“Ok Fillies!” Shouts Maelstrom as the rookies line up for the morning roll call, “Line it up!”
We scramble to our units and stand at attention, hooves and hands at our sides. A couple of the recruits bump into each other and fall to the ground very clumsily. I have to stifle a slight giggle as even a slight distraction could lead to—
“You two!” Maelstrom bellows at the clumsy soldiers, “What in they hay do you think you are doing?”
“I- I- I’m s-” starts the mare.
“Did I ask if you were sorry?! No! I asked what you thought you were doing! Now give me twenty laps around the camp!” Shouts the menacing minotaur at the top of his lungs.
The two soldiers jump off the ground, shout, “AYE, SIR!”, then begin running.
I gulp as I stare straight forward, stock still, visually unfazed by the events that just took place. In reality that minotaur scared the hell out of me. He was a monster; he was huge, nearly nine feet tall. He obviously had been in a scrap or two from the scar on his lip. His arms were huge, as was the rest of him. It was almost surreal to see a minotaur for the first time in real life. I had read about them but this… this was a different ballgame altogether.
He marched up and down the ranks of ponies staring down the ones he felt were the most vulnerable. Of course this was to toughen the ones up that weren't quite accustomed to soldier life. I had my callout the first day, of course I stick out from the crowd of ponies making me a rather easy target. When that big blue monster came roaring at me for the first time I was nearly weak in the knees, the other trainees tell me my face went completely pale. Could you blame me? That guy is HUGE. I mean gigantic! And this guy comes roaring at you with the voice of a million body builders telling you that you need to “Mare-up.”
Was that even an insult? I don’t know! I was too concerned about not fainting from fear. But after a while he began to lighten up because I grew more accustomed to it. I got more disciplined and ready. I had learned that if the commanding officer tells you to do anything, you shout “AYE, SIR!” Or ma’am. I learned to not fear him so much as respect him. Well, fear him, but not like the weak knees type fear.
He looked us up and down with those gigantic green eyes.
He did seem to be rougher on me than the other recruits, sometimes. I’m not sure why. Maybe it was just in my head, but it seemed like every time I got into trouble it was him saving me from death. Then he would go on with the ‘Everything you did wrong’ speech. Of course everypony needs that speech to improve, it was just frustrating to know he was right. Maybe it was because we shared a certain feature, hands. Maybe he just was tired of training the average pony. Maybe he wants me to be better. I can’t say there is any one answer.
He stops in front of me and all I can see is his blue torso turned towards me. For a moment there is complete silence. I breathe in deep and release slow through my nose in preparation for—
“ROOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARR” Maelstrom roars in my face as I stay stock still, eyes forward, and visually unfazed.
The roar stops and the hurricane force turbulence subsides. I hear some ponies behind me breathe sighs of relief as they know that it wasn't aimed at them. However, the minotaur stands in front of me still.
“You scared, Two Legs?” Asks the minotaur.
“No, sir.” I reply a bit too quietly.
“What was that, soldier?!” He shouts.
“No! I am not scared! Sir!” I shout at the top of my lungs.
The minotaur stoops down to get in my face. I stand stock still, eyes forward, unfazed. He looks me in the eye as I do not return his gaze. My focus is straight forward, even though he is directly in front of him, my focus is farther than he is.
“Good.” He says as he backs off and continues his rounds.
He works his way towards the back to roar at other ponies for sheer delight. However there is a method to the madness, he knows all of the recruits by name and face. Once he found everypony he needed the morning announcements would commence.
Once Maelstrom was out of earshot, ‘Broken’ who is right next to me whispers, “Never lets up does it?”
“Nope.” I reply quietly.
“Better you than me,” He says.
“He’s just doing his job,” I reply.
“It’s one hay of a job,” He whispers back.
“Eyes and ears forward you two!” Whispers Rain from the opposite side of me.
‘Broken’ shifts his ears forward like ponies do to hide that he is not at full attention.
Before I even get a chance to breathe another word Maelstrom reemerges from the group of recruits. He marches in front of us in order to move onto the second phase of the morning routine, the announcements.
“Gooooood Morning, Fillies!” He called aloud, “As some of you may have heard, this will be the last attempt at the course! Any of you who are too pony to make it will be cut, and excluded from the next phase of training!”
The words come off the beasts tongue and my fears are realized. I put on my game face. This time there was no messing around. If I wanted to do something worthwhile in this world then I needed to get there. Of course I need to get my team to a certain point, but past that it was just me.
“Any questions, ladies?” Asks Maelstrom, “No? Good…”
He pauses.
“Get to the line!” He shouts.
We shout, “Sir! Yessir!” as cadets quickly file into formation and our squad leaders lead the charge towards the start line. We march in sync as we quickly make haste for the line. My heart races as my nerves get the better of me.
“Hey.” Gilded Compass whispers as we run.
I turn an ear but don’t look at him. I nod slightly to let him know I’m listening.
“Don’t worry. We can make it. We will make it. Just remember, to master your body, master your mind.”
For a moment I let that sink in. To master your body, master your mind. I heard what he said. I knew that deep down he was right, my fear was all in my head. We could do this. We had trained to long for anything else.
We arrive at the line and they let one team go at a time. The timing ponies run ahead to be able to time the running portions of the course. The pegasi, who are meant to catch us if the safety gear doesn’t, fly ahead to the climbing portions. The teams that are up currently maneuver their way through the wobbly platforms. They swing and sway as ponies hop from one to another.
Soon we find our hooves on the start line. Ready to begin the final attempt of the course. My heart pounds still but I’m ready to go. We may be an odd combination of ponies, and otherwise, but we were the best damn team here, despite what anypony said. We were going to all make it through this time.
The pony manning the start line waves his flag. Our turn had begun. Segment one. My partners ran ahead of me towards the quarter mile long platform rig. This was part of the plan. There wasn't a lead up to the platforms, which were several feet off of the ground. So my partners created a stair case of two ponies which I would run up and grab the first platform.
They make the formation and I play my part using my height to reach up and grab the platform. I pull myself up to the wobbly surface and reach down to pull up my partners. Rain jumps up first because she is lightest. I pull her up with ease and she goes to secure my feet so that ‘Broken’ doesn't pull me off when we get him up. I yank him up and we turn to face the real challenge.
“Alright, Two Legs. Take point.” He orders.
“Yessir” I respond as I take the first hop. The platform which is 5 feet forward from where we were sways as I land. Using the momentum from the already swinging platform, I hop to the next to the next. I keep my distance from my partners in mind because if I slip on one of these platforms I would depend on their weight to stop the swaying if it becomes too much for me to handle.
Several minutes later we are still at it, systematically advancing through the first obstacle. I am beginning to question why in the world they need a platform rig so long. Was it to test our patience? Surely there wouldn't be this terrible and ridiculous of terrain in a real world situation.
Just as these thoughts cross my mind the board under me gives way.
“AH!” I shout as I grab the rope dangling from the rig suspending the platforms. I look down and see my feet dangling over the ground several feet below. We were about twelve feet up by now. The platforms go up slowly, then descend slowly. It would be a survivable fall definitely, but the point is not to fall so I cling to the rope like my life depends on it.
“What happened?” Shouts Rain
“I don’t know! It just gave way!” I look up and see the platform ahead as I dangle in the air.
“Hold on, Two Legs. We’ll figure something out!” Gilded Compass shouts.
I begin to kick my legs back and forth as an idea crosses my mind. I sway back and forth, growing higher with each swing. My palms are on fire as I grip the rope as hard as I can.
“Two Legs, what are you-?”
I release and extend a hand as far as I can. I nearly miss but my hand catches the edge of the next platform! Using all of my strength I pull myself onto the surface of the platform as sit down to catch my breath. My heart had jumped quite a bit when the board broke. I turn and see the busted platform between me and my team.
“Ok.” Says Broken as he observes the situation.
“Ok.” I respond.
“What now? We can't exactly use that platform.”
“Well. We do this.” I say as I begin to swing using the platform, “Do as I do, you two.”
Rain and Broken begin to swing their platform. Using my legs I steady myself as I reach out to the edge of the swinging platform.
“Ok!” I shout as we both swing rather hard, “Rain!”
Rain backs up on her platform and waits for our platforms to get closer. She waits a moment… then… jumps.
I reach out as she nears I begin to swing away.
“Crap!” I shout as I nearly fall off in order to grab her before I swing out of reach. I pull her as quick as I can to the platform, nearly throwing myself off. We settle down again and begin the process over again.
“On the count of three this time!” I call
“One!”
“Two!”
“Thre-!” I start as Broken jumps a lot harder than I expected him to. He comes flying at me and doesn't need me to catch him whenever he hits me square in the chest with his body. My body tumbles into Rain and we all tumble off of the swinging platform. Just when I thought we had failed on the first obstacle, I look down and see that our momentum had landed us, completely by miracle, on the next platform. It was gently swaying under our weight.
We all stand up and regain our bearings.
“That worked a lot better than I expected it to,” I admit.
The rest of the platforms weren't a problem and we made it through without a problem. I hopped off of the last platform and immediately ran to next part of the course, which our team excelled at. I hopped up the first wall with a single bound and reached down to grab the smaller ponies and pull them up.
We hopped down over the first wall and I booked it to the next one where I changed it up. I took a knee and cupped my hand, the other two knew the drill. Rain was first as she placed one hoof on my shoulder and another in my hand. Using momentum and strength I tossed her up. The same deal went for Broken. Lucky for me these ponies were somewhat lighter than they appear, especially pegasi.
We work our way through the second part of the course like it’s noponys business. Flying over each wall like we owned the place, we ended up in the third part of the course which always made me hate life by the end of it. The weighted run. It wasn't too long, thankfully. A half a mile with a weight on your back. I don’t know how heavy it was exactly, but it was ok if you were standing still. By the end of the half mile, your legs were on fire.
I quickly put the weights over my shoulders, dreading every minute that would come of this. Without wasting time we began our run. Almost immediately I began to feel the gradually increasing burn. Over the next three minutes or so, the pain would be almost unbelievable.
Step by step we took it. Stride by stride. Sweat began to drip down my brow as I looked up at the sun and wondered why Celestia decided to have the day be hot as the gates of Tartarus. I partially felt bad for my partners because they had to lag behind for me. I was fit, but in reality… ponies are built for running. I could only beat my Ponyville friends because they were untrained and Hot Shot because he was lazy. These guys, these recruits in the thick of it. They are probably in the best shapes of their lives.
I continue moving and struggling through this leg of the course. It seems like the weight keeps getting heavier and heavier until finally, I can see the finish! My friends are already there waiting for me. As soon as I cross I toss the weight from my shoulders and stand up straight. Ahead of us is the fourth and fifth legs.
We gallop to the edge of the chasm where our climbing gear is waiting for us. I go ahead and strap myself in. While the other two are gearing up, I take the time to stretch out my legs which were still recovering from the run I just endured. Soon the other two ponies are ready and Rain is strapped in for the decent.
“Ok Broken, I can handle lowering her, I just need you to spot for me ok?” I ask my squad leader.
“No problem.” Says Gilded as he moves towards the edge to view Rain as she goes down.
As I lower her I can see ponies both getting ready to descend around me, and others climbing up the other side. I look at the pegasi stationed both at the top of the giant crevice in the earth and down in the valley below. Then, I hear a cry come from the far side of the small canyon as I see a pair of ponies tumbling to their dooms. Suddenly in a blur of fur and feather they are whisked out of the air by two pegasi who did their duty. Unfortunately for them, that meant they were out.
I still didn't understand why they decided to make today the cutoff day. A lot of these ponies weren't ready to take on the entire course. Like me. Given another week I could've mastered my respiratory/swimming problems. It almost seemed unfair. However, fate doesn't wait for anyone, so I had to make it today. I will make it today.
Suddenly I feel the rope slacken and Broken tells me she had reached the bottom. Soon we strap him in and I brace myself between a rock and a railing to wedge myself in. I begin the lowering process and I hear Rain calling out movements from below. However I can’t really hear her. Doesn't matter too much as long as Broken understands what she is saying. My descent, however, will be very different.
After a few more minutes I hear another “Swoosh!” as the pegasi have to catch another pair that weren't properly secure. Our squad got it down the first day. Nopony here wanted to risk falling to our deaths, even though there was some sort of safety net. Soon, I feel the weight come off the rope and I assume that meant that Broken was down. I tug on the rope twice, which was a check that we were ready for the next step. I feel the reply from the bottom and I begin untying and retying the ropes for my descent. When I’m ready I tug twice more to send the all clear.
It takes a few moments but within a few seconds I feel the reply and I take a few steps back. I lean back to my ropes length to feel the resistance and once again check that my partners have me on belay. I DO NOT wish to fall here.
Taking a deep breath I face forward towards the edge of the chasm. My heart begins to pound and a small smile forms at the edge of my lip.
“Ok. One. Two. Three!” I whisper to myself as I begin running towards the edge.
I jump up, place one foot on the railing, and, still running, leap over the edge. For a moment, I feel weightless. The wind whistled through the little hair I had. I looked down and could see my team, double-belaying me. Rain is the main belay from where I can see and Gilded Compass is wedged between two rocks in order to make sure we are anchored whenever I—
*snap* I heard as my rope whipped taught and I began to approach the wall of the chasm. Don’t worry, my rope didn't break. Just whipped into position. Once my feet touched the rocky surface of the wall, I began running down. I began shouting the Mission Impossible theme music as I went, “Dun dun! DAN DUN! Dun dun! DA DA! DA DOO DOOOOO! DA DOO DOOOOOO!”
Yeah you know exactly what I’m talking about.
I hopped over rocks that got in my way because the gravity was different sideways. My rope kept me pinned to the wall face but not the same way as gravity pulled me downward. I could leap ‘up’ much farther than I could if I was on horizontal ground. Within a minute I was at the bottom and I unhitched. I quickly began pulling down the rope to prepare for the next part, the fifth leg. The climb back up.
“Alright Fillies, halfway.” Reassures Broken.
“Hey before we move on,” I say as the other two look at me. “Hoof bump.”
I hold out my hand in a fist. The others reciprocate in a similar manner.
I gaze up the wall face. Every single climb is different because they have different repelling and climbing stations.
“Ok. I think I’m going to climb up, secure the line there. Move up farther, though it looks like we may have to traverse slightly to the left. I’ll secure it there, and there. Followed by there.” I say as I call out where exactly my route is gonna be.
“Got it.” Relays the other two in unison.
“Now, Broken you have the easy part. Just follow my line up. Rain however will have to remove the rope catches from the rock face as she climbs.” I finish.
“Okey doke. Ready when you are.” They tell me.
I reach down into one of my pockets where I keep the chalk, and powder my hands. This was not nearly my first rock climb, but a little extra grip never hurts. I begin to work my way up the rock face. These first few feet are critical, because if you slip, then there is nothing secured to catch you. It may not be fatal, depending on how high you are and what’s below, but it'll hurt like a biscuit. So naturally my foot slips the first few feet but I catch myself. I work my way up about thirteen feet, secure the first hold, and breath a sigh of relief. Now once I get to the top, I can belay the team, and they can catch me if I fall.
I work my way left to make it past a rock formation that would require us to go slightly at a negative angle. Meaning that my feet would be dangling at some point, ain’t nopony got time for that so I go around. Meanwhile I secure the second hold and begin to gain my confidence. We were going to make it. In almost no time at all I am at the part where safety gear is no longer needed. I find a tree sticking out of the rock face that was well rooted. I wrap the rope around it and give the side facing my friends two tugs.
I feel the two tugs return and I begin prepping for the second phase of the operation. Don’t ask me how ponies can climb with hooves. Its magic but I mean still. To a human that doesn't really make sense but I just have to go with it. Before too long I am face to face with Broken, who had climbed up somewhat quicker than usual.
“Howdy do?” I ask as I make room for both of us to pull up Rain Gauge.
The beautiful thing about our strategy, is that once we get both of us men up here, we can basically pull Rain up by raw strength if we have to. Luckily we don’t have to because she can hold her own. That amount of awesome makes me wonder why she doesn't have to beat off stallions with a stick. She’s pretty enough, and I probably would consider dating her if it weren't for the hope of a Princess. Best not to think to hard on these things sometimes. The fact is, I may be becoming of them, but I’m still not one of them.
And about eight minutes later a familiar face pops her head over the ledge and we help her up. We all unstrap and tie our gear to our backs. I take the ropes and carry them like a back pack. The other two carry the metallic gear that secures our ropes plus their own harnesses.
We aren’t quite through it yet. I look up at the still somewhat steep rock face and begin to Mountain goat style it. Weaving in and out of the rocks on my way up. The other two follow my path as I call it out. It’s similar to maneuvering through tall grass when you are a little child, except the grass is very hard and hurts if you conk your head, or twist your ankle. So don’t do that.
Before long we emerge at the top, victorious. We turn in our gear quickly and move on to the sixth part of the challenge. The run. Cake.
I stretch my legs once again to loosen them up where they had tightened during the climb. I start off with a slight jog to get the juices flowing. Then after a few minutes I am up at full speed with my unit. Legs at full stride I know that we will make the minimum time no problem. The part that I am really worried about comes after this.
I breathe in, and breathe out very controlled. The air here is amazing. It will do wonders really. There aren’t any pollutants that you get when you are walking around on Earth. That and there was a slight breeze that must have started while were in the chasm. It was rather pleasant really.
I ran and listened to my comrades breathing as they ran beside me. A unit, a team, undivided. Rains breathing was smaller and quicker, she sounded like a woman, a human woman anyway. I know this may sound strange but its during hard times like these where you hear the grunts and groans of ponies and you almost forget that they aren’t human.
It’s times like these when I’m running free through the grass and I see the tree leaves swaying in the wind that I forget that I’m not at home. My old home. It was an odd contrast to the weighted run earlier, which was and is, hell. This part of the course is probably the most relaxing part of all of it.
Unfortunately all good things must come to an end. We cross the line with about a minute to spare. I stop and take a few breaths before we proceed to the final two legs of the course. The pool. The good for nothing pool. The freaking pool that was inspired by Satan himself. In fact, I’m pretty sure that if Satan were given the choice to jump into this pool and do the workout, and the choice of returning to hell, that he would definitely choose the pool still. Even so, it still sucked.
“Alright team. Well it’s been good. It’s all down to ourselves now.” States Rain.
“Yeah. Don’t remind me.” I mumble.
Then I feel a hoof on my shoulder. I turn and see that it belonged to Rain.
“Hey.” She starts.
“Hay is for horses,” I joke.
She rolls her eyes at my corny joke and continues, “We believe in you. You can do this.”
I take a deep breath and say, “I sure hope so.”
I approach the edge of the pool and mentally prep myself for the final two legs of the course. One above the surface. One under. I look out and see ponies swimming their hearts out. The ones that had gone before us. Some had made it all the way. Others were yanked out by the life-ponies. I stretch my arms out and take off my shirt.
“Ok… I can do this.” I say as my heart picks up.
“One. Two. Three.”
I jump in and begin swimming. The above water swim isn't really that bad. Eight down and backs. There have been worse things in the world though. The only real problem is my arms get very tired. Half a mile in the water is pretty impressive. Doable. But that’s some triathlon level stuff. Which was basically what I was doing right now. An octathlon if you will.
Luckily we had been training hard during my course of being here so most were prepared to take it. Even me with my differences in anatomy. I was able to swim the entire without feeling a ridiculous amount of fatigue. The real pain, started after this. I had to remember to keep using my legs to swim. That had always been a problem for me.
I looked left and saw my partners swimming bit by bit. It wasn't a race. The key now, was to make it. No need to book it. If you have to take it slow, then do it, because most ponies need everything for what was next.
As I turned around on my final go back. The last fifty meters before I have to go underwater. I look out off the edge of the pool. My head is just poking over the surface of the water. I see Maelstrom. Him. That mother bucker. Always watching this part. Why? For entertainment? To see if I would screw it up this time?
These questions kept popping in my head as I neared the edge of the wall once more. This was it. The final part. All or nothing. My arms were feeling it by now but they had to go on. I stopped for a moment. I would take all the time that they would allow. I rested my arms, legs, and body for a moment. I thought.
Why did that big bulking creature always want to watch me do this part? I’ve sat through recruits doing this part. He usually leaves every time I’m done. What does he do? Laugh at me? Mock me? All of these thoughts just slowly made me more angry. Well not this time.
I took in one deep breath. Then I let it out slowly. Took in another. And let it out again.
He was not going to get the entertainment this time around. No. I wouldn't allow it.
Taking everything in I took in one huge final breath and plunged underwater. See you cool cats on the other side.
The next bit was somewhat of a blur. I got halfway and my lungs began to really want oxygen. But I wouldn't let them. Each stroke became painful. My entire body wanted to shut down and give up, but my anger wouldn't let it. Broken’s words reverberated through my head, “Master the body, master the mind, master the body, master the mind.”
I would be the master of me. No one will tell me otherwise.
I began to get tunnel vision. My strokes felt weaker and weaker. However. Just when I thought that I wasn't going to make it, I felt my hand brush the other side of the pool.
I shot my body up out of the water as hard as I could and gasped in as much air as I could. My body collapsed against the side of the pool and I just hung there gasping for air. Slowly the tunnel vision returned to normal. My limbs were pale white from lack of oxygen, which made me wonder what the rest of my body looked like. Somepony came to the edge of the pool to assist me getting out but I held a hand out to tell her to leave me be. I’ll get out of this damn pool when I damned felt like it.
As I lie in pain, slowly recovering from what just happened I hear a loud, “Clomp, clomp, Clomp, CLOMP,” as my favorite minotaur and commanding officer approached.
In that same loud voice he hollers down, “Well hows about that, Two Legs, you didn't screw it up this time!”
I look up at him best I can then whisper in a voice that could rival Fluttershy, “… uh… No disrespect sir but…”
I hold out my middle finger as high as I possibly can.