//------------------------------// // Chapter 17: BCT Day 1 (2/2) // Story: The Ultimate Sacrifice // by DarkWolf //------------------------------// Chapter 17: BCT Day 1 (2/2) Unicorns Truck and Frost walked over with the two Unicorns, Wise Free and O’Tipsey, to the three thousand pound metal weight sitting in the corner. “Damn, he didn’t tell us what the average was for height and length of time…” Frost mumbled over to Truck. He turned around to ask Haybrun, but saw he was rather far off and busy reading out numbers off of the anemometer set up for the Pegasi. “Oh well, we will just record what they get and worry about averages later.” The two humans looked over to the Unicorns, who were both standing at attention waiting for their task. “Listen up, your job is to levitate that weight right there as high as you can, and hold it there for as long as possible. We will record the height and time. Understand?” Wise Free shook his head yes, while O’Tipsey had a rather uneasy look on his face. “Um… I can’t, sir…” He mumbled to them. “What? What do you mean you can’t?” Frost asked. “I don’t know any levitation spells… well, actually any spell besides the detox one.” Truck and Frost exchanged confused glances to one another, while Wise Free did the same with O’Tipsey. “Wait… hang on. You are a Unicorn, and you don’t know ANY spells? None? Isn’t it like… second nature to you or something?” Truck asked. “No, you have to learn spells. Some things you are born with, but you have to learn new spells, which can take an extremely long time to perfect, sir.” Wise Free answered. “Ok… what do we do then?” Frost asked Truck, who responded with a shrug. “Well, um… Wise Free, you go ahead. I guess you can just go on over with the Earth Ponies for now, O’Tipsey. You’ll have to go over there eventually anyway.” “Yes, sir.” He responded as he trotted off to where the Earth Ponies were waiting. “Ok, you can go when your ready. You got the time?” Truck asked Frost. “Yeah.” He responded as he set his stop-watch on his wrist. Wise Free then proceeded to lift the giant metal weight. His horn lit up and a magical aurora surrounded the weight and it slowly began to lift off of the ground. It began to get higher and higher, but they could tell that seemed to level out around fifteen feet off of the ground thanks to the markings on the side of the wall showing heights. The Unicorns face was twisted in an expression of determination and pain as he continued to hold the weight up for as long as he possibly could. After a few more moments, the sheer weight of it started to take its toll on Wise Free, as it slowly started to lower, until it finally dropped to the ground with a loud thud. “Three minutes, fourteen seconds at fifteen feet up.” Frost said as he read off his watch. “Ok, well… our job is done then. Wise Free, head on over with the Earth Ponies.” Frost ordered. “Yes, sir.” Wise Free responded. After catching his breath for a couple of seconds, he turned and made his way towards the Earth Pony group. Pegasi Sandman turned around and walked back to the large group of pegasi. Haybrun was standing next to the anemometer, which was set up about seventy five yards out from the group. “Ok, your goal is to fly past the anemometer out there next to Haybrun as fast as you can so we can calculate your wing-power. The average wing-power is eight, so I expect all of you to get above ten. Give it all you got! First up, Breeze Chaser.” Sandman announced. The Pegasus walked out from the crowd towards the location at which Sandman was standing. “You can go when you are ready.” Breeze Chaser looked down towards where the anemometer was positioned and then back to the starting line a couple of times, and then got down into a sort of stance that you would see a lineman in American Football in. He was leaning back on his hind legs, while one of them was further back from the other to get more power on his launch. After a couple of seconds, he was off, leaving a gust of wind in his wake. In what seemed like seconds, he was already past the anemometer and coming to a stop. “11.7” Haybrun called out. “Good...” Sandman mumbled as he wrote down the score on the sheet of paper. This process was continued with each one, with all of them getting really close scores to one another. Sandman recorded each score. Breeze Chaser with an 11.7, Silent Blade with an 11.9, Dual Ties with an 11.8, Night Arrow with an 12.0, Cloud Sabre with an 11.9, and Storm Breaker with a 12.0. White Flash went up next, and finished with an 11.6. “White Flash! How are the others getting a higher wing-power than you? You were a member of the Royal Guard! You should be smoking them! Go again!” “Yes, sir!” He went once more, and finished with an 11.9. “That’s better, now get back with the group! Last one… Swift Wind.” The last Pegasus, the one with the bat wings due to a birth defect, came forward. He approached the line and got down in his stance, getting ready to go. "Well, time to see if he can actually fly with those things. Doesn’t look like he could…” Sandman thought to himself. After a moment of silence, Swift Wind literally launched himself off the line in an instant, leaving a giant boom sound and a gust of wind behind him enough to knock over Sandman and the other bystanders. The boom echoed throughout the room while it shook violently, sending everyone else in the room to the ground. “Jesus! What the hell was that!?” Sandman yelled out as he got back up after the shaking subsided. He looked down towards Haybrun, who was sprawled out on the floor holding the anemometer in place. Swift Wind was circling the room, looking like he was trying to slow down. “I… I think he broke the sound barrier!” Cloud Sabre called out to the group as he got back to his hooves. “No… that can’t be possible.” Night Arrow pointed out. “The only time I have ever seen a pony break the sound barrier was when Rainbow Dash did it during the Best Young Flyers Competition last year, but she was going straight down. How in the world could somepony break the sound barrier on takeoff?” “Boss! What in the hell just happened?” Truck called back from the Unicorn group. “I’m not really sure... hey, Haybrun! What was his wing-power?” Sandman called out down the room. “Uh… well… I don’t know…” “What? What do you mean you don’t know?” “The anemometer maxed out at 25.” By this time, Swift Wind had landed and was walking back over to the group, in which most of them exchanged high-hooves with one another. However, Swift Wind didn’t make eye contact with any of them, and kept to the back of the group. “Holy shit… ponies breaking the sound barrier? Huh, I really shouldn’t be surprised…” Sandman mumbled to himself. “Ok, well… on that note… we are all done. So, all of you head over to the Earth pony group to have your buck-power measured.” After a collective, ‘Yes, Sir’, from the group, they all made their way over to the Earth Ponies, with Swift Wind still following from the back of the group. Earth Ponies The two Earth Ponies, Gallant Force and Black Night, along with Grinch and Andrei, went over to the bag used to measure buck-power. “You two, listen up. This is rather self-explanatory, but I have to explain it anyway just to make sure.” Andrei started out. “You have to buck that bag as hard as you can so we can see how strong you are. Do you somehow have any questions?” “No, sir.” Both said in unison. “Good, you! The one with the black coat. What is your name?” “Black Night, sir.” He responded with little emotion. “You are first.” After a nod, Black Night walked up to the bag and, just like Haybrun had done earlier, bucked it as hard as he could. Grinch was standing behind it with his piece of paper, reading the measurement. “28.4” Grinch called out as he wrote it down. “Impossible, that is better than Haybrun’s score.” “Well, that’s what its reading.” “Hmm… that will not do. We need Haybrun to redo his sometime later… anyway, what is your name?” Andrei said, pointing towards the only other Earth Pony. “Gallant Force, sir.” “Your turn.” He proceeded to do the same thing Black Night did before him, and finished with a 28.0. “Lord have mercy! What has the world come to when the new recruits are stronger than their Captain?” “Well, you know, he was just demonstrating. He could have not been trying.” “That better be the reason…” After a minute or two, one of the Unicorns walked over to the group. Andrei remembered him… he was the one who was drunk… O’Tipsey. He approached the group and stood in front of the two humans, looking like he didn’t exactly know what to do. “Well?” Andrei asked, raising an eyebrow at him. “You waiting for an invitation? Your turn.” “What do I exactly do, sir?” “Knock the shit out of that bag.” Andrei responded in a flat tone, pointing towards the bag next to him. Hearing those words, O’Tipsey lit up like the sun. Hitting stuff was his specialty, something that comes after winning a lot of bar fights. “Yes, sir!” He responded with enthusiasm. He approached the bag and hit it so hard that the bag actually slid a couple of feet backwards. A great feat considering it weighed a ton. “It is reading 28.8.” Grinch called out, resulting in Andrei mumbling something in Russian. “At least we know they are strong…” “Um, sir? Can I go again?” Black Night asked, obviously a little vexed about being beaten by a Unicorn in strength. “Yeah, can I too sir?” Gallant Force joined in. “Perhaps later, but we have to let him go first.” Andrei said, pointing to Wise Free, who had just gotten over to them. “What do I do sir?” Wise Free asked. “Oh Lord, if I am going to have to explain this to each and every one of you…” Andrei started, but was interrupted by Grinch. “Hit this bag as hard as you can.” Grinch said, stopping Andrei from saying something that could possibly come and bite him later. Wise Free went and, like those before him, hit the bag as hard as he possibly could. “26.5.” At that moment, the entire room shook violently and a loud ‘boom’ sound echoed loudly through the room, sending everyone to the ground. After a couple of seconds, it faded away, leaving in its wake the noise of frantic chatter. “What was that?” Wise Free asked as he got up and helped O’Tipsey off the ground. “I don’t know…” Grinch responded. He turned around to see one of the Pegasi flying around the room at an incredible speed, looking like he was trying to slow down. “Boss! What in the hell just happened?” Truck called out from the Unicorn group. “I’m not really sure... hey, Haybrun! What was his wing-power?” Sandman called out down the room. “Wait, what? Did that Pegasi do that?” Grinch asked Andrei, who merely returned a shrug. “I have come to stop getting surprised over all the crap that happens here.” Andrei responded with little emotion. “Uh… well… I don’t know…” Haybrun responded to Sandman. “What? What do you mean you don’t know?” “The anemometer maxed out at 25.” Andrei and Grinch just exchanged surprised glances with one another. “Ok, well… on that note… we are all done. So, all of you head over to the Earth pony group to have your buck-power measured.” Sandman called out to the group of pegasi, who were currently exchanging high-fives… well, um… high-hooves with the one who had just landed. “Well, back to work I suppose…” Andrei muttered to himself as he saw the group heading over to them. They proceeded to measure each of their buck-power, which ended up looking something like this. Black Night: 28.4 Gallant Force: 28.0 O’Tipsey: 28.8 Wise Free: 26.5 Breeze Chaser: 27.3 Silent Blade: 27.5 Dual Ties: 27.2 Night Arrow: 27.8 Cloud Sabre: 27.7 Swift Wind: 27.4 White Flash: 27.8 Storm Breaker: 27.6 After having the lists made for each of the groups, the soldiers decided it would be best if they just called it a day and left it at that. “Ok, we are done for today. Haybrun will escort you to your new barracks. Dismissed.” After yet another collective, ‘Yes, sir!’, they were walked out by Haybrun who disappeared down another hallway. “Well… by improvising standards, I would say that went rather well.” Sandman spoke up. “Heh, yeah… I guess so.” Truck agreed. “By the way, what exactly happened with that pegasus? What did he do?” Grinch asked, receiving a nod from Andrei and Frost. “I don’t know. Some of them were saying he broke the sound barrier.” “Wouldn’t surprise me.” Andrei responded. “He was going pretty damn fast. That much I am sure of.” Frost said. “Yeah, maxed out the anemometer. Anything interesting happen on your ends?” “Well, that O’Tipsey character got the highest buck-power out of all of them.” Grinch said as he looked down at his sheet. “Oh, and he can’t use magic.” Truck pointed out. “Wait, what?” Sandman asked. “Yeah, he can’t use magic. Said he only knew how to use that detox spell of his. So, we couldn’t measure him on magic endurance.” “But, aren’t they like, born with that kind of knowledge?” Andrei asked. “That’s what we said, but apparently not. They got to learn everything.” “Wow, we really got a band of misfits, don’t we?” Frost said, chuckling a bit. “Almost as bad as my outfit in boot camp was… and we were pretty messed up, let me tell you.” Grinch responded with a laugh. “Well, we are done for today. We will pick this up tomorrow. I just hope that the Princess is working on a way for us to get back. I don’t think I could handle this for an entire twelve weeks.” Sandman said as they began to leave the room. “This will be interesting, to say the least.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Princess Celestia was sitting up in her study for the past couple of hours going through scrolls and old books having anything to do with cross-world travel, which wasn’t a lot, or was sketchy beyond all belief. “Princess?” A voice called from her door. She looked up to see Twilight standing before her. “Oh, Twilight. How are you doing? Are your friends okay?” “Yeah, we found Rainbow Dash in the castle. She was kind of shaken up, but she calmed down and went back to the room with us.” “That’s good news. Say, would you like to help me with something?” “Of course, Princess! With what?” “Well, I have been going through all these scrolls and books, trying to find a way to get the humans back home, but I haven’t had any luck. If you want to, you could help me look through some of them. Perhaps a fresh set of eyes could stumble upon something I may have missed.” “Sure, Princess. I would love to help.” “Thanks, Twilight.” *Note* Ok, I am not too proud of this chapter, even though I worked on it a lot. It seems rather repetative and confusing to me, but I dont know. Anyway, I have had a lot of people inform me of the off-balance of OC's (2 Earth Ponies, 2 Unicorns, 8 Pegasi). I was thinking about it, and I agree that there should be a more balanced group. Therefore, I have decided that I will take in 2-3 Earth Pony OC's and 2-3 Unicorn OC's, if anyone wants to add theirs in. Once again, if you decide to enter a OC, give their race (Earth, Unicorn, Pegasus), gender, and a description about them. Try to give as much info as possible, as it makes my life a lot easier with writting them. But... yeah. I be back, so... um...talk to yall later!