"CASTLE Complex"

"WAKE UP, TRANIEE!" A voice roared over my ear.

Soft…pillow…mmm….nice and cozy. "...five more minutes, Raysin….Its Sunday," I mummer before returning to my slumber. I keep nuzzling the pillow and giving a soft snore…..

ZAAAP! For second time I feel my flesh being fried by electricity. My stomach felt as if it had been burned from the inside.

I flew straight up out of the top bunk, colliding with the ceiling. I drift down on to floor, looking wildly for the source of the shock.

"ON YOUR HOOVES, RECRUIT!" The same voice shouted.

My eye slowly adjusted to dark room I was snoozing in moments ago. Stallions, donning berets and camouflaged-coated  coats, starting yelling or shocking everypony off their bunks and crashing into the floor. I quickly identified them as the same ponies that brought us to Halsey Sparkle when she gave that speech.

The olive-sage stallion that woke me up was larger than the others, and was very hard to describe in the darkness.  Except that words, 'Soldier to the core' would fit him nicely. And if that wasn't enough to describe him, he was starting to poke me with his electrifying stick. He was levitating it with his sharp unicorn horn, unlike the other who were pegasi or earth ponies, holding their sticks in their mouths or forehooves.

"Ow! I got zapped by lighting last week–Ouch!" First he aimed for my chest, and then he aimed for my head.  The latter hurt so much.  Did Cogneto ever go thought this?

"STAND ON YOUR FOURS, BOOT!" My drills sergeant shouted.

Oh, there was no way how to talk to a pegasus like me so I squeaked angrily, "What did I ever do you, Poophead? - OWWWW!" Now I felt like the tip of my forehoof was singed from a stove when the unicorn swug the stick.

Not wanting to be electrocuted again, my white hooves help my sleepy body mount myself onto the floor. I shiver uncontrollably from a total of three shocks, only ready to do what the stallion tells me.

"I AM CHIEF PETTY OFFIECR CRANKLIN MENDEZ. THESE STALLIONS ARE YOUR INSTUCTORS, AND YOU WILL DO AS THEY SAY!" I wasn't sure if he was using his magic to alter his voice like Halsey did, or that he actually was yelling the top of his lungs. Cranklin Mendez? what kind of name was that?

To make things short, I was guided into a washroom.  My chilly bath only lasted two minutes.  After that, I was kicked out back into the bunks. Mendez magically flung a white tank top at my face. It had two holes in the back for my wings. When I threw it on, I could see stitched on the collar was my name and a number.

DESTINY 1-1-7

"Move it one-seventeen. OUTSIDE!" Cranklin Mendez roars, making me flap my wings quickly. I wanted to get away from those strangers as soon as possible.

When I do get outside, my eyes widen with surprise. Other sleep-deprived kids in similar tanks troops huddling around.  The sun has not risen yet, and ironically we have. The entire military complex was holding air pads, vehicles, marines, and buildings in different sizes, was as far as the eye could see.

"Trainees, Get into rows of sixteen!"

I find Mendez and his following drill instructors coming out, their flanks to the barracks.  Stupid Poopheads, I say to myself. With some frantic scrambling, and thankfully no shocks, we assemble our sleeves in row of fifteen. I put myself as far from Mendez as possible. Then it got worse.

In his booming voice, he ordered "All of you do one-hundred push-ups. Any assist using magic or wings, will result in a warning of running around the entire complex, and then doing three hundred push-ups upon returning. Same consequence for quitting - GO! One, Two, Three..."

My wings snap to my back and soon we're a wave of ponies moving up and down, exhausted and sweating. One orange unicorn started to use his magic to help himself up on this thirty-first push up. An instructor, with the stun stick his mouth, wacked the poor's colts horn, cause the unicorn to yelp in pain. If I gave up or used my wings, I knew I would get the shock stick or more exercise.

My head felt dizzy and my mouth was dryer despite all the sweat that leaked down my coat and into my lips.

"...Ninety eight, Ninety nine, One hundred!" Cranklin Mendez roared. He inhaled deeply while I collapsed into the dirt panting. My tongue licked the sweat off my lips and then tasted the dirt and grass.  What a poophead he was..."

The five-second-long-break time was over when Chief Mendez breathed out again. "Jumping Jacks up to one-hundred, trainees! Same rules, No assists! Ready - Go!"

I my lungs became so weak to where I couldn't breathe or even think straight. All I could do was keep doing what to the chief told me. I didn't know what this had to do with other than getting fit. But no pain, no grain...I mean gain

Only what was I gaining for what purpose?

Jumping jacks were followed by sit-ups, crouches, and 100 of various other stretches that we had never done in gym class. I felt as if he wanted to keep squeezing all the energy out of all of us. Then what would he do with us?

"REST!" Mendez boomed.  The volume of his voice was amped up so much when he said that, that his horn was steaming and he was taking some slow breaths.

"One of you!" He pointed the floating stick at one of the instructors "...get them some water."

When I tumbled onto the grass, I never felt like getting back up.

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Chief Petty Officer Cranklin Mendez could see as soon as the container of water bottles was rolled out to the trainees, all of them ran to get their hooves on it.  The chief petty officer knew the water was slightly salty and somewhat cold.  But he hoped they would not bitch about it for the time being.

Mendez could see one lone recruit face down in the dirt and limp as dead.  The camo-coated unicorn wacked the pegasus filly's rump with his shock stick, making her leap into a dizzying stating position.

"You're called upon to serve for a reason, One-seventeen!" Mendez roared at the lemon-yellow pegasus.

One seventeen breifly trembled and then dashed to the water container past all the drinking fillies and colts. And fshe ound it empty.

"What?! W-w-why didn't anyone save any for me?" One-Seventeen, Destiny, sniveled.

"Because you let them trainee! You didn't take the chance when you had one." Mendez growled, and then turned to all the other fillies and colts. "Remember this; You only get one life and sometimes only one chance. Make them both count!"

Silenced by Mendez's harsh reply, Destiny couldn't do much of anything else as everypony just drank the water away, and it wasn't even noon. And it wasn't even fair. So she just relaxed her cramping body and head amongst the container. She tried to lick her tears.

Mendez roared "Break time is over! To the classroom! NO SLACKING!"

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I thought my first day of "class" was nice.  

After marching up some number of steps into a classroom (And being threatened with more exercises if we refused to go into the classroom.) we enter into a room of a dull grey building.  In there, on each desk was a plate of two stale-looking biscuits and juice boxes.

Our teacher, who was an Artificial Intelligence, was projected as a pony; she kept walking bipedal, which was considered very awkward to all of us. Her name was Lyra; her cutie mark was a harp and her coat color was cyan. While she talked, various other holograms provided visuals on what she was saying

Lyra was chanting about an ancient group of warriors called 'the Greenhorns'.

"Their motto was 'Nos nunquam mori' or 'We never die'." Lyra added. "They were trained at young age, and gained the strength like no other adult creature of any sort. They always won." She stressed the 'always' part.

The ancient greenhorns little like us, I think. But they wouldn't stand up to even Cogneto's assualt rife with thier spears.  Lyra carried on, almost distracted by what she was presenting as much as we were

"The greenhorns could take down anyone, even in vast numbers.  One time, a Griffon legion of one million was going to reign down on a scouting party of twenty pegasi Greenhorns. It was quite a midair bloodbath. And it's also unpopular for the amount of slaughter that was done. Some call it as 'The day Clouds rained blood'. But if it weren't for those twenty, Ponykind wouldn't have been where it is now. The Griffon Empire wished to eradicate all of them..."

I was sitting in the front row, so got the most of hologram of the Griffon Army charging at the Greenhorn platoon. All the greenhorns were pegasi warriors in golden armor, even though Lyra said that other races of ponies were also in the greenhorn military.

And all twenty of them moved faster, broke more bones, and dealt more slashes than the griffons.  I gasp in excitement as a greenhorn comes up from behind the half-hawk-half-lion and twists his neck.  The crack of his death makes me jump.

When I felt like eating during the lecture and the battle video, I all I find is my desk empty and a filly chewing on soimthing to my left. She was munching down what I realize is my meal. Now I lost two to chances to eat.

Just when I felt like walking over there to punch her, Lyra concluded, "That is all for today." She closed the holo-vids and we all moaned.  "But now it's time for the playground. Tomorrow we will look at some Timber Wolves."

All the students cheered and run out but me. A week of losing my mind-reading powers and I haven't made any friends.

I started pouting to the door way. Only to find Mendez towering above me, levitating a stick beside him to "Yes...time for the playground..." he grinned. I gulped down my dry throat.

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The 'playground' was in the forest that we marched two miles to.  Standing above the trees on concrete pillar was a rusty iron bell.  From its top to the forest floor, there were baskets and pulley systems large enough to fit three ponies into.

"Get into rows of threes! Row one will be team one and so on and so forth!" Mendez commanded.  We scrambled into ordered lines instantly.

"The objective here trainees," Mendez began loudly; drawing a map of forest in the dirt with his shock stick "Is to get all your team to bell via the baskets. Each member of your team has to ring the bell before coming back here.  The winners receive a prize." That was probably unusual for an officer to say. But so was drilling fillies and colts before sunrise.

"What kind of prizes?" I ask innocently, remembering that I had won a sunhat from Halsey's coin toss. The chief gives me a very annoyed look before he cracks into a smile.

"Your team wins you dinner, one-seventeen! Brownies, turkey, carrots, corn on the cob, cider 'n' sugar, and apple pie for everyone who wins."  Mendez probably wanted to torture me more, causing my stomach grumble; did he know I liked apple pie that much?  The other trainees patted their body ready for more food.

Hunger games, I think to myself. The lucky shall eat while the unlucky starve and keep going.  And that book made me hungrier when I read the first parts.

"But," Mendez added sharply, finishing the map "...the last ones to ring the bell go without food for rest of day.  Some shall win, some shall lose." We all went silent.  And this was my last chance to get food, or else I'll never make it through tomorrow.

I looked at the ponies in my row who had become my team. There was a magenta unicorn taller than me. Her mane was messy and in sea-foam green highlights.  Her tank top's collar read BLADES 2-0-4. My other partner was an albino earth pony; she looked just like a red-eyed ghost. A shy ghost, to be precise. Her name was LIPIZZANER 0-3-9.

"Uh...hi?"  Lipizzaner squeaked, shyly glacing between me and Blades.  Blades and I walked to her.  I then could see that Blades was an inch taller than me even without the horn. Her mane was tired back in pony tail, much like mine.

"G'day mates. I'm Blades, from Bronze Harvest." Blades patted Lipizzaner on the back, startling the albino."Lovely weather 'ere on Clopodia, ain't it?"

"You're kidding right? All you care is the weather?" I groan, still hungry. My voice is so dry I sound like a zombie.  Unlike, Blades who sounds like a strong sailor or farm pony. Maybe she was either one of those.

"Destiny 117? That's a nice name 'n' tag."   Blades kindly takes her forehoof and holds it out for me to shake. When I do I notice her sky blues matches the Equestrian sky back home. Her cutie mark is a set of twin blades cross in the form of an 'X' on a shield.

Lipizzaner's red eyes stare at me. Her cutie mark was a musical note of a base clef.  She utters nervously "I'm Lipizzaner..." She looked like she wanted to say more yet she was frightened to continue. I knew we would probably have to carry her along the way if she was going to get even shyer.

Blades wraps her fore hooves around both of us, tightly, giving us a serious look. "Alright mates, we're in this mess together; the chief says we gotta get to those lifts to get to the bell."

"Oh Yeah? So what's so special about the 'lifts?'" I asked. 'Lifts' was probably another word for those baskets, just Blades's way of saying it.

Blades then pointes to what Mendez drew on the map. "It looks like some lifts are closer to the bell than others, mate."

"Can...we teleport to it? Like other unicorns do?" Lipizzaner wonders.  I was thinking the same thing, yet that would have meant that all teams with unicorns in them would win. Mendez would have taken care of that problem already.

"Sorry; it's too much for fillies to teleport and can only teleport if I know where I am going." Blades explained.

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"GO!" Mendez shouted.

Our hooves beat the ground like thunder, as team of ponies spread of in different direction to get to a basket.  The one we were headed was in front of a creaking bridge, surprisingly over a roaring river. Despite the nice scenery, none of my team complemented it.

Another team consisting of three earth ponies also tried to get onto the bridge.  They were attempting to shove us off.

One rammed into Blade's side as an attempt to push her off. As payback, Blades captured the brown-spotted colt in glowing aurora of neon green Magic. Then she magically tossed him into the river, muttering, "Wanker."

Lippizaner wasn't doing so well.  She tried to race to the basket only to have one of two remaining colts pin her down, while the latter raced to the basket and started pulling himself up.  Lippizaner kept trying to wrestle with an aqua colt until they both fell off the bridge.  The river started to carry the crying albino pony away.

"Destiny, you stop that block in basket! I'll save Lipizzaner!"  Blades ordered jumping into the river, swimming after Rose.  

I started to use my wings to fly to the basket which was half way up to the bell. The wind dragged my mane and my hair behind me. Before, I never was allowed to fly this fast.

When I landed on the basket's edge, I readied to attack the verdant colt raising it.  But he was prepared; instantly, he threw an irregular shaped object at my face. My mouth must have been open because the impact hit as set of teeth and I can feel one come of its place.

Then the verdant colt kicks me in the stomach and off the lift. As I fall, I can see him just a hoof away from the bell.

Blades and Lipizzaner, who are both wet, catch me in their hooves.

----

As a team, we crossed the line...as the last team. The colt that had pushed me ended up being in third place.  I had a tooth chipped off and was stuck with a bleeding mouth. Lipizzaner and Blades were drenched, leading trail of water behind themselves.

Everypony else patted their stomachs ready to eat. I knew for sure I had lost a third chance to shove something down my throat.

I see the sun setting in the distance. I know Celestia and Luna control the sun and the moon in the Equestria system (Which is geocentric), but other systems planet revolves manually around the sun, and their moons revolve around their planet.

But I don't know how a setting sun reminded me of a lesson from first grade.

Mendez is writing on a levitating clipboard. I can only guess it's going to be our humiliating timing.  I swear I just saw him grin deviously at my team.

"Well mates...we tried. And we all rang the bell." Blades sighed.  I could she was trying to cheer us up, so I didn't bother to rant about how I wasn't going to go without food for the rest of the day.

Lipizzaner just kept kicking her hoof gently at the ground. "The bell had a nice ring..." I didn't want to yell in fustration out that was the only thing she was commenting.

I decide to push the thought away, when Mendez was finished writing annoucing, "To the mess hall trainees - Time to chow down! Except for Zero-Sixty-Five's team!" he referred to the verdant colt that threw a rock at my mouth, chipping my tooth out.  His tank top collar read VECTOR 0-6-5

"What the hay? I was first!" Vector shouted. I realized his team wasn't with him.

Mendez shoved himself into Vector's face, scaring the colt.

"Right, you were first and you rang the bell.  The objective was to get all of your team to ring the bell and finish together!" Mendez barked, spiting saliva all over Vector's snout.

"Where is the rest of Vector's team?" I whisper to Blades. I notice they weren't here getting yelled alongside the green earth pony.

"Still in the river for all we know." she answers. Seconds later, two colts shiver their way to finish line, shooting dirty looks at Vector.

"Now also remember this, recruits; you don't win unless your team wins!" Mendez shouts to all of us. Yet, he was glaring at me, Blades, and Lipizanner.  

"Well done to the team of one-seventeen; they were the only group to stay together." He announces.  Mendez then led us to a larger sage-green tent. The aura of scrumptious scents snaked to our snouts.  

And from that day, I felt like a truly had father; a grouchy, angry, yelling, stallion who was named Cranklin Mendez. Go figure.  As our group trots to the mess hall, Lipizzaner tugs my wing.  "Excuse me but...Can we be friends?"

"Hay yeah, mate! But only if I can call you L.Z.!" Blades's hoof grips Lipizzaner by the neck and she starts brushing Lipizzaner's pale mane vigorously. Lipizzaner giggled lightly.

The word 'friend' was alien no more as I gave both of them a hug. "Sure; friends." I whisper.

--------------------------

Oh boy...I felt like a voracious pig finally satisfied.  I hadn't even bothered to clean off the brownie or ice cream stains around my mouth. This wasn't the kind of meal expected at a military base, but maybe we were special in way.

The "mess hall tent" resembled an indoor actration at a carnival. All kinds of sweet smells water your mouth to the point you drank that water. First, I took two slices of apple pie followed by chocolate syrup on my vanilla ice-cream.  Then I, Lipizzaner, and Blades tried to hog as much cider as we could.  Unfortunately, Chief Mendez caught us and sent us to sit in table in the corner with whatever we collected

"By the princess's grace...I've never felt better in my life, mate." Blades replied after gulped down her cider.  The chefs had put sugar inside of it, causing it to be irresistibly and deliciously addicting...Much like Mal's back at home. Her coat is just as messy as my mouth.

"Which Princess?" I ask.

"I dunno. Does it matter? They're all the same to me." Blades shrugged. I never thought of them as the same; Celestia was a bright as the sun and Luna's indigo mane resembled stars.

Lipizzaner is the only one of us who is clean of any stains, nibbling on some Turkey. The weird thing was she wasn't into sweats as much as we were. "The food is good." She quickly stated, and then resumed her eating.

When I take a final bite of my apple pie, I feel all my teeth go into it.  By Mendez's request, Halsey Sparkle was able to fix my chip-tooth-problem via mixing various colored chemicals into a magical potion.  It tasted like that coughing medicine Raysin gave me, but the tooth magically grew back in an instant.  

It wasn't only pleasure to see my tooth back, but also to witness something magical in years of saturated science. Halsey said that medicine was an old Zebra brew created by an equally old hermit.

Blades passed a slice of her apple pie to the center of the table.  She hadn't even bothered to use the fork to eat, or even take a crumb of it.  "Any of you want it?"

"Not interested. I'm on a diet." Lipizzaner quickly answered.  Her red eyes looked almost made her statement eerie to us, but her gentle and shy nature presented some kindness

I myself had to say no. "I couldn't eat another bite." Then I give loud five-second burp.  All three of us laugh to the point we choke on our food.

When I regain control of my chuckling I add afterwards "But I know who might like a slice."

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I lost track of how much time I was in the mess hall – night came over the complex.  I found Vector-065 in the barracks, strangely alone with most of light turned off, painting corner in black. The earth pony colt was lying flat on grumbling stomach in his top bunk.  I bet he was mad at me; He threw the rock that chipped my tooth out, he rang the bell, and he crossed the finish line first. All that and he still lost.

"Uh...Vector? I bought you something." I say shyly. At recognizing my voice, he peers over his bunk, giving me his bloodshot eyes.  He must have been crying.

I then hold out the plate of slice of apple pie, hoping that he would take it.  "It was all I can sneak out. You can share it with your friends if you want." By 'friends' I referred to the other earth ponies that had lost today who were on his team.

Vector sneers at me, "Get lost.  I don't need your pity."

I still try offer the meal to him but he gets so angry he blindly flings his pillow at me.  I also see Vector's friend, an aqua earth pony that tackled Lipizzaner into the river, huddled in corner, also crying.  I am met with the same results.

Frustrated that they turned down a good deed, I stomp out of the barracks into the night sky.  

I recognize the outside area as the field which we started our morning excises.  Maybe, in some hours later before the sun rises, it will be alive with us stretching every muscle we can.  Only at this hour under a star-lit sky, sits a young earth colt in grass.

Clutching the plate in my mouth, I edge towards him.

----------------------

The colt that Blades called "wanker", whose brown mane didn't go all the way down his back, whose coat was in in a spotted-splotched dirt color, was known as MUDD SLINGER 0-7-7, had laid his back on the feild and gazed at the sight of the stars.

Slinger would stare at it forever despite being in the prickly grass field still smelling of sweat. Today he wasn't mad he didn't eat – he was mad at his team for purposely failing. Strangely, he didn't feel hungry one bit.

The interruption of rustling in the grass bought Slinger to his fours, alert and ready for whoever it was. Mendez, another drill instructor, that whining Vector...

It turned out to be filly carrying a plate of apple pie. She set the plat down in front of him and smiled

"Hi. My name is Destiny. But you can call me one-one-seven for short." The filly introduced herself, pointing to the number 117 on her tank top collar. She was lemon-yellow and her mane and paintbrush cuie mark were in Carmel-brown.  Slinger blinked his dark purple eyes before seeing that she was real and that he actually was in fact hungry.

"Mudd Slinger Oh-double-seven" Slinger immediately gave out.  His eyes have adjusted look enough to the darkness to scrutinize the apple pie clearly. Then his stomach grumbled loudly.

Destiny pushed it forward with her snout. "It's for you."

Slinger had to restrain himself from quickly stanching the pie and goggling down it in one bite.  Destiny stayed right beside him, enjoying the view of the stars.

"You ever wonder what's up there?" Slinger asked, after half-way finishing the pie.

"Like what? Aliens?" Destiny replied.

"Not just aliens...other planets, other worlds, maybe even...universes."

"I guess. When you look up, you feel so small."

"We are small." Slinger stated.

"Yeah...Do you think we'll see any aliens? Maybe become friends with them?" Destiny asked.

Mudd Slinger was silent for moment. "I hope so. Don't you?"

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In the following months, I, Blades, Lipizzaner, and Mudd Slinger, endured all what Mendez threw at us. Some days we ate, other days we didn't. In the classroom we learned History from the Lyra A.I., Math from a Bon Bon A.I., and Science from an AI Classified as "Derpy".  Soon I and Vector learned to respect each other; everypony did. Any rivals or hate from day one was replaced by brother and sisterhood after two years of daily drills.

Eventually, we got "paintguns" and participated in training scenarios sometimes against robots, sometimes against marines who were trusted with the program's secrecy, and sometimes even ourselves. Mendez was starting to be impressed with us, yet he always had another challenge under his leg waiting for us. Thankfully, the aging unicorn stopped using stock sticks on us.