//------------------------------//
// Training day. 
// Story: Pony Emblem 
// by Alkem 
//------------------------------//


Training Day.




The air was brisk as it blew past the tall blades of grass on the top of a hill. Enjoying the swaying green ocean surrounding him, a lone white unicorn was lying on his back and enjoying the warm rays of the sun. He stared blissfully into the skies, enjoying the gorgeous white puffs splattered against the bright blue canvas above him as he slowly felt himself falling into a slumber. His eyes shut just as a lone Earth pony made her way up to him. The arriving mare saw the stallion wearing leather armored shirt with metal padding and walked over to him

"Snoozing again are we Shining Armor?" a soft voice called out as the light shining upon the dozing colt's eyelids suddenly went away.

His cerulean colored eyes opened to the bright pink visage of a mare whose head loomed over him, with a set of bright blue eyes glaring at him. "Pinkamia, I should have guessed you'd come to find me. Then again you're probably the only one in camp that knows of this spot." he said, rolling over onto his hooves to stare at the mare wearing a white dress shirt under a thin green short jacket and padded skirt.

"Honestly Shine, you come from the honored Sparkle family. Show a little dignity once in awhile. I mean running away from base to take a nap, what is wrong with you?"

Shining Armor chuckled slightly. "Like you're one to talk Pinkamia? You're from the respected Pie family, and yet I always see you goofing around during training."

She smiled. "Well my family has a history of being a little, goofy. But we've always done our best no matter what task is put to us. You on the other hand." She sighed, looking at him. "What would your little sister say, seeing you right now?"

"I'd think she'd be proud that her big brother has joined the Equestrian Army and is training to protect her and everypony else."

Pinkamia turned away from Shine and headed down the hill towards the military camp that could be seen from the hit top. "If you get thrown out she won't be. Now hurry up, morning practice is about to start."

Looking down the hill to the collection of cobblestones and sticks that made up the ragged campsite in the middle of the empty stretch of lush green grass, Shine took a deep breath of the cool breeze flowing by him and trotted after her.



Arriving at the makeshift fort, the pair quickly joined up with their squadron that was already lined up and in formation. At the front, a large light cream caramel colored colt with light brown hair wearing a matching iron chest guard was pacing left to right and observing the troops. Seeing the two tardy soldiers arrive, he stood up straight and turned to face his squad.

"Rise and shine fillies and colts. You've got another day of training to look forward to. We, the soldiers of Equestria, a unified country of ponies. The first of its kind. There was a time when we'd consider each other bitter enemies. But those days are long gone. Today we see each other as brothers and sisters under one flag. So train hard to make us all proud of what we've accomplished together. Alright then, let's train!" he shouted as he reached down to the sword at his side, pulled it from its sheathed with his teeth and pointed it into the air.

The squad replied with a unison grunt and stomp of their hooves before they all then disbanded, heading to their respective areas to train. Shining Armor made his way to the sparing field, with Pinkamia in toe.

"Another rousing speech by Staghoof wouldn't you say, Shining Armor?" she asked, catching up to him.

"Yup, he sure knows how to rally the troops," he replied as he rolled his eyes.

Pinkamia stretched a hoof out and yawned. "I dunno why, but they always make me feel kinda sleepy afterwards."

Shine yawned back. "How about we have a little sparring practice to wake us up then?"

"Nah, I prefer watching then actually fighting."

He looked to the mare as his side and huffed. "You know for a swordsmare, you really are lazy. What if the commander spots you loafing about?"

She casually waved her hoof at him. "You leave Staghoof to me. I can handle him." She then started tapping her hoof against Shine's blue coated chest armor. "You on the other hand better get to training. You were looking pretty rusty last time I saw you."

"Nonsense," he snorted brushing away her prodding hoof. "My skills with the lance are always constantly improving."

As they arrived to a part of the camp where a collection of weapons laid out around a large circle that was carved into the dirt, an outcry grabbed everyone's attention.

"Help, help, bandits have attacked the village!" a grey earth pony in tattered wool clothing cried out, lumbering into the campsite just before he fell to the ground.

The soldiers, who all ran towards the injured villager, parted away as Staghoof made his way towards the stallion. He kneeled down and elevated the fallen colt's head. "What are their numbers?"

"I do not know. They came so fast. All I could do was run as fast as I could. Please you have to help us." He said in a weakened breath, clutching onto the edge of Staghoof's armor before he passed out.

Noticing a slash on the villager's hip, Staghoof pointed to three of his soldiers. "Get this pony to the medical tent. Get the clerics to heal him, now!"

"Yes sir!" they replied, quickly picking up the injured pony and carried him off.

He got back up and faced the rest of the soldiers surrounding him. "Ok ponies, this is it. Time to see what all of your training has done. Let's go and protect our home!"



Lining up by the entrance to the village, the squad could hear the cries of mares and foals throughout the decimated village. Homes were ablaze and armored Diamond Dog could be seen ransacking dilapidated homes in the distance.

Shining Armor stomped his hoof into the ground at the devastation. "Those mutts, attacking a poor farming village like this! I'll show them!" he yelled, running into the village with his lance and shield at his side.

"Shine, wait!" Pinkamia called out, watching him break away from the squad.

Staghoof shoved her out of formation. "He's going to get himself killed. Go after him. The rest of us have to stay here to put out these fires and evacuate the villagers to safety. Now go!"

"Yes sir," she said, saluting her superior before taking off.

Shining Armor ran down an empty road with fallen over houses on each side. Up ahead, he spotted a mostly intact shop with its displaying window smashed in. Inside the shop, a lone Diamond Dog was ransacking through the rubble for anything worth taking. Running by the shop, Shining Armor looked into the gaping hole where shards of glass were scattered around it and caught sight of the thief.

"You there, stop that at once and face me!" he ordered, pointing the tip of his lance inside the building.

The Diamond Dog dropped his loot, staring at the unicorn outside with his narrow yellow eyes. The brigand then ran on all four paws, lunging towards Shine at an impressive speed with an ax in his grayish brown paw aiming straight for the pony's heart. Shine levitated his shield to block, but the quick moving thief caught him off guard and left him wide open.

"Gah!" Shine grunted as his body was knocked back from the viscous blow. Losing grip of his shield he tumbled a few feet away and was on the dirt with only his lance close to him.

He placed a hoof to his chest and felt a large crescent shaped dent in his armor. The brigand's weapon had carved into the metal plate but did not manage pierce it. The attack wasn't fatal but the pain still made it hard for him to breath, let alone move. Struggling to rise, Shine caught sight of his opponent, readying for another attack.

"Wimpy pony try and stop me. Diamond Dog too strong. Now you die!" he hollered, lunging at him again.

Still reeling from the previous blow, Shining could only muster enough of his magic to raise his lance in defense. The Diamond Dog jumped towards with ax raised over his head and the sun shining behind him. Shine could only hold his lance steady, unable to tell where foe's weapon was. As he stared at the blurry visage of his soon to be killer, something pink got in his line of sight.

"You idiot!" a familiar voice yelled out, followed by a clang of steel.

With the sun no longer obscuring his eyes, he recognized the mare standing in front of him. "Pinkamia!" he said, watching the two in front of him push their weapons against each other.

With her sword clenched firmly between her teeth Pinkamia shoved the Diamond Dog away. She yelled out while looking straight ahead, but her words weren't directed at the enemy facing her. "What's wrong with you? You almost got yourself killed!" She reached back and helped Shining Armor with one hoof while she kept her eyes on the enemy in front of them. "And you said you're worried about me skipping training."

"Sorry," Shine said, breathing heavily as he stood up while placing a hoof to his chest.

Pinkamia peered to the corner of her eye. "Are you alright Shine? You should head back to camp."

Taking a deep breath, Shining stood firm and pointed his lance to the Diamond Dog coming after them. "No, I'm fine. I have to finish this."

She looked back and noticed the shine of determination in his eyes as he glared at the bandit. "Fine, but this time let's do it together," Steadying her blade, she aimed the tip of it to their foe who was pumping his arms and ready to fight.

"Now me gets to kill two ponies!" the brute announced, raising his ax arm up as he got closer.

The pair charged. Pinkamia struck first; with sword in mouth she dove, savagely slashing the brigand's chest before jumping back as he yelped. Following up his partner's strike, Shining Armor jumped high over her, and directed his lance straight for the fiend's heart.

"Guuaaa!" Falling to the ground, the Diamond Dog laid lifeless on the ground.

Withdrawing his weapon from the vanquished foe, Shine breathed heavily, propping himself up with his weapon that had tasted blood for the first time. He then turned to the mare that rescued him. "Thank you for the help Mia."

"You owe my big," she replied, sheathing her sword.

Shine went over to recover his shield and placed it at his side. "We should go. The squad could use our help."

As he said that, a cry suddenly caught their attention. In the air they saw another Diamond Dog crash into the debris of a house. Off in the distance they could see other bandits fleeing out of the village.

"Shine, I don't think they'll need it."



Returning to their squad in the center of the village, the two of them reunited with the troops. One of their squad mates, firing the last of his arrows at the remaining fleeing bandits, noticed them and waved.

"Well, look who decided to join us after all the fun is over." Noticing the massive dent on Shining's chest plate, the grayish green pegasus removed his brown wool cowl over his head, revealing his grayish pink mane as he galloped over. "You alright there Shine? That looks kind of serious."

Shining Armor could see the genuine look of concern in his comrade's pale yellow eyes, even if they were half shut. He raised a hoof and faintly waved it at him. "Don't concern yourself Docile May, I'm fine. I just got a bit sloppy-" He suddenly felt a vicious shove from behind.

"Sloppy? Try downright stupid! If I didn't show up when I did, you'd be dead right now."

A little smile emerged at the end of the pegasus's snout. "He's always jumping blindly into fights, isn't he Mia?"

"You know it Docile. I mean what kind of pony does that? Anyways, how did it go for the rest of you?"

Docile May placed his cowl back over his head and tilted it towards the fleeing band of brigands who could be seen running over in the distant hills. "We fared a lot better than you two. And thanks to the commander, I got to have some aerial target practice," he said as he held up bow up.

Pinkamia chuckled at him. "I noticed. I'm still amazed that he's able to chuck anyone around like that, especially at his age."

"You earth ponies always did have incredible strength. Even so, the commander's power still is a little unreal," Shining Armor commented.

"What are you three going on about?" asked Commander Staghoof, approaching the trio. He looked over to Shine and Mia. "Good to see she brought you back in one piece. Well almost," he said, noticing the damage his armor had taken. "You gonna be alright there Armor?"

"I'm fine Sir. I was just being a little slo—" A pink hoof jabbing at his hip stopped him. "I mean stupid!"

Staghoof cleared his throat. "Right then, now that the bandits have been cleared out, we can tend to the wounded and repair the damage. Get moving you three and help the others."

"Sir, yes Sir!" the three of them responded.

Just as they were heading over to assist their squad mates a Pegasus, in light gray armor that matched the color of her coat, came flying towards them in a panic.

"Commander Staghood, I come bringing dire news!" The mare exclaimed, landing haphazardly in front of the larger colt. Her uniform was in disarray and her blonde hair was sticking out of the sides of her helm.

He stood there staring at the pony that got his name wrong. "What is it?"

She reached into the brown leather satchel at her side, pulling out a scroll and handed it to him. "Sir we've received reports that villages all over the northeastern territory are coming under attack. It's been ordered that all local members of the royal army go and quell these conflicts."

He skimmed over the message on the scroll and looked at the messenger. "But these troops are still fresh."

She closed her yellow eyes and shook her head at him. "I'm sorry commander, but those are the orders. I'm must hurry now. I've still got to relay this message to the other bases." As she turned and took off, leaving the commander standing there, Shining Armor took one look at her and noticed her cutie mark. A set of bubbles.

Shine, Mia and Docile looked on as their commander called in the squad to tell them of the urgent news and their new orders.