It was past dinner when the Wonderbolts cruised into a smooth landing at the Squad Barracks. The place was busy since the next ACS was a few days off. Nova wanted to see Marble Falls immediately upon arrival. It was so important that it was general knowledge and multiple ponies passed on the word to them.

Marble Falls didn’t bother knocking.

“Ah dear. Good to see you. How is she?”

“Holding up,” Marble Falls said taking a deep breath. “She did an amazing job flying. She didn’t slow us down. But we have to keep her moving, for her own good.”

“That won’t be a problem. I need you to train a special group this ACS.”

Nova held up a sealed envelope, but he didn’t extend it.

“0800, at the flight deck. They will be there. Do not open it until they assemble. Their officer will be able to tell you more.”

“Special? In what way?”

“Specifically, the extra two days for conditioning. I will leave the rest to their Lieutenant to expand on things. He deserves that right. And you will need all of your Unit.”

“Understood,” Marble Falls said, finally able to take the envelope.

It was thick and heavy. There were a lot of records inside.

Marble Falls found the others in the mess hall. It was past dinner, but the crew knew they were coming in late and had dry food out for them.

“0800,” Marble Falls declared, letting the envelope slam onto the table. “Can’t open it until then. All 6 of us are needed to give these guys at little extra love.”

“Damn,” Lemon Lime swore. “Not even a breather.”

“Its obviously important,” Raspberry Lemonade said. “Or else we would not need to start before the rest of the ACS trainees. And entrusted to all of us.”

“All Colonel Nova said was extra conditioning,” Marble Falls stated. “But there is more. Now, you will line up proper, except at the instructor’s orientation. Cardinal Spitfire, since you are my wingmate, you will hang back with me. A perfect two or three minutes late to shake them up. Everypony in our flight jackets.”

They all agreed and parted ways. Marble Falls hadn’t seen Razzleberry, which meant he had to be very busy. Nova would have informed him they were on their way back. Marble Falls crashed on the bed, ignoring sides. Razzleberry could sleep on their couch if it was a problem.

Cardinal Spitfire was staring at all her books neatly stacked. The room was four times the size of the one in Fort Griffin’s Gate. It had a sitting area. In the end she shrugged, tossed her saddlebags to the side and climbed into the comfy bed.

Olive Pit dashed into the clinic, shocking Bright Starr, Lavender Star and Star Hooves. The three of them were making a good team and were playing off their names, Star Force.

“Meeting, now, here,” Olive Pit panted. “Starr, Lavender, gather the others.”

Most had gone to bed, making it easy to find them. But a few were scattered around. Olive Pit couldn't blame them for the hour it took to assemble them all. It was a sudden meeting. They gathered, rather than falling into place.

“Order from Colonel Nova. 0800, front of the Squad Barracks at the flight deck. It’s time for Areal Combat School.”

“I thought that wasn’t for another few days,” Summer Bolt stumbled. She was not prepared.

“It is,” Olive Pit smiled. “For them. But for us, in the morning. Our instructors just arrived.”

“Instructors?” Sunset Fury asked surprise.

“It is a lot of us,” Olive Pit stated. “Colonel Nova just said Instructors. And he is not pulling a fast one on us. I can guarantee you that. Besides, he put his bet on me. Now go, get rest. And don’t be late.”

Olive Pit grabbed the phone and called over to the main hospital. They were sending over replacements to watch the clinic ahead of schedule.

It was an early morning for all. Pony Patrol was up by 0600 and moving. They had to be loose. Unit 0 was up and slowly assembled the last ten minutes outside the Squad Barracks as ordered. They were facing Raspberry Lemonade, Lemon Lime, Fountain and Cinnamon Swirl.

Olive Pit was secretly perched on the Squad Barracks rooftop to make sure they made it on time. They should be able to file in without needing direction. He had them organized in 6 pony squads. But they were loosely in those Squads, not even coming to a full parade rest position.

Marble Falls strolled out with Cardinal Spitfire by her side. Two minutes late like she planned. She led them to the front and did a quick count.

“Where is your officer?” She asked.

Nopony answered.

“I asked you a question! Where is your officer!”

“We do not know Ma’am,” Staff Sergeant Star Chaser replied, snapping to attention.

“What are you? A group of shit spitting pigeons?”

“HA!” Razzleberry laughed. Nopony had seen him leaning against the Squad Barracks, watching. “Your Lieutenant didn’t even show up. I win. Fools.”

Marble Falls glared at Razzleberry for the interruption. This was the first time she had seen him since she got back and she was pissed this was how it happened.

“Stuff it!” Olive Pit said gliding in and breaking the tention. “I was not part of the deal and was observing how they handled this.”

“He is right,” Nova said joining them. “Forgive my interruption dear. Lieutenant Razzleberry was being a pain to find this morning. I have orders for him.”

Razzleberry took the orders and opened the envelope to find a folder. He opened the folder, scanned it and passed it off to Olive Pit. Olive Pit read through it briefly and passed it back.

12 more soldiers to train. Privates who were pulled from the middle of CMS. They were at the final practicums, meaning their practicums would be ACS. They had passed the medical side with perfect scores. They were the best in their class by a long shot and should handle the transition with ease.

Olive Pit glared at Nova. “Really, not even a little warning?”

“Can’t handle it?”

“I can,” Olive Pit replied, face set in frustration. “A little warning would have been nice, that is all. Plus, I would prefer to have them training with us.”

“Lieutenant Razzleberry will have them training alongside you shortly.”

“Thank you Sir.”

“Now, be a good lad and get your troops in line.”

“My pleasure,” Olive Pit smirked at them.

“Lieutenant,” Olive Pit said turning to Marble Falls. He saw her Captain's bars. “I mean Captain. This is Unit 0. The Combat Medic force for the Aerial Combat Units. Every single one of us is supposed to be ready and able to play supporting medical roles when the ACUs are deployed. Right alongside them in combat.”

Marble Falls raised an eyebrow. “I have never heard of Unit 0.”

“She has been around since the reorganizing a few decades back. Forgotten since then. We can talk history later.”

“Indeed we shall.”

Marble Falls opened the envelope to take a closer look at things. While she did, Olive Pit turned to Cardinal Spitfire and smiled.

“Cardinal Spitfire! It is so good to see you. And in a Wonderbolt flight jacket.”

“Hey Olive Pit,” Cardinal Spitfire half smiled. “You made it too.”

“Yeah. Deke will be here soon. Arrow and Dipper are getting married and he is deployed with Arrow’s older sister. Have you heard from Golden Dawn or Filly Fooler?”

Cardinal Spitfire took a sharp breath in. There was no avoiding the conversation. It would happen at some point. She let the breath go.

“I have not heard from Golden Dawn. And,” Cardinal Spitfire took a deep breath in. “Filly Fooler’s whole team is MIA, with at least one KIA. Scout missions failed to locate any sign of them.”

“Shit,” Olive Pit mumbled. “How come you know and we don’t?”

Cardinal Spitfire sniffed back a tear but the pain won.

Marble Falls looked up from her paperwork with dread. “Fountain, no wait, I need you. Lemon, get her inside. Better yet, get her to the clinic. Get her on an IV drop. I don’t need her falling out from all the flying we did.”

Cardinal Spitfire made it to the stairs without help before collapsing. Another Pegasus helped carry her inside.

“What was that about?” Olive Pit shot at Marble Falls.

Marble Falls was working to not grind her teeth. “Filly Fooler ended up at ACS, as her wingmate. I taught them after, not important. I taught them and then they got married without us knowing. After that it is a complicated mess, but our primary station is the same as where Filly Fooler was also based out of.”

“We got the news first. And not gently. It got ugly, fast. And it’s a good thing we were sent back ahead of schedule, or that idiot would be dead. Publicly and painfully. Stupid fucking Lieutenant.”

Olive Pit was visably crushed. Marble Falls had to force herself to refocus. Raspberry Lemonade took over.

“You know what I see?” Raspberry Lemonade asked. “I see a bunch of sorry ass excuses for medics who can’t make it in the real military. Only a few of you are correct. Some of you are presentable, but I see a shit ton of the Sergeants and senior NCOs unable to dress themselves properly.”

“Captain,” Raspberry Lemonade smirked. “I think spot inspections are in order.”

“I think you are right,” Marble Falls smiled as she got her hooves under her.

“Spot inspections!” Summer Bolt protested. “We have our own rooms! That is an invasion of privacy!”

“Talks out of line and resists instruction,” Marble Falls said as she wrote a fake notation. They had no idea she didn’t have paper to write on.

“First business, Fountain, you are going to stick to Lieutenant Olive Pit like glue and push him harder than the rest. Make him not only get his Silver Wings, but to leading the best fucking Unit. Because he is going to need it to balance these fucks.”

“Yes Ma’am!” Fountain said as she enthusiastically snapped to attention with a salute.

“I need him for a moment, so help the others. Lieutenant Raspberry Lemonade is going to get them whipped into proper shape. We will work on uniforms later.”

“One last order of business, Lieutenant, you have them organized in Squads of 6 like any other Unit. Am I allowed to reorganize them?”

“No Ma’am,” Olive Pit said confidently. “I have put a lot of time and effort into balancing each Squad. We can discuss changes and I welcome that discussion. But for now, they stay were they are.”

“Understood Lieutenant. Now, Rasp, take care of them”

“ATTENTION!” Raspberry called. “I MEAN IN YOUR 2 BY 3 SQUAD FORMATIONS! IDIOTS! You have 12 brand spanking new privates being trained to do your job. You do not want them to be better than you. You hold the ranks. Truly pathetic if you let them be better than you at your job! They don’t have any devices yet. Show them that you have actually earned yours!”

Raspberry Lemonade began to bark orders for them to run. The four of them corralled Unit 0 and began to drive them like they were back at Basic Training. Marble Falls smiled with joy.

“Olive Pit, I am going to run a spot inspection on your Unit’s rooms. If I need to, there are some vacant Units I can toss them in. Lead on. Oh, and you can call me Falls. We are going to become good friends. The good kind of good friends. Like I became with Cardinal Spitfire and Filly Fooler.”

“You are still going to whip me into shape,” Olive Pit chuckled.

“Only if I have to. I hope you haven’t slipped.”

“Its only been a few weeks since I graduated CMS. Deke and I both went to Officer School, but he was put in a different group, one that focused on being an officer on a Cloudship. They tossed me in with all the hard ass soldiers, not in any of the support focused groups. It made me stronger, better.

“I was sent right here. Colonel Nova didn’t even know I was coming and he didn’t really know we existed. I am the first officer they have had in over ten years. I have been desperately trying to fix that oversight, but they have been pushing back. Lazy and their ranks are undeserved, coming from service years, not skill. But I can’t strip them of their rank, not unless they force me to. They know they are being held to the expectations for the rank they hold.

“I have been a terror on them, reworking their schedule so they have to work. They typically had one running the clinic while there were eleven of them. The last time any of them had done any combat exercises had been three years prior.

“Razzleberry helped me put them through a few days training. We had to get them combat equipment. That is how far off they were.

“Everypegasus here got involved in getting them training again. It was a blast. They did well considering they had nothing, but still poor. No speed, they were timid, and they wouldn’t even try and fight; like their guns were evil. There were training exercises where whole groups died because the medics wouldn’t stand their ground and tried to just patch somepegasus up.

“I requested seven more, hoof picked. Colonel Nova chose six additional ponies without me knowing. They have been a big help, but its been rough and they have not been here more than two weeks. Colonel Nova has been throwing me through some loops. But He did build us this nice Unit 0 Barracks.

Olive Pit opened the door for Marble Falls. “And that would be what the wager board hanging on the wall in the mess hall is for. First off, all 24 had to make it, on time, to first formation of ACS. I am surprised they did. Now at least 12 of them need to get their Silver Wings or I lose.”

“Nice,” Marble Falls chuckled. “I am sure it has proven to be a good motivator.”

“So far,” Olive Pit smiled back. “But it has had it limitations.”

They were still in the front atrium and main hallway.

“Where are all these pictures from?” Marble Falls asked.

“Mostly my CMS. Me and my NCO friends. The group there passed on some of the best photos from other years as well. And this one, nice and prominent, is me getting my Combat Medic Device, with my Lieutenant Bar prominently displayed. I figured, if I was the first officer in ten years, I deserved to be right smack there when you walk in.”

Marble Falls chuckled. “Yes you do. I can tell by your enthusiasm that you are giving this your all, but that ACS is your last hope before you begin retiring soldiers and overhauling the shit out of personnel.

“I told you in Basic, its on my head if you fail. Here, its different.”

“They have to earn it,” Olive Pit finished. “They have to prove that they have what it takes. They are not learning anything new, or at least not much new material. They have to prove they know what aerial combat means and that they can handle the pressure.”

“I originally wasn’t going to force them to go to ACS. They are not ready physically. But I was challenging them to at least go and try. Colonel Nova gave the order for them all to go. I had told them if they fail, then they fail. So long as they did their best. Colonel Nova said they all had to go and do their best. That was an order.”

“Good,” Marble Falls nodded. “He gave you the backbone they had stripped.”

“They are stripping things fast,” Olive Pit said shaking his head. “Its dead around here job wise. Even my hoof picked team is having some trouble. They were in the best shape this morning, but its wearing on them. We will figure it out.”

“One bad apple spoils the whole barrel,” Marble Falls stated.

Olive Pit opened the first door on the right. “This is my office.”

Marble Falls’ jaw was open as she walked in. It was not only clean and neat, but it was big.

“This is like four or five times the size of mine. You have so much space. I didn’t picture you as the neat type. Although I never saw your barracks or did spot inspections.”

“I am the compulsive neat. Deke is the messy doesn’t know where shit is type. Shadow has nothing to make messy. Cardinal Spitfire is an organized mess and Golden Dawn is a messy but learned to keep things pretty neat out of necessity type.”

Marble Falls was checking out his oversized, three sided desk. One side was slid up against the wall, and the whole thing was right as you came in. There was a simple rack with files on it.

“Are these your soldier’s files?”

“Yes,” Olive Pit smiled. “If I am not in, this office is locked so it is safe enough. I had to do something with the amount of time I was spending reading and adding notes. I don’t like an organized pile.”

“Good system. Easy to grab. But outside this, you have so much storage space. So much open space.”

“Well,” Olive Pit shrugged. “I know what the Pen is like and used it up until I got this the other day. But, I am not just juggling an oversized Unit, I am running a medical office here. That includes watching over the recruits when they come out here. I have to have the sitting area and I have already used it to deal with personnel problems in a more comfortable setting.”

“This Unit is designed to take 96 Combat Medics. That is not including the 8 officers needed to be over two Squads of 6 and then another 2 or 4 to be over them.”

“You know you pass, you are coming out of ACS a Captain, right?”

Olive Pit chuckled. “I figured. I also know that if it happens, it is deserved. I have been working my ass off here, applying everything I learned in Officer School. Everything because of the curve balls I keep getting thrown. But it is worth it to rebuild the vision, the purpose. Unit 0 has it clearly spelled out. And they needed a fresh officer with no habits to do it. One who would mold to that design, not resist it.”

Olive Pit pointed to a picture on the wall.

UNIT 0 – THE AERIAL COMBAT MEDICS

At all times be ready to fly.At all times be ready to Fight.At all times be ready to care for the soldiers under Unit 0’s watch, both on and off the field.At all times respect authority. At all time set the bar high for what it looks like to be in an Aerial Combat Unit.

“And those are ethics charts and diagnosis shit,” Olive Pit added. “And that piece of art, it is the old root of our medical oath. Now known simply as ‘do not harm,’ but it is so much more than that.”

I swear by Celestia, by Luna, by Mage Meadowbrook and by all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will carry out, according to my ability and judgment, this oath and this indenture.

To hold my teacher in this art equal to my own parents; to make him partner in my livelihood; when he is in need of money to share mine with him; to consider his family as my own brothers, and to teach them this art, if they want to learn it, without fee or indenture; to impart precept, oral instruction, and all other instruction to my own sons, the sons of my teacher, and to indentured pupils who have taken the physician’s oath, but to nopony else.

I will use treatment to help the sick according to my ability and judgment, but never with a view to injury and wrong-doing. Neither will I administer a poison to anybody when asked to do so, nor will I suggest such a course. Similarly I will not give to a mare a pessary to cause abortion. But I will keep pure and holy both my life and my art. I will not use the knife, not even, verily, on sufferers from stone, but I will give place to such as are craftsmen therein.

Into whatsoever houses I enter, I will enter to help the sick, and I will abstain from all intentional wrong-doing and harm, especially from abusing the bodies of stallion or mare, bond or free. And whatsoever I shall see or hear in the course of my profession, as well as outside my profession in my intercourse with pony kind, if it be what should not be published abroad, I will never divulge, holding such things to be holy secrets.

Now if I carry out this oath, and break it not, may I gain for ever reputation among all pony kind for my life and for my art; but if I break it and forswear myself, may the opposite befall me.

Marble Falls shook her head. The oath was a lot to take in. However, the picture displayed behind the desk on the wall was easy to take in and recognize.

“And that against the wall is an amazing shot of all five of you,” Marble Falls smiled.

“I know. That one isn’t actually in our picture books. That was left out for various reason. It is a real gem. I was hoping we could all get together and sign it, for shits and giggles, but…”

“Filly Fooler ain’t dead,” Marble Falls stated. “Not sure what happened, but they got hung out to dry. He has unfinished business. Still, everypony else should sign it.”

Olive Pit nodded in agreement.

“Well, you might as well as start the spot inspection with me.”

Olive Pit opened what Marble Falls had assumed was a broom closet. Olive Pit was living like a king. They were standing in a living room. There was a kitchen off to the left and their bedroom was a little bit further down. On the other side, it had two more rooms for foals. There was a door that led out, so that you didn’t have to go through the office to get into the living quarters. It finished that part of the building into a nice Square.

“A bit dusty,” Marble Falls observed.

Olive Pit chuckled. “I have no need for any of this, yet. So its going to happen while I whip them into shape.”

“I saw that they are building more, large buildings similar to this,” Marble Falls stated. “I really hope one of them is for me. I am practically drooling.”

They laughed and headed out. Olive Pit showed her all the miscellaneous rooms. He was working to have several set up to have on standby for training at all times, but that was taking time. He showed her the other officer offices. They were nice. A good size with simple desks and a few filing cabinets.

Upstairs had the rest of the rooms.

“That is lounge 1 and lounge 2. One is loud, the other quiet. Those are the officer rooms. What really matters here is the eight wings. 12 rooms in each wing.”

“How did you organize their arrangements?”

“Most got to pick in Wing 1 or Wing 2. However Sergeant Major Willow has Wing 1’s Room 1, right here, prominent as she has earned for her rank. The same goes for Wing 2 with Master Sergeant Sunset Fury. He has been helping me boost things up really well. My lifesaver along with Staff Sergeant Star Chaser, but I picked both of them.”

“I have four Staff Sergeants. Each one is the Wing’s Senior Resident. They take the second room. It is their job to look over each wing and make sure things are going right. If something breaks, you go to them, and then it is their job to bring it to the correct person.”

“I did Staff Sergeants because I have four of them and only two Fist Sergeants. The two firsts did take my suggestion and claim the first rooms in wings three and four.”

“You have already been setting them up for taking in more soldiers,” Marble Falls smiled.

“Yeah, to double our numbers in a year, not now,” Olive Pit chuckled. “Once those eight were set. I had the others draw lots for the rooms. None of them had been upstairs yet. Two minutes before the next one could go. They were only allowed to pick in Wings 1 and 2.”

Olive Pit smiled. “I let them trade after that if they wanted. It kept things simple and orderly, but drawing lots was fun and it allowed the lower NCOs a chance.”

“You certainly have it handled,” Marble Falls smiled. “It is a pleasure to see you go on to become such a good officer.”

“I hope I really am turning out to be one,” Olive Pit replied.

“Now,” Marble Falls said getting them back to the task at hoof. “Before I run these spot inspections, do you think you should move them to a regular ACU Unit for ACS?”

Olive Pit took a deep breath in. “I think it would be beneficial to their training. They were not even squared away this morning. I will make the announcement before they break for lunch.”

“Oh, they are not getting lunch today,” Marble Falls laughed. “And they are going to have to earn lunch for a while since they are just shitting lazy. I know you have them working as much as possible, and that they can only do so much in the clinic.”

“I have given them plenty to do,” Olive Pit smiled. “To prepare for ACS, I have been doing daily PT, two hours in the morning, two hours in the afternoon. My seven hoof picks have not missed a session. The six Nova picked haven’t missed a day. The others, well I keep track of who comes when. And Master Sergeant Sunset Fury has been doing training for them as well.”

“Well then,” Marble Falls said gathering her thoughts. “This will be a very interesting few days.”

Marble Falls realized she didn’t have paper of any kind. They went back down to Olive Pit’s office. He had a clip board, two pens, lined paper and a stack of check list printed paper for her in seconds.

“You custom designed blank checklists?” Marble Falls asked with an eyebrow raised.

“I would have,” Olive Pit chuckled. “But they actually already had it made up and ready.”

Each room was given a grade that was taped to their door. Marble Falls worked to keep comments only about uniforms. But she had to write some others for the messier rooms. One room had uniforms properly taken care of, but the rest was a mess.

Bright Starr’s room was perfect. And the floor to ceiling book shelves looked amazing. Olive Pit had not seen the room since they moved her stuff in. He had kept his nose out of their personal rooms.

“She reads when she has nothing else to do,” Olive Pit explained. “She reads one, shelves it and gets a new one. Insane. Many of these pages were read in the clinic with nothing else to do. Current rule is that so long as it is neat and clean, appropriately sterile, they are in proper uniform up to standards, and the work is done, they can read, play cards, or do whatever. And of course, be ready to drop everything to do their job.”

“You probably will never be able to avoid that,” Marble Falls said as she worked her way through another room. “But that is pure circumstance, nothing more, nothing less. Many units suffer from that. That is why I teach Basic Training when I can.”

Marble Falls finished Wings 1 and 2 with an overall grade that got taped to the Senior Resident’s door under their individual score. Marble Falls called Nova to confirm which Units they could use. Once they made their choices, each of the ponies also had what Unit to report to with their Squad. Along with a checklist of approved items. Books were not approved.

“I think we should just let them find out when they get to their rooms,” Olive Pit stated. “We can see how each of them responds to the change.”

“I like how you think,” Marble Falls chuckled.

Olive Pit shrugged. “I learned from the best.”

“I really hope you can keep ahead of them through this whole thing,” Marble Falls said. “I would much rather have you by my side training them with me.”

“I would prefer to master things quickly and do that as well. I need to keep my command position as strong as possible.”

“I might stash you with some other Unit,” Marble Falls replied. “I have a few in mind that could take on that sixth and run you through the practicums to show you know your stuff.”

“Shall we go interview?”

Marble Falls chuckled and they left to find Unit 17.

Next Chapter: Chapter 72 - Broken Wings and Broken Spirits Estimated time remaining: 10 Hours, 27 Minutes