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// Journal Entries: Basic 
// Story: Life,Death,and Rebirth 
// by Shadow-Dancer 
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Journal Entries: Basic


Note to any readers: Each entry for each week has been written at the end of the week, all week may not be covered (20 week or 5 months in total)


Week 1: Well I have to admit the first week of basic training has been interesting to say the least we have been doing mostly long distance running and some drills so far. Hell I never expected I would have to go through it again before I enlisted for the Equestrian military. We arrived at our training camp by train, the place is located in some God forsaken desert called the Badlands. During the ride over I talked to some of the ponies and I met a pegasus Mare named Bright Light and an earth pony Stallion named Onyx Bolt. The three of us ended up just sharing stories about why we wanted to join. Onyx said it was because he felt like he had a duty as a citizen to join and the benefits weren’t that bad. Bright Light joined because of a coming to age tradition within her family. 

Once we arrived we were briefed and told about our general worthlessness by Sargent Rising Dawn, an old pegasus stallion with a dull orange coat and his mane and tail orange with red and purple mixed in the tail cut short and mane in a stereotypical “Sarg cut” I had to use many years of discipline and a lot of effort to keep from laughing at the  little fact he had the overall look of a Hollywood Drill Sergeant stereotype and being a pony to make it even more hilarious. 

Week 2: This second week has consisted of more running and drills along with basic weapon combat with spears, swords, and bows. Magic, and flight training was also provided for Unicorns and Pegasi. Bright Light, Onyx Bolt and I have spent time talking when possible but that was usually only during the brief meal times.

Week 3: Not much of a change this week we just did more marching and the like, even if It was a bit harder. Well besides training, I did learn a little more about my new friends, mostly a little about their families, I had to mask my true emotions on the matter. The conversation reminded me about my dead family and friends back on Earth and the little fact that I was literally dead to my living family and friends and could not go back. 

It also reminded me about the journal that my father left behind in Equestria, and that Celestia technically was my mother, biologically at least. I knew that my real mother, the one that raised me, is now in a graveyard on Earth next to the rest of my family. None the less, it still was and is a staggering amount to take in, even after three week to think about it.

Week 7: Four weeks have passed and it is the end of a fifth, so far we have went through a lot of weapons training, sparring, and drills. I have managed to stay in contact with Onyx and Light, I heard that next week we would be put into fire teams and squads for some type of war game that the Drill Sergeant mentioned. Anyways, earlier today I received a letter from Twilight, I have put it below this entry.

Dear Shadow Dancer,

        I really do not know what to put here, I never really send letters to anypony but Princess Celestia and even then they are formal and just reports. Anyways I guess the best way to start is to ask how has your training gone so far? You probably won’t get a chance to respond, but I thought I might as well ask. Well anyway, so far life in Ponyville has been interesting to say the least. A week after you left for basic training there was smoke in the air at the top of the mountain of course, I was in Ponyville at the time and Celestia tasked the girls and I with taking care of the problem. Well the problem was a hibernating dragon, when we went to ask it to move it refused each of us. The entire time Fluttershy was scared and did not attempt to do anything, but after it threw us out she managed to “convince” it to move, much to our surprise, because you see she is afraid of grown dragons. After we returned to Ponyville Fluttershy explained her change of character by saying, “Nopony hurts my friends.” We sent a letter to the princess about the lesson in friendship that Fluttershy learned and went back to our day to day routine. Well, concluding this letter I just want to say that I hope you are doing as well as we are.

Sincerely, Twilight Sparkle 

Copy of my reply

Dear Twilight,

It is nice to hear that you and your friends are okay, although you could tone down the formality. Anyways I have been doing quite well in basic training even if I am doing it for a second time, I still am learning how to take advantage of this forms abilities. I want to also thank you for teaching me some magic, with what you taught me and what I have learned here will serve me nicely in any future conflict.

Your friend, Marcus Vindex AKA Shadow Dancer 

 

Week 8: Well we did have those war games this week much to my own fortune I was put in a fireteam with Onyx, Bright Light, and a pony stallion named Dawn Chaser and we were put in Red Squad, the squad was made up of two, four person (pony) fireteams, and was led by one of the instructors. The objective, capture the opposing team’s flag and bring it back to our side of the field. First squad to capture it and not get eliminated won. The reward, not having to worry about cleaning the latrines for a week, for us this was one hell of an incentive. Well it so happened that we won, even if some luck and my previous experience did play into it.





Week 9: The nightmares are back, I thought them gone since Luna visited me but it seems I was wrong. I could not sleep well this week as my brain twisted my survivor’s guilt and sorrow with my time as a Marine. I heard about it from others and knew that I would not come back home the same person, but before I arrived in Equestria I always thought that I could weather the storm that was PTSD, as if it was some small disease that could be taken care of with force of will. 

This is a further testament to how wrong I was. Without a distraction, with too much time, you can remember with vivid detail every bullet that tore through your enemy’s chest, the life winking out of their eyes, the face of a young man that could have been so much more than another dead body on the street if only the circumstances were different. You don’t just remember, you relive those moments. You feel the hot sun pound on you and the heat of the gun in your hands, you hear the screams of your enemies and allies as they are gunned down around you, you taste the blood and death in the very air. Part of you stays in that war zone, fighting the same conflicts over and over for eternity. 

Week 12: Three weeks since my previous entry and my past still haunts me in my dreams, slowly sapping away at my performance. Onyx Bolt and Bright Light are going through their specialized training that started for all of us two weeks ago. I chose to go through the leadership course, while Bright Light wanted to go through as a medic and Onyx as a heavy weapons specialist. For the specialization trainings we each had to go to that individual training camp for said specializations. 

The training camp I went to was in the Everfree forest. Lead by a grey coated mare with bat like wings, fangs and a dark brown mane and tail dressed in her dress uniform and the army’s sargent emblem on her sholders. It was not till later that first day that I found out that we would be put into units and given tasks to “Help us learn to work as a team and to learn how to lead a team”. The next day we were put  into units, one pers pony was chosen to act as the team leader and then we were given seemingly small tasks to carry out and each week a new leader would be assigned and every two weeks the teams would change. I find the change to be interesting so far and that along with the tasks changing, being everything from scouting the area to destroying a small timberwolf den.






Week 14: One month into the leadership training and at the start of the week our squads changed, the squad leader was a “Prince” Blueblood and I happened to land as second in command. It took me a few minutes to recognize him as the annoying royal prick that I ran into during my second day in the castle and he recognized me as well. During the past week he has made the task of completing our objectives harder, even almost getting all of us killed when he decided to bring his half of the squad to “Play hero” and attack a large timberwolf den that was marked as ‘stay away’ and to make it better we were tired and ready to go back to camp after destroying a small den of them. I and the other half went back to report to the sargent and tell her about Blueblood’s plan, the Sergeant looked rightfully pissed and ordered us to stay in the camp while calling the other trainers to gear up and follow her.

Well they did find Blueblood, but he and one other member of the squad came back severely injured and the other two were in body bags. The Sergeant thanked me for coming to her, told a pegasus to fly a letter to Canterlot telling of the incident and we watched as Blueblood and the other stallion were brought to the infirmary. He was shipped back to Canterlot after three days of recovery.








Week 20: The past six weeks  have flew by and I have not sent or received any letters from Twilight and my Nightmares have come and gone at seemingly random and of different severities I probably should see a shrink at some point assuming I don’t traumatize them if this age has not heard of war as more than unpleasant times in history. I just might have to talk to Celestia or Luna about my nightmares they are bound to be able to understand me better as old as they are. I just am glad that they are not too constant, and that I am so tired by the end of most days that I don’t dream. Anyways I as I write this I am on a train back to the Canterlot Barracks, where I and many others will be briefed on our new posts.