//------------------------------//
// 22 - Bonds, Part 4 of 8 
// Story: The Last Cutie Mark Crusader 
// by Jatheus 
//------------------------------//

Duster was completely drenched as rain came down in heavy sheets in the Everfree Crater. His head was swimming, but he was not about to lose his squad in this mess. He wouldn't give Drill Sergeant J the satisfaction. The donkey instructor was only observing for the moment. Sissy didn’t seem to be having any trouble, and he wasn’t about to fall short where she could see him either. Their platoon’s objective was to cross the crater in formation to reach a designated position on the other side from where they began. They slid and slipped in the mud as they went. Duster coughed, and several times had nearly lost his balance. 

"Keep up!" Locknload growled at Doff. He was the acting sergeant while Scootaloo was on leave.

Doff stumbled, splashing down face first in the mud. Duster stopped to quickly help him up, and they continued moving forward.

“Thanks,” his comrade spoke quietly.

“Don’t mention it,” Duster whispered back.

"Hold position!" Sissy called back in a hushed tone.

She made a motion with her hoof that was echoed by the sergeants, prompting the entire platoon to drop down into the mud. 

They lay quietly, the rain beating incessantly down upon them. Duster was just realizing that he couldn't smell the rain or the mud when he saw another platoon moving through the thick sheets of precipitation. For this simulation, Sissy’s platoon was wearing green bands around their left fore-legs, and they were enemies of anypony wearing red bands. If Sissy chose to engage, they would try to take the other ponies’ colors as evidence of a kill. The other platoon was wearing red, and they also had stopped. Duster was having difficulty discerning what they were doing.

Sissy began making motions, two of the squads began crawling off to the right. Locknload quietly ordered his squad left. Duster and the rest of them crawled through the mud, working their way around the flank. Clyde's squad was with them. When they finally stopped, Duster couldn't even see Sissy anymore. Jewel, who was next to Duster, looked rather pitiful. The rain had washed all of her makeup away. She was quite a sight compared to how she normally presented herself. Why she bothered to smuggle makeup in and put it on was anypony’s guess.

"Prepare to charge," Locknload whispered, and everypony in the squad echoed the whisper all the way to the back of the group.

Everypony had their hooves down, ready to jump into action. Duster felt a little dizzy. Suddenly, there was a commotion from the red-banded platoon ahead. This was a signal that one of the other squads had either been spotted or engaged. Almost as one, they leapt up, found traction, and galloped directly into the red platoon, which had been forming up against their middle. With extreme precision, both flanks of the red platoon were hit at once. Duster actually managed to take hold of one red band, pulling it free, before a stray hoof caught him in the face. He became completely disoriented and fell over. His head began pounding. When he opened his eyes, he couldn't see; his vision had become blurred. Something was wrong; he knew he hadn't been hit that hard. Unable to function, Duster stayed on the ground and covered his head, hoping he he wouldn't get trampled in the chaos as the world spun around him.

...

Sparklefly was rather pleased with how her platoon performed the mock attack. They really caught their adversaries off guard and had it been a real fight, it would have been a slaughter. They sorted through the aftermath and discovered that they had taken every red band from the other platoon and had lost only eight of their own. The pouring rain had soaked them through and through. Drill Sergeant J was shouting orders to the others when Sparklefly heard yelling from her left.

"LT! We've got a problem!" one of the cadets sounded alarmed.

Sparklefly made her way through the mix of cadets to discover Locknload was the one making the noise. Duster was on the ground. She knew that no matter what, she could not appear vulnerable in front of her platoon. She checked her own feelings, burying them for the moment.

"What happened?" Sparklefly asked flatly.

"I'm not sure," Locknload replied. "We found him like this after the skirmish."

Jewel spoke up, "I saw it happen. He took a hoof to the face. I didn't think he'd been hit very hard, but then he sort of wobbled and fell over."

Duster was writhing in the mud. "I don't feel good," he groaned woozily.

"What in Celestia's kingdom is this?" Drill Sergeant J yelled as he arrived on the scene. "This is no time for a nap! On your hooves, Cadet Duster!"

Her brother rolled a little, and as he tried to stand up, he tipped over, splashing in the mud again. Sparklefly noticed then that he still had one of the colored bands that he had taken from the other platoon during the skirmish. At that moment, she felt her chest swell as she filled with pride.

"I did not give you permission to fall over, soldier!" Drill Sergeant J was right on Duster, yelling in his ears. "Do you think you'll get time to lay down in battle? You'll get yourself and your whole squad killed!"

Duster tried again to stand as the donkey continued yelling and swearing at him, but he fell over again. The drill sergeant kicked Duster in the flank.

"Get up!" J yelled. He kicked again, "Get up!"

Duster lay flat now, apparently unconscious. Sparklefly’s heart began pounding in fear.

"Wow, talk about a complete ass," Quickbeam said quietly. He didn't say it quietly enough.

Sparklefly was about to respond to this, but Drill Sergeant J was already on Quickbeam, striking him in the face and swearing. That being taken care of, she turned her attention back to Duster. Everypony else was now standing at attention.

"Moonsliver and,” Sparklefly looked for another pony that had lost their green arm band, “Digger, I want you two to take Cadet Duster over to the medic tent set up on the west side, where we entered the crater."

They saluted and struggled to pick him up. Locknload assisted them, and then the pair took Duster away into the downpour. Quickbeam looked as if he would have a black eye and a busted lip from this encounter with the enraged donkey. Sparklefly didn't like his methods, but it seemed that he would be making tough soldiers. This entire group was coming together much faster than hers had when she’d trained in Cloudsdale. 

"Settle down," Sparklefly ordered. "We still need to reach our objective. Let's move out."

They continued in the rain. The lieutenant felt equally proud of and concerned for her brother.