“You got some kind of problem bug?”
“Flare, no specist comments in my presence unless you want me to plow your head through a wall with my bare hooves.”
Knocking on the wall, producing a metallic clang, Flare raised an eyebrow as she replied, “I doubt you can do that through a metal wall unless you use magic.”
Then you haven’t seen here when she’s furious, and I was just staring at you cause I feel like it,” Windbag said, as my squad and I were in a room that was put aside for our needs. The room held some lockers on one wall, while at the wall opposite to it, there were tables with six chairs for each of them. Another wall had monitors on them, but they were off for the moment.
Cocking an eyeridge, Flare turned to look at me, causing me to raise a hoof as I pointed it at the wall before commenting, “I’ll do it, but you’ll be paying for the damages.”
Looking a bit alarmed after hearing that she would pay for any holes I punched into a wall, Flare replied, “I rather not take the risk of dipping into my treasure horde in case you do punch a hole in the wall. But, this is your team, really?"
Glancing at my troops, who were staring at Flare with annoyance, except for Cherry who was looking at anything else besides one of us, I asked, "You're assuming that I would have the cream of the crop for my crew, correct?" Receiving a nod from Flare, I laughed before continuing, "You idiot, this team is for those that are fine with having high expectations of dying during battles. We're the front-liners, the ones that go into the fire when the shit hits the fan. I wouldn’t be surprised if we all die in the next battle. Hence, the ones here are simply the volunteers that are ready to accept this fact of life.”
After staring at me for a moment, which made me wonder if she was a little slow on the uptake, Flare finally said, "Alright, it might not be the glorious team I was expecting to join, but at least it'll be the bravest. So I'm in still since I doubt anything will be able to penetrate my tough dragon hide," before slamming a clawed fist into her other hand.
As I resisted to smash my hoof into my face, Windbag laughed as he commented, "Shall I draw up a list for you? With a furious, energy blade-wielding captain on top of the list?"
"Watch what you say, bug, or I'll cook you and see what a roasted overgrown cockroach tastes like," Flare declared as she spat out a few embers.
“Ha, yeah right. I’ll be hovering around you while you flail around like the clumsy fool you are,” Windbag countered with a smirk, causing Flare to growl at him as she started to approach him. Only for me to teleport them to me as I grabbed their heads to smack them into each other.
As the pair let out cries of pain before rubbing the top of their heads, I said, “No fighting each other, you two. I don’t have the time for you two to be in the hospital after you tear each other apart. Nor do I have time to beat you two until you’re past this stupid thing. We're a team, so either act like one or I'm trapping you in a locker to get you two past your love-hate standoff!"
After staring at me in unison for a minute, Windbag and Flare then grew furious as they both yelled, "What the fuck is this about love?"
Pointing at Windbag, Flare said, "What in Tartarus would make you think I would even have an attraction to this slimy bug!"
Pointing back at Flare, Windbag said in the same time, "By Queen Chrysalis's crown, what possesses you to believe that I would even want a thing with this sad sack of scales?"
Looking back and forth between the two of them, I shrugged as I said, "You two are at each other's throats the moment you saw one another. So either you two just naturally hate each other, something that I doubt happening due to the nature of our world, or this is your own way of expressing your attraction to each other. Either way, stuff it when you're both on the job, or else."
"Or else what?" Flare countered as Windbag looked at her in horror, moving his forelegs in a waving fashion as he mouthed out 'no’.
Smirking, I answered, "Or else I'll just order the base to prepare a romantic dinner for the both of you, with the majority of the non-essential staff watching, as you two have no choice to but commence with the date." My grin then grew broader as the pair just looked at me with their mouths gaping in horror.
"Umm... isn't that unethical? I doubt that you can have a valid reason for them to do such a thing," Agate stated, causing the duo to look at him with hopeful expressions.
Waving a hoof at Agate, I said, "Bah, I'll just use the excuse of this being a team building exercise, with the intention of getting these two to learn to tolerate each other in some fashion, so there aren't any issues on the battlefield cropping up between the two."
As horror retook their expressions, Flare looked at Windbag as she asked, "Truce?"
Looking back at Flare, Windbag held a hoof out as he answered, "Truce." Flare grabbed the hoof before the two looked at me, smiles forced onto their faces as they shook their agreement.
Turning towards Agate, I stated, "See, it all worked out in the end. No more team infighting, so we can move onto the next stage of getting ready for the next battle," causing the group to do a double take on me.
"Next stage? What do you mean by “the next stage?” Night asked in confusion plastered on her face as she and the others looked at each other with similar expressions.
"Well, stage one is getting a team. Stage two is putting you all through some on-hooves training with one another to foster teamwork! And what better way to do that than a few training sessions while we have time?" I stated with a smirk on my muzzle.
"Our united hatred for you?" Windbag proposed, causing me to snap my head towards him while maintaining my smile.
"I know you would say something like that, and hence I have a special treat to give to you, Windbag," I said with a smile, causing Windbag to gulp in response.
"No... no... no wonder my mother told me to just go to the Solar Guard instead of signing up for the Aegis Guard... this training is crazy..." Agate croaked while using a training rifle to prop himself into a semi-standing position, until the gun slipped out of his hooves, leading to him crashing onto the ground with a grunt. He and his fellow squad mates were taking a break as the rest of the base staff were moving the damage obstacles off a grassy field that I used as an impromptu training field.
"Could be worse, at least you weren't muzzled..." Cherry stated as she laid down on her back, panting as she pointed a hoof towards Windbag who had a muzzle that preventing him from speaking properly, yet still allowing him to use his mouth to breath as he had his legs spread upon the ground.
Sitting down on the ground with one of her wings fanning herself, Flare commented, "Alright... that mare is crazy... does she torture all her recruits like this every day?"
"You know I can still hear you," I stated with a raised eyebrow.
"Like I care..." Flare countered as I looked at Night to see her laying on her side with her tongue rolled out of her mouth like a dog.
"I think you would if I decide to give you ten more laps on the next obstacle course," I countered, causing Flare to shift her head towards with a bit of anger showing in her eyes.
"...You're so lucky that you're my boss right now," Flare growled out, causing me to snort and roll my eyes at her.
"Alright, the physical testing part of this training is over, now it is time to see how you five can work together as a group, so you got ten minutes to rest before you have to report to the firing range," I ordered before turning around as I heard the group groan in unison. “Quit your whining, you miserable excuses for soldiers.”
“Why can’t you have the rest of the training before the obstacle course so that we’re not dead on our feet?” Flare complained, causing me to glance at her.
“Do you think the enemy is going to give you a break whenever you get tired? Or expect them to halt their fire when you call for a time out?” I countered with a flat stare. “No, they won’t. So expect the possibility of being in a prolonged firefight that could last days, if not weeks. Also, Windbag, Cherry, enough playing games already. I know that for the both of you, this exercise was just another regular training day for you.”
Springing up onto her forehooves, Cherry said, "But it was fun to play the tired game with everypony else."
Windbag, on the other hoof, groaned as he too got onto his hooves while pulling off the muzzle, saying, "Hey, if the others were tuckered out, I wanted to play along in case you actually let us have a break. Though, since you're you, I shouldn't have let my hopes get up that high."
As the rest of my squad looked at Windbag and Cherry in surprise, I smirked a bit as I said, "There is a benefit to my training, as it tends to make my troops have much more endurance compared to their fellow guards from other divisions. Now let's get going, we're burning daylight here," before I turned away to continue on my way towards the firing range, hearing the groans of the other three getting up.
Flare, however, had one last thing to say as she looked at Windbag, asking, “Wait, you could have taken that off anytime you want?” Receiving a smug nod from Windbag, Flare continued, “Why did you leave it on for so long?"
"Isn't it obvious? The moment I take off the muzzle, she'll just zap it back on. So it was better to give her a break before she cast some super glue spell on the muzzle before slapping it on," Windbag answered as he walked off to follow me while Flare rolled her eyes at his answer before following the rest off the group.
"Here comes the next round, get ready to fire on my mark," I ordered as I was altering the settings of the firing range. Unlike the obstacle field, the firing range had a room prepared for it, though it was mostly intended for testing alien weaponry that was recovered from battles with them. However, we were using it to see how fast my team can interpret targeting orders from me, with Cherry and Windbag being the fastest in proper reactions while Flare obviously was the slowest.
"Hold your fire un—" I started to say until the base alarms went off, causing me to let out a string of curses. As the rest of my squad started to scramble, Flare looked around in confusion as she said, "Hey, what is going on? What's that alarm for?"
"That is the alarm for the detection of a dimensional rift. And before you ask, it means that we're going to have another incursion by the Xartik," I shouted as we started to rush down the corridor to the command center.
Running at the rear of the group, Flare asked, "Finally, some act—"
"Oh shut your mouth! This isn't some game, you fool! We're dealing with a second invasion attempt by the Xartik, and odds are they might have found a way to get more troops on the planet instead of sacrificing transport ships. So everyone, prepare for a tougher battle than the last one," I roared, while inwardly hoping that I was wrong. Personally, I was hoping for some more time to get the reinforcements integrated with the current standing forces, but if the Xartik are trying a second attempt so soon, I knew that they were much more keen on taking over than they usually would. Which meant that this might be a more protracted war than I expected it to be.