//------------------------------// // A Day in the Life of a Trainee // Story: Breaking Barriers // by TheGamerBrony //------------------------------// The next morning, royal guard training has officially begun for all trainees. They were to wake up at 5am each morning and they had about 30 minutes to get ready to go to breakfast. After receiving their breakfast, Gallus and Maximus sat down at one of the tables. “Excited?” Gallus asked. “Kinda. I’m mostly nervous” Maximus replied. “Me too” Gallus replied before he went back to eating his oatmeal. After breakfast, the trainees went outside to the big field for their orientation. “Alright, everyone! Welcome to Royal Guard Training. I’m Tempest Shadow and I’ll be your head trainer. I will be joined by four other trainers. If any problem arises during your time here, pleas let one of us know. Training will last for about a month and in that month, you’ll be doing some very hard physical activity, so make sure that you’re in shape for that kind of thing. In addition to physical activity, we’ll be doing classroom work where your trainers will be teaching you about the leadership skills you’ll need to become an effective royal guard. At 5am, you are expected to be up and getting ready. At 5:30, breakfast will be served. Then, you have six hours of physical activity leading up to an hour-long lunch break. After that lunch break, you’ll be subject to four hours of community service. After you all get back here from community service, there will be an hour-long break for dinner. After dinner, you’ll be instructed by your trainers in the classroom. That should be for about two hours. After that, you are to go to your rooms for the night. You can call home only once every night and that is when you are sent to your rooms for the night. Are there any questions?” Tempest announced. One trainee raised his hoof. “Yes?” Tempest called. “What should we expect to do during the physical activity?” the trainee asked. “You can expect to do almost anything during the physical activity. It’s all under your trainer’s discretion. You can expect to do running, push-ups, and sit-ups of course, but depending on who you have as a trainer, you would have to do a bit extra” Tempest answered. Another trainee raised his hoof. “Yes?” Tempest called. “What will we do for community service?” the trainee asked. “Like the physical activity, it’s up to your trainer. One day, you’d clean the local park; the next day, you’d be working at a food bank. It’s pretty much anything” Tempest answered. “Are there any more questions?” she asked. No further questions were asked. “Alright. Now it’s time for you all to meet your trainers. Trainees with surnames that start with A through F, you’ll be with Western Wanderer” Tempest announcer as the trainees that fit in that criteria went over to meet Western Wanderer. “Those who have surnames G through L will be with Coach Clydesdale. Is that really his real name?” Tempest announced as those trainees went over to meet Coach Clydesdale. Gallus and Maximus were among the trainees that will be trained by him. “Believe it or not, Tempest, that is my real name. Technically, it’s Coach Clydesdale Jr. I come from a family of coaches” Coach Clydesdale replied. “Ok, weird name, but okay. Anyways, those with surnames M through R will be with Bulk Biceps” Tempest announced as those with those surnames went over to meet Bulk Biceps. “YEAH!” Bulk Biceps cheered. “I feel bad for those trainees. Anyways, everyone else will be with…Discord?” Tempest announced as Discord magically appeared. “First and foremost, I would like to extend my gratitude for letting me train your trainees, Tempest Shadow. With me, they are in good hands” Discord said as his trainees went over to him. “Ok then. Weird cast of trainers this year, but let’s see how this works out. Trainers, take your trainees and you got the rest” Tempest said as the four groups left. “Good morning, everyone! My name is Coach Clydesdale. I’ve had my fair share of training others. I’ve recently moved here from Galloping Grove where I taught younger foals how to play sports. I was also the head counselor of the Trailblazers, which is their version of the Pony Scouts here in Equestria. One thing you should know about me is that since I’ve only worked with children up until now, this is my first time working with anyone whose age is two digits, so if I come off as gentler and sweeter than the other trainers, you know why. Now, let’s get to work! First, I’ll have you do…500 push-ups? Okay, I don’t know about the other trainers, but 500 seems too many, so I’ll have you do 10. Ready, go!” Coach Clydesdale announced as the trainees did their 10 push-ups. After doing his push-ups, Maximus raised his hoof. “Do you have a question?” Coach Clydesdale asked. “Yeah, uh, what does Tempest Shadow think of you, y’know, going easy on us?” Maximus asked. “Well, like I said, I’ve only worked with children. She was unimpressed by my resume, but it wasn’t an eliminating factor for me. She was willing to train me on training you guys so that was an advantage. If you ask me, I think these exercises are way too extreme. I know that Tempest would disagree with me, but it’s how I’ve done my job and I do things my way. Anyways, next we’ll do 10 sit-ups. Ready, go!” Clydesdale replied. After the trainees did their 10 sit-ups, Clydesdale recognized Gallus and went up to him. “Gallus? Is that really you?” Clydesdale asked. “Yeah, that’s me” Gallus replied. “Thought it was you! I remember you and your friends helping Corn and Peg on that friendship mission. Thanks again for defeating Cozy Glow!” Clydesdale praised. “Hey, well, we’re always happy to help others!” Gallus replied. “I never knew you wanted to become a royal guard” Clydesdale remarked. “Well, me neither, at least until Twilight Sparkle adopted me. She’s done so much for me, and now I’m here to return the favor” Gallus replied. “Well, I’m sure she’s very proud of you, Gallus! You know who else is proud of you? Me” Clydesdale replied, smiling. Gallus smiled back. “Alright, everyone. Let’s take a lap around the track” Clydesdale said as his trainees went to run around the track. Soon, Tempest saw what Clydesdale was doing and she wasn’t happy. She walked up to Clydesdale to confront him. “Clydesdale! What the hay are you doing?” Tempest asked sternly. “Just doing my job, miss” Clydesdale responded. “No, you’re not! You’re not following the instructions that I’ve given you!” Tempest retorted. “There’s a good reason. I believe that these exercises are too much. I’ve modified these exercises to a more reasonable amount of reps” Clydesdale replied. “Yeah, reasonable for an elementary school PE class! This is the Royal Guard Training Academy, not the Colts and Fillies Club!” Tempest retorted. “Who said it was? I’m doing this because I care about the mental and physical health and wellness of my trainees, which is more than what I can say for you and the other trainers! Bulk over there is literally yelling in their faces! That could scare them!” Clydesdale retorted. “Bulk is actually doing his job! You on the other hand are mixing up future royal guards with five-year olds!” Tempest argued. In the middle of their argument, Clydesdale’s trainees went back from their lap, much to Tempest’s shock and anger. “You had them do only one lap?” Tempest retorted. “Well, yeah, I’d say that’s more reasonable than…*checks notes*…100!” Clydesdale retorted. Tempest facepalmed. “One lap! Really? That’s my problem with you! You lack discipline and what being a royal guard really means! You’re setting these trainees up for failure!” “How, by not destroying their sanity? I’d say that you’re setting up for failure! You’re giving your trainees a fright, they might get PTSD from this experience, and they can’t do their job effectively if they get the chance to be royal guards. And right before you know it, they could snap, become evil, and that could result in the downfall of Equestria! Do you really want that?” Clydesdale argued. “Mr. Clydesdale, you are delusional!” Tempest retorted as she walked away. Clydesdale walked back to his group. “Sorry you all had to hear that. You understand why I’m going easy on you, right? I care for you and I want to see you exceed, not turn your back on Equestria because of a traumatic experience. Anyways, it’s time to do our daily activity. What do you guys want to do?” “So, you’re saying that you don’t really have a plan for us?” Gallus asked. “What, uh, of course I do! I just wanted to hear what you want to do” Clydesdale replied. “I dunno, we could always do that parachute thing we did in elementary school” Maximus replied sarcastically. “Sounds like a great idea! I just so happen to have a parachute that we can all use!” Clydesdale said as he and his trainees got ready to play the parachute game, much to Maximus’s surprise. He was joking when he made that suggestion. When the parachute was set up, Clydesdale suggested that the first game they play would be Mushroom in which the trainees just had to move the parachute up and down. Next, they played Number Switch, where two trainees just had to switch places with each other. They continued playing parachute games until it was time to come in for lunch. During lunch, the groups were to sit together. In fact, they had to be together for the whole day, the whole month. “So, were the parachute games fun or what?” Clydesdale asked his trainees. “Boy, they sure were, Mr. Clydesdale!” Gallus replied. “I’m glad you enjoyed them, Gallus!” Clydesdale replied. Soon, Tempest walked up to Clydesdale again. “Clydesdale, I got a bone to pick with you!” “What’s wrong, Tempest?” Clydesdale asked. “This morning, I saw you and your trainees playing with a parachute! This is something I would expect from a preschool class, not a bunch of future royal guards and their trainer who’s supposed to push his trainees past their limits! You should be ashamed of yourself!” Tempest retorted. “For what? I should be able to have fun with my trainees!” Clydesdale retorted. “Oh no! Not this again!” Gallus thought to himself. “Training isn’t supposed to be fun! Your trainees are supposed to be working extremely hard and I’m not seeing that! The only reason I’m not firing you right now is that you’re still on contract for the whole year, but after this year and unless you change your habits, you’re done!” Tempest retorted as she walked away. “Couldn’t she just send you to her office or something? Fighting right in front of us is very unnecessary” Maximus remarked. “It is, Maximus! You shouldn’t have to watch us argue! And Tempest shouldn’t be judging me because I treat you with respect. Earlier this morning, I saw one trainer nearly strangle one of his trainees. And Bulk Biceps was standing on a trainee’s back while he was doing push-ups. And who knows what Discord’s doing with his group? But I digress. Let’s just focus on us as a group and not the other groups” Clydesdale said as he and his group returned to their lunch. After lunch, Clydesdale and his group went to the local park for their community service. “Ok, everyone! For our community service today, we’ll be cleaning up this park. We’re gonna start by picking up all the trash in this park, then we’ll grow some new plants” Clydesdale announced as the group got ready for work. “Hey, I recognize this park. I cleaned here once with my old headmare” Gallus remarked as he began picking up trash. “Really?” Maximus asked. “Yeah. It was Friday the 13th and I didn’t have a good day at school that day and that was because there’s apparently some dark magic that comes out every Friday the 13th. The only way you could stop it is that you do some good deed or whatever” Gallus explained. “Crazy” Maximus replied. “Got that right. Does anything normal happen around here?” Gallus joked. “Good one, Gallus! But, ever since Twilight took the throne, things have become smooth sailing” Maximus replied. Later that night, the trainees were just fed and now it’s time for them to go to class. There were four reasonable-sized classrooms in the whole building; one for each class. “This is just like the School of Friendship” Gallus remarked. “Ok, everyone! Now that we’ve had our fill for the evening, it’s time to begin class. During this part of training, you’ll be taught on different leadership techniques that an effective royal guard would use. We’re also going to be doing teamwork excises throughout the class as well. Make sure you have a pen and a notebook ready because you’ll be taking a lot of notes” Clydesdale explained. After the two-hour class, it’s time for all the trainees to go to their rooms for the night. Gallus promised Twilight that he’d call her every night, and he did just that. “Hi mommy, it’s Gallus” Gallus introduced. “Hi, Gallus! It’s so good to hear from you! How’s training?” Twilight replied. “Training’s great! I had lots of fun today! We played parachute games, cleaned up the Canterlot park, and learned leadership all in one day!” Gallus exclaimed. “Wow, sounds like you had a busy day today” Twilight replied. Gallus let out a yawn and said “Sure did. Now, I’m really sleepy so I’m gonna hit the hay. Good night, mommy. I love you” “I love you too, sweetie” Twilight said before hanging up. Gallus climbed up to his bed and fell fast asleep.