//------------------------------// // New Boots // Story: Diary of an Unknown War // by The_Lord_of_Admirals //------------------------------// It was days before Twilight could manage looking at the book again, let alone read it; but she just had to know what happened next. And so here she was, sitting at her table peeling the book open again, she skimmed past the ‘Fall’ not feeling like she’d be able to stand reading the rest of it. Glancing over a page Twilight nearly skipped it but paused, slowly re-reading over it. ‘With Aj and Gilda down for the count we’ve had to get some new faces to fill in. Some extra pairs of grunts made us eight strong now, and we were officially commissioned as Baker squad, 52nd Infantry, 3rd company. The Ajax Reserves. They sent us into a fucking Reserve battalion. After all of the shit we went through in Jackson, and we’re being dumped in a third rate battalion. And not even a Marine one, they dumped us into a damn Army kindergarten. Whatever, we’re stuck here now, may as well get these fucks up to par.’ Twilight didn’t quite know what a reserve battalion was, though she was able to make a good guess at what it was. This Ajax must be important to have such a large formation named after them. She also considered reading back to find out what happened to Applejack, but then decided that she wouldn’t be able to stomach it again. So she ignored it and read on, flipping through pages of some of the most extreme “training” she’d ever seen. Days passed in the flick of a page, all just more of the same; just training, training, training. Twilight read over shooting practice, races, fights, and other competitions. She read as they got a new FNG, somepony called Trixie Lulamoon. And why did that name sound so familiar to her? ‘The kid was fresh outta school, still had that new brat smell. Barely made it through the door before Pinks named her “Showgirl”. God how she hated that name back then, told her to suck it up and it was either that or “Pornstar”. She stopped her complaining real quick, not that the brass would ever let me officially call her that. Heh, just like the brass didn’t let the 8th name one of their tanks “Anal Devastation”. Don’t believe me? Just ask them what the big “AD’s” on the sides of “Able Dog” really means. Or the “BD”. Fuck, the one thing I truely miss about those days were all the jokes and random shit we all got up to, once I started making a name for myself climbing the ranks, getting missions done, and claiming more kills people just stopped treating me like one of them. They were always rigid and on edge, like they expected me to bite their heads off if they joked about the “Molten Copper Enemea”, or laughing about the guy who fell in the latrine last week and still smells of it; hell I even caught a Major flinching when I walked into a room once. Was clear I terrified them. I miss those days when I was just one of the Leathernecks and even the butt of a few jokes, nowadays only my squad and my aunt crack jokes with me. But that’s a different story.’ Finishing the page Twilight grimaced at some of the names used, she also didn’t know why anypony would use molten copper for… that, and she didn’t want to either. Though she could somewhat relate to her, ponies had begun acting rather strange around her since the Solstice. ‘We took in the rest of 3rd company to break them from their tenderfoot ways and make them into effective combat units, it was long and hard work, but already we were building a reputation that got these useless fucks motivated to keep up and make something of themselves. I actually requested some cadets from Five company to join 3rd, it was a surprise for the others, my personally requesting some new kids from a Youth Guard company; but I saw something in them, and they proved to be worth the hassle and then some. They became part of our squad, Fireteam Cerberus, the triple terrors. They were good kids. And holy fuck, can AJ’s sister throw down. I saw that kid throw a grown ass man halfway across the field. I made a good choice bringing them in. I just wish it didn’t end how it did for them.’ Well, Twilight thought, that’s not ominous. No no, not ominous at all.  Turning the page she paused, confused; for the next few pages were just… trashed. Covered in more black and red blotches, and layers of letters written over each other. There were some things she could pick out from the jumbled mess, but they were all just half words and meaningless gibberish. She tried to understand anything from the mess, her efforts were wasted though, trying to decipher it was useless. She flipped through the pages until she found another readable one, and paused again as she found another name she swore she recognized on it. ‘Couple months in we got a new transfer to the 52nd, one Candidate Rainbow Blitz. A Wingdiver reject who got his ass sent here for me to beat some discipline and skill into. Was immediately called everything from “Cotton Candy” to “Skittles” because of his baffling hair colour, he had natural rainbow coloured hair. According to Pinkie he changed his name after Canterlot, wouldn’t tell me what it was before and it wasn’t on any paperwork either. I managed to get a Diver harness sent in to train him with, and I have to admit, he’s pretty good. Undisciplined and cocky as all hell, but good. ‘Course, his attitude only got worse when he got told that. People started calling him “Maverick”, because someone was going to get killed because of him showing off; he took the name as a compliment, ‘cause Mav’s such a badass. The fucking idiot. I’ve got something planned to deal with that attitude problem of his.’ Again with the ominous lines. “Hey, Twilight.” Spike called as he walked into the library, a scroll held in his claw. “Princess Celestia wants us in the throne room, said she had something for us.” “Alright Spike, just let me put this away.” Twilight told him as she stood, deciding on the spot to take the book with her; dropping it off in her room before they headed to the throne room.