compound.

This was the final objective. Sergeant Carbon had given it to them nearly three hours ago and it had taken them this long to get this close. Most of that time had been spent observing the compound, watching the rotation of the guards, probing for weaknesses and determining the best avenue of approach.

Their goal was to capture, or if all else fails eliminate Captain Sinder. The Captain was working as the commanding officer of an enemy squad, and was a very major target. Unfortunately, that meant Sergeant Carbon was also a target. Azimuth didn't want to risk taking too many recruits with him to accomplish their objective, lest it mean they fail in the defense of their own CO. He had convinced Sergeant Carbon that his fire team was sufficient to accomplish the mission, and left the other two teams to defense.

Ironically, it had been Wind Shear who led them to their objective. Jet Stream had spotted the enemy pegasus as he flew recon. Azimuth's team followed the pegasus closely, staying out of sight and carefully avoiding detection. Sure enough, the enemy had led them straight to their compound.

The fire team steadied their breathing and silently moved below a window in the side of the small building. The compound was made up of several of these shacks. Captain Sinder could be in any one of them, so they had to check and clear each one before moving to the next building. Azimuth hoped against hope that the Captain was actually in this building they now leaned against. He didn't look forward to the firefight that was sure to result the second one of them fired their weapon.

With a hoof, Azimuth silently pointed to Jet Stream before motioning toward the window. The pegasus nodded and quietly began to hover, moving up to take a peek inside. He landed softly and began drawing in the sand.

Three recruits. No Captain. Two of them were asleep. The other was not paying attention.

Beautiful... Azimuth motioned for the other recruits to follow him to the door. As quietly as he could, he whispered "set."

A half-second later, he felt Jet Stream nudge his leg. He wrapped the door handle with magic and swung it open. As soon as it was open, the fire team flowed into the room. The recruit who was awake swung around. His mouth dropped open as realization entered his mind. He was a unicorn, and his rifle laid idly against a wall. Before he had a chance to respond, Azimuth swept forward and tapped the small button on the back of the unicorn's vest. Immediately, the vest lit up, marking the recruit as 'dead'. The members of his fire team mirrored his action on the two sleeping recruits before they had a chance to wake up.

The unicorn hung his head in a mixture of defeat and relief. He had been awake just as long as everypony else, yet the only people who knew he was dead were either dead themselves or the enemy. There was no way he was getting back to a med station, which meant he finally got a chance to rest. He flopped to the ground in exhaustion. The recruits who were asleep shifted slightly, but did not awaken.

Azimuth pointed to Midnight Blue and then to the door. The unicorn nodded and took position guarding the door. Azimuth moved to a window opposite from the one Jet Stream had looked through, giving him a better view of the compound. There were at most two more fire teams within the compound. Azimuth saw one of them patrolling the base, walking slowly and keeping their eyes peeled.

Azimuth pondered this for a short time. If they were quick enough, they would be able to slip through the watch to the next building. Glancing around, he counted four of the shacks. One of them was larger than the others, looking to be a two-room construction.

Azimuth would have bet money that Captain Sinder was in that building. Unfortunately, it was on the opposite side of the compound. This was going to take perfect timing and precision...

He heard the door behind him creak open, followed by two rapid fire shots. Azimuth whipped around, weapon at the ready. Standing in the doorway was the last member of the fire team they had eliminated. His eyes were wide with shock and his vest glowed. Midnight Blue stood there frozen.

"Fuck..." Azimuth muttered as he turned back toward the window and peeked through.

Sure enough, the patrol had heard the shots. They were moving cautiously toward the building, weapons pointing straight at him. Azimuth backed up a little and raised his weapon to firing position. He centered the leading recruit in his optic and squeezed the trigger. With a pop, his rifle sent a magical laser into the vest of the recruit, causing it to light up instantly.

Azimuth shifted his aim. The three remaining enemies dove to the side. Two of them disappeared from the unicorn's vision. The third was not so lucky. Azimuth sent three rounds his way. The first two missed. The third hit it's mark, eliminating one more threat.

He heard several pops from the other side of the wall and shrank away from the window. Turning around quickly, he motioned for the rest of his fire team to move out of the building. Once outside, he began giving them directions.

"Midnight Blue, Morning Mist. I want you posted on the corners of this building to provide cover fire. Jet Stream, I need you to take to the sky and see if you can strafe these fuckers. Fly out and up. Try to flank 'em. We'll keep em busy enough not to notice you. Good to go?"

"Reh." They responded in unison.

"Good, get there now. We don't have time to hang around." The two unicorns moved to their assigned corners while Azimuth moved back into the building, posting once again in the window. As soon as he peeked around the window frame, he saw an enemy. He was less than twenty meters away and half hidden behind a piece of cover.

Azimuth pulled his head back just before the enemy fired. He moved his rifle into the window and fired blindly toward where the enemy was. After five rounds, Azimuth peeked again. The recruit had ducked behind the cover, giving Azimuth a chance to properly aim at his target.

Cautiously, the enemy recruit peeked around his cover and was greeted by a magical beam straight to the band around his head. His crystals lit up brilliantly.

Azimuth heard several rapid fire pops and looked toward the sky just in time to see Jet Stream laying fire down on the remaining enemy. The pegasus circled around quickly before flying back to the building.

"Clear!" he called. Quickly, Azimuth moved out of the building.

"Regroup on Jet Stream!"

The fire team converged on the pegasus, and together began rapidly moving toward the double-building.

The stallions all looked in different directions, keeping careful eyes on the buildings around them.

The building they approached had two doors, one leading into each room. They stacked up between the doors.

Using the same tactic as before, Azimuth had Jet Stream peek into the rooms through the elevated window further up the wall. He peeked into the one on the left, and quickly recoiled as several pops echoed from inside the building. The pegasus lowered to the ground.

"Three ponies in the left room. No Captain." He said quietly.

"Good." With a little magic, Azimuth opened a pouch on his combat load and removed their last remaining simmu-nade. It was a large crystal, enchanted to simulate a grenade. "Good thing we saved this one, huh?"

"Most deffinitely..." Midnight Blue said with slight relief.

They had already used four of the gems on the missions where they needed to destroy something. They had decided to save this last one. Just in case.

Azimuth floated the crystal to the high window. He activated it, waited a second, then dropped it through the window.

"OH FUCK!"

The yell echoed through the window. Azimuth heard a few thuds as a unicorn on the other side of the wall attempted to throw the crystal back through the window. In his panic, the unicorn was missing his throws.

*WHUMP*

The muffled concussion shook the house. While they weren't real grenades, they did a very good job simulating them.

"Check it. Tell me what you see in there." Azimuth told Jet Stream.

"Reh." The pegasus flew up and looked through the window again. He stayed up a little longer than he did last time. Eventually, he returned to the ground.

"Three down. No Wind Shear. He's probably in the room with the Captain." Jet Stream whispered.

"Roger. Alright, stack up outside the other door. Midnight, I want you up front. I'll be right behind you with Jet Stream and Morning Mist behind me. We shouldn't need to worry about anypony else sneaking up on us, but keep your eyes open. Let's go."

"Reh." the other recruits said quietly. Quickly, they moved against the wall.

"Set." Midnight Blue said quickly, already wrapping the doorknob with magic.

"Set. Remember to pie the doorway carefully and don't just rush in. We don't want any surprises." Azimuth said calmly.

"Roger. Breaching."

The unicorn pulled open the door, slowly moving to the side and rotating his rifle to cover the room. He stepped into the door and was met by two muffled pops. His vest lit up immediately.

With a shoulder, Azimuth pushed the stallion into the building, using the already wounded unicorn as a shield to protect him from incoming fire.

Azimuth saw Wind Shear first, his confident smirk showing over a tipped table.

Unfortunately for him, Azimuth's cover was far more substantial. He was unable to get a hit before the unicorn was able to light up the pegasus' headband.

With the threat eliminated, Azimuth pushed further into the building. From the corner of his eye, he saw the Captain leveling his rifle directly toward him.

His telekinesis disappeared from around his own rifle as he transferred his focus to the barrel of the Captain's. Using every bit of strength he had, he wrenched the barrel upward, causing the Captain's shot to hit harmlessly against the ceiling.

With the initial threat eliminated, the unicorn focused on wrapping the rest of the Captain's rifle in magical energy. He rotated the weapon in the Captain's hands, causing the creature to lose his grip on the weapon. He pulled the officer's weapon to his side, leveling it toward him.

Azimuth stepped further into the building, allowing Jet Stream and Morning Mist to move into the room. They aimed their weapons toward the Captain as well.

"Objective secured. Come on, we need to get him back to base as quickly as possible. You two, take control of the prisoner and escort him back. Keep close eyes on him. If he tries to run or attack us, I want his vest lit up. Morning Mist, take his rifle. I'll carry Midnight. Let's go." Azimuth said quickly, passing the oddly shaped rifle toward the mint green unicorn as he collected his own.

Moving around the Captain, Jet Stream urged the Captain out the door. Morning Mist followed them closely.

Slipping his own rifle into the harness on his side, Azimuth wrapped Midnight Blue in magic and lifted him into the air. Azimuth still couldn't do much more than levitation magic, but his training had made him very good at it. He cast one last look toward Wind Shear, who glowered at him angrily.

"Better luck next time." Azimuth said snidely.

The pegasus' scowl deepened. "That was cold. Using your own stallion as a shield like that."

Azimuth's eyes hardened. "It worked, didn't it? Mission accomplishment has to be our primary focus. If we have to lose a few Protectors to do so, then so be it."

Wind Shear shook his head. "If that's how you treat your Protectors, I hope I never have to be under your command."

Azimuth blinked a couple of times. Silently he turned, leaving the wounded pegasus behind as he trotted to catch up to the rest of his fire team and their alien captive.

"That was absolutely fantastic!" Jason said as he sat against a wall in Sergeant Carbon's command post. "I didn't expect to be captured, especially not by a single fire team! They wiped out my entire squad! On top of that they only took a single casualty! Absolutely amazing!"

There was only a little more than an hour left. Jason was alone with Carbon in the center of the base. Azimuth's fire team had been sent to the perimeter to reinforce the defenses Carbon had set up.

"That's Azimuth for you. They've been knocking out objectives the entire exercise. Hell, most of the time I just send them out, with the occasional reinforcements. I tell ya, that stallion really knows his shit." Carbon looked down toward a map that was spread across a table. Casually, he removed the small labels that marked Jason's old base.

Jason stood and moved to the stallions side, looking down toward the map.

"There's one thing they forgot." He said casually.

"Hm? What's that?" Carbon asked nonchalantly.

"VIP defense."

With a hand, Jason reached over and casually flipped the switch on the back of Carbon's vest, causing it to light up instantly and mark him as a casualty.

Carbon reeled back in shock. He was dead. He had failed. He looked to Jason in confusion.

Jason gave the stallion a mischievous grin and held up his hands. "They didn't bind me, and they left me alone with you. You decided you didn't need watch me, and now your dead, and I get to try and escape." He tipped his cover toward the silent unicorn. "Don't shout. Remember, dead men tell no tales."

With that, he slipped out the door. Carefully, he bounced from cover to cover, avoiding the roving sentries that wandered around the base. With not so much as a peep from the sentries, he slipped into the woods and vanished.

Azimuth stood at stiff attention on the large concrete parade deck. He had been promoted to squad leader of first squad, which meant he was at the front corner of the formation. His dress uniform itched. He thought the utilities were uncomfortable, but this was a whole other level of unpleasant. He just wanted the ceremony to be over, if only so he could get out of this fucking uniform.

In the stands before him, it looked like the entirety of Ponyville had made the trek out to Camp Sandblast for this ceremony. Captain Sinder stood in front of the block of recruits, facing toward the large gathering.

The civilians chatted among themselves quietly. Azimuth couldn't keep his eyes from drifting to the mares in the crowd. It had been more than three months since he had even seen a female, and each one he saw was more beautiful than the last. As his eyes wandered, they fell upon his parents.

His heart stopped. He hadn't realized how much he missed them. His mind had been so wrapped up in the training, he had little time to think of anything else. Now, as he saw them, three months of loneliness came flowing back. Tears of happiness began forming in the corners of his eyes. They were looking straight at him, his mother waving toward him. They both wore smiles of immense pride and joy.

"Welcome distinguished guest and families!" Boomed a voice he didn't recognize. He didn't know where the voice came from, but it sounded larger than life, and if he had to put a word to it, he would have said regal.

None other than Princess Celestia herself walked in front of the formation.

How the fuck did I not see her?! Azimuth thought to himself quickly. He kicked himself mentally for his inattentiveness.

The crowd was instantly silent, bearing their full attention to the Princess.

"Standing before you today is the beginning of a new breed. They are not only unicorns, earth ponies and pegasi. Above all, they are Protectors. Over the past three months, they have undergone the most rigorous of training regimens. Embedded in them are the skills of war, on so fundamental a level that it is how they now live. They have sacrificed so much for you. They took the oath of the Protector in order to defend all of you from the threats that may befall us." Her voice was somber, trying best to reflect what exactly it meant for these stallions to receive this title.

"They will do something that even I am incapable of. They are fighters. They are warriors. They are our Protectors." The Princess turned to Captain Sinder. Azimuth swore the human grew an inch as his form stiffened.

"Captain Sinder, you have done a great service to our country by passing your knowledge to these recruits. In doing so, you have saved the countless lives which would have been wasted attempting to quell the attacks on our home. With these Protectors, I trust you to eliminate any threats with great haste and efficiency, and do so with minimal loss of life. Because of this, you have my eternal respect and gratitude."

And then, to Azimuth's amazement, the Princess bowed her head. Not just to Captain Sinder, but to the formation as a whole.

The entire formation stiffened.

Quickly, Captain Sinder raised a hand in salute.

"You owe us nothing, your Majesty. It is with honor and dedication that we accept this title. We swear to you that we will do everything in our power to honor you, and Equestria as a whole."

The Princess raised her head, a warm smile crossing her lips.

"I hold you to that, Captain Sinder. Please, turn to your recruits, and present them their emblems."

The Captain saluted again, holding his hand in place this time. "Aye aye, Your Majesty." He said quickly. The Princess nodded and he cut his salute.

With a twist of his legs, Captain Sinder executed an about-face and turned his head to the instructors to Azimuth's right.

"INSTRUCTORS! TURN TO YOUR PLATOON AND MAKE! THEM! PROTECTORS!"

The instructors raised a hoof in salute. "AYE AYE, SIR!" They shouted in unison.

Captain Sinder returned their salute before stepping quickly to Azimuth, the squad leader of first squad. Behind him, Azimuth heard the instructors step before the other squad leaders.

Captain Sinder stopped directly in front of Azimuth, and, for the first time in the entirety of his stay in Camp Sandblast, He turned his head up, looking the human directly in the eyes.

Captain Sinder looked down on him, a warm smile on his face. Pride shone from his eyes.

It was too much for Azimuth. The last three months of hell had led up to this. Tears of prideful joy began flowing uncontrollably from his eyes. This was it. This was what he had been working so hard for.

The Captain held a wooden box in his hands. Azimuth couldn't see the top, but he knew it was emblazoned with the Protectors' emblem. The human opened the box and pulled out a single metal emblem. With great care, he gently pinned the piece of metal to Azimuth's collar.

"Congratulations, Protector."

"Thank you, Sir." Was all Azimuth was able to choke out. His emotions were overflowing. He could barely contain his joyful sobs.

With that, the Captain right-faced and stepped to Jet Stream, the next recruit in line. As soon as the space in front of him was empty, Azimuth stepped forward and about-faced. Captain Sinder handed him the box, which he wrapped in telekinetic energy and held tight. He opened the lid, allowing the human to remove another emblem.

"Congratulations, Protector." Captain Sinder repeated as he pinned the emblem to Jet Stream's collar.

Again, the human right-faced, this time with Azimuth matching his action, and stepped to the next recruit in line.

Azimuth stood directly in front of Jet Stream. Together, they shared grin.

They made it. They were among the only Protectors in the entire world. Nopony else had the right to bear this title. They were few, and they were proud.

"Congratulations, Protector."

Author's Notes:

And here it is! I know it's been a long time guys, and I apologize for that. Hopefully, the length and quality of this chapter make up for the wait. This is, so far, the best chapter I've written, at least in my own personal opinion.

Also, for those who are interested, I have begun recording an audiobook for the popular 'Fallout: Equestria'.

If you are interested, you can find it here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q2jYcEBa-s&index=2&list=PLS4AWsCIQF8DwcpjcnoFee7hK1dAcSIV0