//------------------------------//
// Training 
// Story: Of a German and American soldier in Equestria 
// by redspark 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 9
Training


It was an hour after leaving the palace and the city when they finally reached the training camp. Though it looked pretty close to the city, the whole going down the mountain took a lot of time. Also that, apparently it was halfway to ponyville. That was something Davis had not thought of before and was now a little tired after leaving the car of the train that took them there.

He was surprised by how much was done for the training of the army, or at least for the fast and easy arrival to training area.

There was one special train that went all around Equestria only to pick up volunteers and recruits for the army. It was the one they had taken from Canterlot in order to reach the camp fast and without much delay.

Davis had his rifle and his gun with him. He had the grenades well tucked in a bag he had borrowed from the palace and had his uniform clean from the morning surprise of finding it even repaired on the parts it had ripped or worn.

He breathed the air of the countryside and was surprised by the difference from the city of Canterlot, though Canterlot wasn't dirty or contaminated, but the smell and the feeling was very different. He looked at the plain the camp was built on. On one side he could see a small mountain ridge, the city of Canterlot easily distinguished from where the camp was (and from almost everywhere else in their direction all the way to the ocean), while on the other he could see some hills. He knew that if he went farther away he'd soon be a arriving at Ponyville.

After checking one last time he had it all, he walked slowly out of the train station. The station was a simple wooden building, but it worked very well for its purpose. He stopped and waited for general Ace and Fire Strike. The two generals got off the train car and walked to him.

Louis, Silver Ink and general SeaStorm had remained in Canterlot, making some final arrangements to some plans and... Well, only that. Celestia, Luna and Twilight were doing some enchantment or spell of sorts to try and communicate with the blocked Griffons so that communication between the two was easy, reliable and safe.

So far he knew there was no success, since the griffons apparently had no special magical artifact to communicate or any magical artifact at all. For what Davis knew, the griffons had been sending messengers until their whole city was surrounded and it became impossible to leave without being seen. 

General Ace walked forward and looked at the camp. "Welcome to the Star Swirl training camp. We have a total of 10,000 ponies in training, and two thousand are almost ready," he smiled "and more are arriving each day."

Davis nodded. “That sounds very good." He looked around. All he could see were ponies moving around and small log cabins all around, lined up in roads. 

Ace nodded. "Now follow me. I'll take you to the command center and from there I'll show you around."

Fire Strike coughed to get their attention. "I'm sorry, but I won't be joining you on your stroll. I must make sure some things are okay in the smithy and the southern barracks. I'll meet you at the command center at nightfall, okay?"

Davis and Louis nodded. "Alright Striker, see ya later," Ace said. Fire Striker smiled and walked away. Ace looked at Davis. "Alright, follow me." The unicorn began to walk forward into the camp. Davis followed beside, looking at everything. He could noticed that all the cabins were obviously to serve as barracks for the soldiers. He wasn't certain of how many men... Or ponies could live there, but he was sure that no more than 60 or 70.

They walked for a couple of minutes until they arrived at a kind of plaza with a tall flag post with the equestrian flag. In the center there was a large building, also made of logs, with a large sign saying command center. They walked towards it and stopped right in front of it.

"Well Davis, this is the commands center. We generals have a special room inside as well as you and Louis, should he come. There is a war room as well, but the table is normal, not like the magical one in Canterlot. You'll find that the palace was much more comfortable, but something's something, no?" he said, pushing Davis a little in a joke. Davis nodded, smiling.

"Yeah, sure," he chuckled. "Now, I'd like to see the training grounds. All I've seen are barracks."

The unicorn nodded. "Alright, follow me. They are not far away, maybe a minute if walk. You'll find that this is a pretty large camp."

"Yeah," Davis said "I noticed. How big is it, in extension, I mean."

Ace stopped and scratched his... Chin? Davis was unsure if that was how ponies called that part. 

"I'd say like..." he looked around. "You've been to ponyville, haven't you?" Davis nodded. "Well, it's like twice the size. We have more inhabitants as well. Also, the town of ponyville is pretty spread up, in difference than this camp. It is made very right, so you can get the point."

Dais laughs slightly. "Yeah, it's very big." 

"Ya know it," the General said. "Now follow me. We're not far from the training grounds." He followed the unicorn through more log cabins. A before, Davis looked around, inspecting the soldiers. It seemed to him more like a medieval-style camp, only that without the tents but rather the log cabins.

The ponies around seemed excited, though many simply looked nervous and were looking around without any reason. Not many seemed to notice the human now walking in front of them, but Davis easily heard whispers behind his back and even in front of him. 

“...what is that?” he heard somewhere.

“I don't know… looks strange and… creepy…” he heard from the same place. He wanted to turn and address those ponies, but he contained himself and moved along with Ace. It took them a minute before Ace said they had arrived.

“Here we are, the training grounds,” the general said, using his hoof to point around. The training grounds were large grass fields with some tents around and also a couple of trees disrupting the field´s barren ground. He saw that there was an archery range, which he decided was going to be one of his main stops. He didn't have rifles or a lot of long-range weapons here in Equestria, but he could use archers for his advantage.

Next to the Archery Range there were some ponies sword fighting. it didn't seemed to be going very well though, since apparently the instructors and team captains seemed to be struggling to teach the soldiers how to fight properly with a sword (Davis kept in mind that using a sword being a four legged animal was surely difficult). He noticed that they needed to stand up and keep their balance, or else they fell on their back or their mouth. He found it s a little strange to see the ponies standing on two legs, but he was sure that had not and would not be the most awkward thing he´s see, so he simply shrugged it off and looked around again. There were some crossbows which he had not noticed before. That made him smile even more.

The last thing he noticed was the magic part. Apparently there were entire units of unicorns, which were making certain offensive spells. When he saw a blast of one of the unicorns hit its target, a hay dummy, he shivered at the thought of the enemy falling at those after seeing the small explosion. He didn´t missed something which made him doubt using such magic in the battlefield would be such an advantage: the unicorn that had cast it seemed to be terribly tired all of a sudden. He saw as the officer walked to him and granted him some rest.

Maybe Davis was going to talk to Ace about the unicorn units sometime…

“I´d like to go and see the archers,” Davis told Ace. The general nodded. 

“Let´s go then.”

Both walked towards the group of training archers. There had to be at least thirty ponies at the moment shooting, with other thirty simply watching and resting. He looked at the targets: just like the human targets they were big circles with different sections, all of the sections with a different number in them. He noticed then the way the ponies were shooting.

They seemed to stand on two legs as well, but used the bow as support. They used one front hoof to hold the bow while using the other one to shoot the arrow. It seemed to be not a really fast process, but that wasn't the problem. The real problem Davis saw was that most of the archers seemed to have trouble standing on two, even with the bow. He saw that many seemed to have gotten the hang of it though, and were making some good marks, just not perfect marks. He walked forward along with Ace.

Most of the archers and ponies around had seen him and had stopped what they were doing. Apparently the training ground was different from the barracks and here he was easily noticed. Soon he heard whispers all around until an officer called attention.

“Officer!” the sergeant shouted, making all the ponies stand up or stops what they were doing, saluting and standing respectively at Ace.

“At ease,” Ace said. the ponies relaxed their salutes but remained still. Davis was glad they were at least trained in rank manners, if they had not been then he was sure to have problems to talk without them whispering all around about this strange creature.

Both Ace and Davis inspected with their eyes at the archers. Davis turned to the officer. “Proceed with the training.”

The officer didn't seemed surprised at all about Davis, which made him wonder if he had been told about the new commander and was prepared to see him, or else was simply good at hiding surprise. The officer nodded and turned to the group.

“Continue.”

The archers slowly moved back to their shooting positions, some sending a quick glance at Davis. The american saw all that with no surprise, he had expected it. He heard a mutter from the one a little too loud, clearly marking himself on every ponies ears.

"What is that thing...?"

The officer moved towards the one who had spoken. He seemed pretty mad, and the face of the private that had spoken clearly marked his worry. His officer stopped in front of him.

"That, is you commanding officer, and you should treat your commanding officers..." Davis walked over and stopped the officer.

"It's alright, I think he clearly knows my position now." The officer seemed a little surprised at the interruption, but he simply nodded and backed away slightly. Davis looked at the archer.

The poor pony recruit was making a hard effort not to run away or cower before the human in front of him, who easily stood almost twice the size of the pony on four legs. Davis cleared his throat.

"So, to satisfy everypony, I'm a human, h-u-m-a-n, not Humun, nor a Hooman, no, human. I was appointed commander of this army, and it is up to me to make victory possible." He looked at Ace. The general nodded, encouraging him to continue. Davis looked at the ponies around again. "I saw you shooting." The ponies looked between each other. "And I'm afraid to tell you that by the time you are done reloading the second volley you'd have the enemies over you, even those that load fast." He turned to a pony he saw was the fastest at reloading. "Archers are vital for victory, so much will he expected of you." That earned a couple of uncomfortable glances. Davis looked at one if the bows a grey pony had. 

"May I have the bow a little please?" He asked. The pony nodded and passed it to him. Davis looked at the bow.

It wasn't exactly like human bows, as it was obviously made for ponies. He inspected it closely, trying to see how he could hold it comfortably. He stringed it and nodded, giving the bow back at the pony, who took it slowly.

Davis had never been really good at bow shooting, but he knew how to do it. He remembered he was able to hit almost the center once… but it had been a long time ago and he preferred to shoot with a rifle or a gun. He looked at the pony. “Shoot at the target, try your best to hit the center.”

The pony placed on tip of the bow on the floor, using one of his hooves to take the other topside tip. He somehow placed an arrow on the bow and stringed it. He released it, the arrow letting out a whistle as it flew towards it's intended target. Surprisingly it hit three levels from the center. Davis had noticed there was no other arrows nearer to the center than his. He sighed.

"Do it all again, but without the arrow."

The pony complied and did all the process again. Davis watched every move the pony had to make, making him go around some things that were obviously wrong with them shooting that way.

First, they couldn't take proper aim. To Davis that was the most important thing. Yes, if they needed to shoot blindly at an upcoming army that might work, but in an actual fight, that gave the archers terrible odds should they need to engage the enemy on close quarters. He looked at the officer.

"Continue." 

As the whistling if arrows became as steady as before, Davis walked away with general Ace. He had seen the archers, now to see the swordsmen... Or would it he sword ponies? He wasn't sure.

The ponies around, in contrast with the archers that didn't noticed them at first, immediately took attention at the newcomers. 

"Attention!" cried out the officer in charge. The ponies seemed a little hit more trained than the archers, which made Davis wonder if there was different training with each type of unit. Soon Ace and himself were walked in front if the ponies. In that part if the training ground there were fifty ponies practicing sword fight. 

He was expecting a question that never came: what he was. Surprisingly, this ponies seemed capable of keeping their stance, even if there was an unknown creature walking in front of them. A small smile creeped to his face by thinking about how good it felt not to seek strange to ponies, though he knew that was a lie hidden in formalities.

"General, sir," said the pony officer. " We were definitely not expecting you today."

Ace cleared his throat. "Well, here I am, Golden Flame," he said to the captain, a bright Yellow pegasus stallion with a short, brown mane and tail. The mark on his flank was a yellow flame. "and I won't be leaving until we depart to war." He looked at the ponies. "At ease."

The ponies took a less formal and more comfortable stance, yet they still looked organized and professional, like proper military men... Ponies.

"You must be the new commander, sir. Name's captain Golden Flame, 3rd equestrian battalion." He rose his hoof in salute. Davis answered with a salute of his own. 

"My name is Davis. I see you've got a very organized group."

The captain smiled in pride. "Yes sir, I make sure that every pony does their job well ."

Davis felt the pony's accent a little weird, though he spoke just like him, if he had to compare his accent to one on earth, he sounded like Australian, though he wasn't certain.

"Great." He looked around.

"Perhaps you'd like a demonstration, sir?" He asked Davis. Davis looked at the Pegasus for some seconds.

"Yeah, sure."

The Pegasus smiled and took a sword with one of his front hooves. Walking in three legs he approached the places marked as fight areas and looked around. "Who'd like to go against me?"

Ace smiled and looked at Davis. "Perhaps Davis should have the honor."

Davis looked at Ace surprised. "What? No!, I'm not that good with swords." 

Ace chuckled. "Come on, one won't kill you." Davis sighed and retrieved a sword from the floor. It was definitely shorter than any words he had ever used, not to mention much lighter. Though it was if simple design, he felt it very well balanced. He walked over to the fighting area and prepared a defensive stance.

He expected the pony to fight on three legs, but surprisingly, the pony managed to get on his two hind legs easily. Golden Flame smiled at Davis' expression.

Davis waited an attack, which was not a long wait. Golden Flame tried to cut him sideways, but Davis managed to parry, sending an attack himself, attempting at the head. The Pegasus blocked the attack easily and moved to the side.

Davis tried to think if he knew anything about sword fighting. He knew he had never fought with sword before, which made him clumsy on his attacks and weak on his defense. He evaluated the way Golden Flame attacked, and noticed that when he tried to thrust an attack, he left for a couple of seconds he sides unprotected. He smiled slightly even though the stress he was feeling, and the second Golden Flame threw him a right cut he answered with one himself as he moved out of the way of the Pegasus' attack. The sword was about to hit when, seemingly out of nowhere, the attack was blocked. He looked at Golden Flame and noticed a smirk of amusement. 

He barely had time to block another attack by the yellow Pegasus. He felt that this attack was much more aggressive, which made him wonder if the first attack he had reviewed where but a game to the pony officer. He pushed Golden Flame's sword and sliced the air, for Golden Flame had moved out of the way.

He was starting to get tired on the arms, which made him realize that he couldn't last much longer and that he needed to end this. Just as Golden Flame attacked and he blocked, he thrusted the sword forward and towards his opponent's belly. He was feeling that he was going to win, but a fast and strong party from the pony officer and his own mistake of placing more force in the thrust than on holding the sword made it a quick end. Soon Davis found himself with the tip of a sword inches from his throat.

The officer smiled and pulled back his sword. "Commander," he said, making a short bow.

Davis looked at Ace.

In a matter of seconds, the ponies around where cheering. That's when Davis noticed that the crows around them was bigger than when they had started. Privates and officers alike were cheering and clapping... stomping on the floor.

"Wow Davis, I never expected you to last that much," Ace said, patting his back. Said looked at him.

"Why, he defeated me easily."

Ace shook his head. "I have fought with him once. Apparently all the generals and commanding officers have, it's like something he likes to do."

Davis nodded. Golden Flame looked at them. He was around his unit. All the cheering directed to him. He looked around. "Alright, go back to your duties. My unit, keep on with the exercises."

Everypony began to disperse, and soon everything seemed back to normal. Golden Flame approached the two.

"General, Commander. Perhaps we should do this more often."

Davis chuckled. "I doubt that it'd ever be fair."

The Pegasus smiled. "I don't think so, I ended up needing to push more my strength. I almost never need to do that."

"I've never fought with a sword." Davis said. Both Ace and Golden Flame looked surprised.

"You haven't?" Ace asked. Davis shook his head. 

"Mmm... Perhaps that can be arranged. It won't do any good if you can’t  fight with a sword."

"Maybe, but I have this," he said, lifting his gun.

"How good is that in close quarters?" golden Flame said. "No, a sword is much better in this cases. If you want I can teach you."

Davis thought for a moment. It wasn't something he had thought before, but knowing how to fight with a sword seemed like a good idea. He nodded.

"Okay, I accept your offer."

Golden Flame smiled. "Good, it's gonna need to be at night though, since I have my unit to take care of." Davis nodded. "I'll be leaving you now, I have to return to the training. See you later." The Pegasus saluted and walked off towards his ponies.

"Interesting guy," Davis said. Ace nodded.

"Yes. You said you wanted to see the smith?"

Davis nodded. "Yes."

"Alright, follow me. I'm afraid it'll be a long walk, since it's on the other side of the camp." The General began walking.

Davis looked once more to the training gourds before following the general...