//------------------------------//
// Boot Camp 
// Story: Revolution Equestria 
// by SeriousTWILEY 
//------------------------------//

Camp Columbus Training Ground
March 30th, 2060

“Good morning troopers! Today, is a very special day. Today, you will begin the process that will turn you from soft, weak, and spoiled little brats, into tough, cold killing machines! First thing’s first, from now on, you will speak only when spoken to, and you will always address me as, and end every sentence with, ‘sir’. Do I make myself clear?”
“SIR YES SIR!!!!”
The drill sergeant made his way up and down the mixed lines of ponies and young humans, inspecting them with a scrutinizing eye. He was an intimidatingly tall man, with hard chiseled features and a shaved head. The training ground on which they stood was little more than a dusty, open field, the tent city that constituted the soldier housing sat fluttering in the breeze at the edge of Twilight’s vision. The purple mare stared straight ahead, but from the corner of her eye, the brown clad sergeant’s movements were apparent to her. 
The sergeant strutted towards Twilight, stopping abruptly at the human recruit beside her, “You soldier! What’s your name!” he barked at the boy, who couldn’t have been more than 19.
“Sir! My name is Dimitri Kravchenko sir!” the boy screamed in a thick Russian accent, staring straight ahead. 
The sergeant smiled, “Well we’ve got ourselves a ruskie, tell me trooper, why did you join the army?”
Dimitri stood bolt upright, and yelled proudly, “Sir, my family has a proud military tradition sir. My father died in the Civil War, and his died in Chechnya, and his died in Afghanistan! All the way back to the Great Patriotic War sir!”
With a single step the sergeant was inches away from the recruit’s face, “You know something Trooper Kravchenko? You don’t deserve that military tradition! Not until I say you do! With a family history like that, I expect at least ten confirmed kills in the first week, or I will personally write to your family and tell them what a goddamn disgrace you are! Do I make myself clear Trooper?”
“SIR YES SIR!”
With that, the drill sergeant turned in place, and continued his way down the line of terrified recruits. Twilight’s eyes slowly followed the bright red of his beret, until it settled on somepony that she couldn’t see. 
“And what the hell is your excuse you miserable maggot?” the harsh scream of the sergeant assaulted Twilight’s eardrums.
There appeared to be no response.
“I can’t hear you soldier! I want you to scream goddamn it!!!” the sergeant continued to yell, still with no audible response.
But Twilight listened closer, and her heart sank when she realized what she heard, it was a soft voice, on the verge of tears, “Fluttershy…” Twilight whispered as she bit her lip in anxiety.
Twilight could tell that the sergeant was winding up for another verbal assault, but a familiar voice interrupted before he could traumatize the yellow pegasus any further.  
“Hello sergeant!” a solemn voice called. As Twilight turned her head, she saw Anon and Eric, slowly walking towards the middle of the line, their knee length coats billowing in the spring breeze.
The sergeant turned, and instinctively stood as straight as a pencil, heels clicking together and hand raised to his brow in salute, “Officers in the field! Get those hands up!” he barked at the troops. The entire lined saluted in not quite so perfect unison.
“At ease troopers!” Anon called, every hand and hoof was lowered. 
With his hands behind his back, Anon slowly walked along, casting quick glances at the soldiers that seemed to contrast sharply with the harsh scrutiny of the sergeant.
Anon stopped suddenly as he reached the center of the line, to Twilight’s right, “Comrades, I am Kommandant Anon Mous, and I am to be your commanding officer, as well as your personal trainer for the next ten weeks. I am not going to lie to you. I have fought with the Red Army nearly every day of my life since I was seventeen, and I see that some of you are no older than that, so let me make this perfectly clear to any fresh faced recruits hoping for glory. This, will not be fun. This is not a game. There is a very real possibility that you will NOT make it home.” 
The pony to Twilight’s right, a dark blue stallion, gave a nervous gulp, and even Twilight herself found herself chilled by Anon’s grave words.
“I promise you,” Anon continued, “That you will be cold, you will be wet, and you will be hungry. However with Fascists and Griffins constantly trying to kill you then I doubt you’ll care. Now then, let me tell you about what we do. All of you have already been pre-designated to be under my command, which means that you will be paratroopers, just like me.” Anon finished his last sentence slowly, and turned almost ominously to face the troops as he did. He then resumed, “Most of the humans here probably already know what that means, but I doubt that the ponies will be as familiar with the term. To put it simply, we get the singular honor of jumping from 15,000 feet, out of planes, and right into the enemy’s lap. Once there, we raise so much hell that he just folds by the time that the cavalry comes. Do you all understand?”
“SIR YES SIR” the group responded.
“Very good, I’ll let the honourable sergeant... Richards here, teach you the basics. When you can march in step and look pretty, he’ll throw you to me, and then that’s where it gets interesting.” Anon then turned to Eric, as if to ask ‘Anything to add?’, to which McPhee simply shrugged. 
As he made his way back towards the base, a flash of yellow caught his eye. Fluttershy stood in line, barely containing tears, her knees shaking. Anon’s eyes quickly darted to Twilight, whose own violet eyes were locked on Anon. 
The human sighed, “Sergeant!” he called. 
“Yes sir!” came the reply
“That yellow pegasus there, send her over to the medics. I’ve got a feeling that she’ll be saving a few lives.” Anon called as he walked away.
“Right away sir!” Anon heard as the sergeants bark faded in the distance.
As the pair left the field, Eric gave a small chuckle, “Bloody hell mate, good thing we showed up, or that little girly would have been scared for life. She’s a sensitive one she is.”
Anon’s face showed no amusement, “Fuck it Eric, this is what I tried to tell Gramov, but fuck no. We had to have a mixed unit to show how ‘united we are’. Bullshit.” Anon shook his head.
Eric’s amusement only grew, “You know Anon, Boris was telling me about that Wonderbolt training. It’s not so different from how we do things. If ponies have the balls to invent that kind of training on their own, then I think that they will be able to handle anything we throw at them.”
Anon cast a squinty eyed glare at Eric, “We’ll have to see. I don’t want to turn into a goddamn laughing stock.” 
“Oh really mate? Why suddenly so concerned with reputation?” Eric sneered, eyebrow raised.
“Bite me.” was the only reply. 
Hours later, the thundering of several dozen feet could be heard rolling across the training ground. The soldiers marched together, ponies in near the front with humans coming up the rear, separated for the sake of uniformity. The impact from their boots and horseshoes churned the dust and trampled the sparse vegetation, and the roar of their march could only be drowned out by the furious screams of the drill sergeant.
“Company, left… TURN!” he screamed
The ponies at the front of the procession abruptly turned left on a ninety degree angle, their lack of coordination still woefully apparent. The rest of the group clumsily followed their lead.
The sergeant glared at them, “Company, march… IN PLACE!” 
The order was followed by an abrupt stop, but the feet of the recruits still kept up their pace.
“Company… HALT!” came the final order
Immediately, the formation was standing stock still, and staring blankly in front of them.
The sergeant took a few steps, and several recruits found him to be a little too close for comfort, “That was a fucking embarrassment!” he screamed at them, “You sons of bitches are lucky that they have soldier’s rights, or I’d have you marching for the next seventy two hours straight! I swear to god that if you don’t learn to march like real troopers I’ll have you clearing mines with a fucking hockey stick!” at this point the officer’s face had begun to turn bright red, “Now get out of my sight you goddamn degenerates! Get your slimy asses to the mess hall, and you better eat a lot because if you don’t do better tomorrow I’ll make sure that you don’t eat for a week!” with his final outburst, the sergeant stormed off towards the tents, a group of exhausted recruits in tow a safe distance away.
Soon five of the elements of harmony were seated at a corner table in the mess hall, their faces drooping. It seemed as if they were doing everything in their power just to keep their faces from falling into their food. Nobody seemed to have anything to say, the shock that they felt was simply too great.
But eventually, one of them found their tongue, “Well that wasn’t as fun as I thought it might be…” muttered Pinkie, her face sad and her hair deflated.
“Ah just can’t believe the way that that man treated Fluttershy!” Applejack responded as she banged a hoof on the table, “Ah was standing right beside her, and if she had stayed for another five minutes she would have been bawlin’ her little eyes out.”
Twilight seemed to be in the worst shape of them all, clearly taking the blame for her friend’s misery “I never asked you all to come here…” she said, half to herself.
“Darling, we couldn’t have asked you to do it alone” Rarity told her, “If putting up with that beastly human is what it takes to help you through this, then we’re willing to do everything we can.”
Twilight gave Rarity a cynical glare, “Why don’t I believe you Rarity? I mean, there’s no way that you’d rather be here than back in your boutique making dresses.” 
“Of course I would rather be back home!” Rarity answered in a slight huff, “But we’re still your friends and we’re willing to deal with uncouth humans, drab uniforms and... whatever this is…” she said, looking at the dull grey mush on her plate.
Rainbow Dash managed to pull her muzzle out of her dish for a few seconds, “Hey, say what you want about the sergeant, but don’t badmouth this food! Can you believe that we can eat as much as we want?”
The rest of the group was not amused.
“Look,” Dash sighed, “I had to do the same kind of thing at Wonderbolt Camp. You might even say that I’m a prime cadet…” her voice turning boastful.
“Did they every call you a miserable puke at Wonderbolt Camp?” AJ asked her,
“Well no but-” she began
“Or a degenerate” Twilight added
“Uhhh” Dash said as she scratched her head.
“Or a lazy maggot?”
“Or a goddamn disgrace?”
Dash’s eyes darted back and forth for a moment, “Hey! It’s Fluttershy!” she pointed out.
The heads of all five ponies turned to see the banana coloured pegasus approaching, and to their surprise, she had a small smile on her face.
“Why so chipper?” Dash asked her somewhat sarcastically
“Oh my,” she began, “The lady instructor with the medics was so friendly and understanding. She told us that medics had to be softer than regular troops, the had to be able to care for patients without traumatizing them.”
The group’s jaws were all open.
“Wait a minute Fluttershy, are you telling us that you got some nice lady politely giving instructions while we had orders barked at us by some lunatic?” Twilight asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Oh yes, she was very nice. She said that all the yelling doesn’t help with patient stress levels, and that one of our biggest goals is to calm them down if they’ve been injured.” Fluttershy said with a pleasant look on her face, “I think I’m going to like it here!” she added.


Camp Columbus Training Ground
April 20th, 2060

Once again, the men, women, mares, and stallions found themselves standing in company formation, at attention in the field. Sergeant Richards, a man that had come to be universally hated by the troops, stood directly in front of them, watching as Anon and Eric made their way towards the rectangular formation of soldiers. As soon as they were within the appropriate distance, the call of “Officers in the field!” was sounded, and every right hand and right hoof flew to its owner’s brow in perfect unison. The formation before Anon was a totally different sight than the one that he had been witness to a month ago. Their timing seemed flawless, and they all stood perfectly straight, their heads turned directly in front of them. To complete their image, they had all been issued their rifles.
“At ease!” Anon called to them, and just as quickly as they came up, hooves and hands returned to their original positions. 
Anon had to admit that ponies armed with rifles was a strange sight, obviously they couldn’t be used the same way a human would use them, so they had been modified to fit into a “Battle Saddle”. The technology was used by the Equestrian guard to operate their own primitive gunpowder weapons, it was a simple saddle, a rifle fitted into the side, a sight extended from the shooter’s helmet along with a mouth operated firing mechanism. However these ponies lacked helmets, and wore the simple red berets of the human troopers. 
As he inspected the front rank troops, Anon thought that he would give a little test. He stopped in front of a young stallion with orange fur and a blue mane, “What’s that soldier!” he barked as he pointed to the AK fitted to his battle saddle.
“This is my rifle!” the stallion screamed, “There are many like it but this one is mine! Without me, my rifle is useless! Without my rifle, I am useless! My rifle is a tool, and I am a killer! I will use my rifle to destroy my enemy, who is trying to kill me! I will shoot him before he shoots me! With my rifle I defend my Motherland, and I defend the ideals of Socialism! With my rifle I will triumph over the Fascist, Capitalist, and Jihadist menace!”
From somewhere in the middle of the formation, Twilight’s ears perked up. The voice of the stallion sounded somewhat familiar to her.
Anon let out a small laugh, “Good job trooper.”  he chuckled. 
Stepping back, Anon motioned to Eric, who brought forward a small, rectangular case. Anon reached down and opened it, producing his battered AK from the interior.
“We don’t teach you that mantra for no reason!” he informed the company, “This weapon will be your entire life. You will treat it like a child, and by the time we are done, you will be able to disassemble and reassemble it in the dark.” Anon handed the rifle to Eric, “Kommandant Eric McPhee is my second in command, and he will be responsible for the training and command of our combat engineers. For now however, he will give you a crash course on your new best friends!”
Eric stepped forward and took the AK from Anon, “Morning troopers!” he called happily, “What you’re looking at here is a military masterpiece. This is the Soviet made, Armamat Kalashnikov, model of nineteen forty seven. It is a nine pound work of art, a perfect balance constructed of steel and plywood. It is so simple that a child can use it, and sometimes they do.” the humans in the crowd seemed to think this was funny, but the ponies didn’t understand. 
Eric continued, “With proper care, it will never jam, it will never break, and it will never fail you. We are going to teach you to fulfill that mantra, and when we’re finished you and your AKs will be haunting the nightmares of our enemy!”
Anon stepped forward again, “So comrades!” he called out, “Shall we begin?” he said as he took his rifle from Eric with one hand, and pointed towards the firing range with the other.

Twilight’s ears hurt from the constant crack of rifle fire, and the headphones that were given to them didn’t seem to fit a pony’s head very well, so most of the Equestrians in the group weren’t even wearing them. Twilight sat in the rear of the company, the rifle in her battle saddle emptied and turned upwards. Her brow was slightly furrowed, she was trying to place the voice of the young stallion that she had heard on the marching ground, and she was wondering why she hadn’t noticed anything sooner. As she looked out at the range, her thoughts were momentarily put on hold. A few feet away from her Rarity lay on her belly, rifle lowered. After each crack of the gun, and before the metallic clang of the shell case hitting the ground, a small puff of dust would be thrown into the air right between the target dummy’s eyes. Twilight gave a small whistle. 
Rarity’s accuracy didn’t go unnoticed, and it wasn’t long before Anon was standing over her, a very different looking rifle in his hands. Soon enough, Rarity became aware of his presence. She quickly clambered to her feet and saluted, but Anon put a quick stop to it. 
“Try this one” he said as he handed her the rifle he was holding.
Rarity grasped the weapon with telekinesis, and examined it. This rifle was longer than her AK, and lacked the sharp, angular lines of an assault rifle. But the most noticeable difference was the  telescopic sight fitted onto the barrel. Looking through it, Rarity could see the target clear as day, and put twenty shots, one by one, into the dummy’s head. 
“Oh, well that certainly is better!” she exclaimed.
“I think that we’ve found a sniper.” Eric piped up from a few feet away, to which Anon simply nodded.
Twilight was watching the whole time, but eventually she turned, and was about to look for Applejack, but instead found herself bumping into another pony.
Twilight fell on to the ground, “My god I’m so sorry… wait a minute… Princess Twilight?” Twilight’s eyes opened suddenly, and in front of her she saw the same orange coloured stallion, his blue mane sticking out in patches from under his beret.
“F-flash Sentry?” she stammered nervously.
“Wow Princess! I certainly didn’t expect to see you here!” the young Royal Guard exclaimed
Twilight was baffled, “Y-you too, I haven’t seen you since I left Canterlot last time! Why aren’t you already fighting in the war with the rest of the Royal Guards? N-not that I want you to be there… I-I mean I’m glad you’re here and everything but uhhh….” Twilight’s voice nervously trailed off, a slight blush coming to her face.
Flash chuckled, “Heh, well there were a number of guards that figured that the humans would be a lot better at fighting other humans than we were. We were also pretty impressed with those war machines that they use, I can tell you I’d love to get my hooves on one of those ‘Atlantis tanks’ or whatever they’re called. I’ve been told that just one would be able to flatten the Winter Palace in Stalliongrad with just a few shots!”
Twilight’s overly analytical brain immediately started to do the math, “Well the standard M-class HCV-3F Atlantis is armed with a 175mm main cannon, and a 20mm autocanon. The standard HE shell size is about equivalent to a 150kg bomb, and has a high powered muzzle velocity. Now the Winter Palace is a very sturdy building, but if the tank targeted the foundations of the palace, then it might be able to collapse one section in as few as eight to twelve shots… no, I think that ‘a few shots’ would be an overstatement Flash” she spouted without thinking. Flash had a puzzled look on his face, and Twilight tried to backtrack, “I mean like… that’s what I heard…” she said nervously.
“Oh… that’s pretty cool…” he said, “Hey, there’s another guard! I’m uh… I’ll go talk to him for a bit. See you later Princess!” he said, his smile returning,
Twilight turned and called out, “Hey wait a minute Flash! Why didn’t I notice you before? Were you even here?” 
“No actually,” he responded cheerfully, “since I came from the Royal Guard I was exempt from the basic training, marching and all that. You should have seen the argument the Prince got in with the human commander to get him to allow that!”
It was then that Twilight realized that all this commotion had distracted her from an important issue, “My brother? When was the last time you heard from him?” she asked hopefully.
Flash rubbed a hoof on his chin, “Uhhh, last I heard was about a week ago. He was taking the 10th Army to Trottingham, to meet up with a human unit. The Bavarian 22nd Panzerbrigade I think he called it. Not a clue what a ‘Panzerbrigade’ or a ‘Bavarian’ is, but Shining didn’t seem too happy to be working with humans.”
Twilight’s ears perked up, “Did he mention me at all the last time you talked to him?”
Flash thought for a moment, “No actually, I thought it was a little strange.” Flash didn’t notice Twilight’s ears droop, “Well I’ll see you later Princess!” he called as he made his way over to another crowd of guards.