//------------------------------// // Chapter XXXI: Change // Story: Astral Aegis // by Silvak //------------------------------// "Move it you slackers! It's just snow!" "Except you're burying us with more of it as we try to go up that crazy snow mound you had made!" Stalwart Jack complained. It's been a couple months and he still whines whenever he can. He should know better. "Fine... I'll stop with the snow," I replied, causing most of the recruits to look up at me in surprise. The smarter ones, though, looked up with dread. "Open Skies, switch to the hail clouds!" I could hear the collective groans as I watched from my perch on a cloud as the small team of pegasi that Cloudsdale was able to lend me along with the clouds for this exercise switch the pelting snow for hail. While I'm not one for flying, sitting on a cloud via my cloud walking spell was fine for me, since it gave me an excellent vantage point to watch the recruits below. The past couple months had caused them to finally shape up, as they were gaining muscle while improving their fighting and survival skills. It won't be long before we start making expeditions to the Everfree Forest. Maybe we can get lucky and encounter a hydra on the first trip. Moving on, I kept being as harsh as possible with the recruits’ training to push their limits, though when I see a pony about to break, I pull them out so they can recover before going back into the exercise. I even let them wear their padded winter clothing, when I was just wearing the scarf that Rarity made for me. I guess my sessions with Luna were achieving results, since I’ve slowly but surely reigning in my temper. That doesn’t mean I don’t still want to buck Celestia in the jaw, though, although that’s improving due to not dealing with her as much. It turned out Luna and I got along so well that I'm going out of my way to process any requests and get news through her now, much to Celestia's annoyance. She and I both favor decisive action, and she agreed with me that we need to develop some large scale weaponry and defenses for Equestria and the world as a whole. I wonder if Luna can partake in the putting a weapons platform in orbit when the researchers finally come up with the means to make one. Eventually, Dusty Skies was the first pony to make it to the top of the hill. That mare really puts in the effort, though since she went through being poor for a time, I guess it gave her an edge in life like it did for me. As to the others, Golden Sword was losing some of his royal demeanor, Dusk Cloud dropped some of his honor idea, and Citrine Lemons was developing a much-needed backbone. Most importantly, every single one of my recruits were getting used to my backbreaking and unorthodox training method, and complaints about how some of my exercises would have any real relevance to their future jobs ended when they heard of some of my past missions. Still, they had a long ways to go as I got down from my cloud with Silver's help so I could lead them to where the next exercise is located after the rest reached the top. "Alright recruits, this next exercise is going to be an important test of everything you’ve been taught  so far." "What, you're going to chuck us into the Everfree?" said a blue coated grey maned male pegasus by the name of Drifting Clouds as he chuckled at his own joke. "Nah, that's next month," I replied, causing some of the recruits to half-heartedly chuckle as they thought I was just going along with the joke. "Why are you lot laughing? I'm serious about that," I said, causing all of them to pale slightly at the thought. It didn't take long for us to reach another snow covered field, where a squad of Royal Guards that was equal in size to my squad, were waiting. They were fully armored compared to the winter clothing my recruits were wearing. "Ummm... madam? Why are there Roy—" Midnight Breeze started to say until I interrupted her by giving the guards their own order. "Royal Guard, attack!" I shouted, causing my squad to scream in shock as the guard charged at them. "Hmm... looks like my training is finally paying off." "I admit, while it is unorthodox, it does have it's effectiveness," Silver commented as he looked at the Royal Guard lying about the ground after being taken out by my recruits. While the guard fought in their archaic style that favors the use of their equipment, formations and teamwork, my recruits fight the way folk should fight if drawn into a brawl: by playing to their advantages, and as well as playing dirty. The pegasi recruits broke the guard formation by crashing into opposing pegasi guard that took to the air, knocking them down into their fellow guard while my unicorns set up shields right in front of the guards' charge. This was done almost immediately after my recruits let out their short scream of surprise at the unexpected battle, my training kicking in as they took initiative before the Royal Guards could reach them. After breaking up the charge, my recruits pressed their advantage with the earth pony and unicorn recruits charging into the front of the enemy, while the pegasi went from behind. Sure, what they did seemed to have no honor, but I drilled into them that chivalry was obsolete in what Equus would face in an interdimensional war for its existence. When facing brutal opponents, you fight as ferociously as possible. This also served to show that the Royal Guard performed as I expected them to, incapable adapt new rules on their own. Looking at my recruits, while they have won, they didn't came out unscathed. Some were using snow as improvised ice packs, while in general everypony was worn out from the previous exercise and the fight itself. Sitting in the snow, I clapped my forehooves together slowly as I said, "Good work everypony. You all did quite well, that maybe we can push the Everfree expedition to next week!" This of course caused my recruits to stare at me in alarm, causing me to add, "Just kidding, I don't want to start losing some of you so soon to the dangers of this career path!" before giving my troops a big smile. Unsurprisingly, all I got was deadpan stares. "I don't think your joke went well madam," Silver commented. "It actually did Silver." "Huh? No pony is laughing?" "I'm laughing. On the inside. At their reaction," I answered, only to have all the stares turn into glares as I kept on smiling. "Come on everypony, it's noon time, so that means we get to meet the next batch of recruits the princesses managed to scour up." This drew their attention away from whatever murderous thoughts they were plotting as Golden asked, "New recruits? Why didn't anypony told us we getting new members?" "Simple: the letter that held this information was addressed to me, and when do I ever give you guys warning?" I answered with a smirk before turning around to head to the town hall. At the town hall, I could only keep one eyebrow raised in surprised as I came out to meet the fresh batch of volunteers the princesses sent my way. I gotten a letter a week before alerting me of this fresh group, which led to me prepping up 'thinning the herd' tests, though I didn't expect this turnout to be over a hundred ponies. With Silver and my recruits behind me, I cleared my throat to get everypony's attention before I started my speech. "Hello everypony, I would like to thank you for signing up to be part of this new military branch devoted to protection not just Equestria, but all of Equus from interdimensional threats," I announced, glad that this time the volunteers were briefed about all the specifics of the job as well as my own nature. Unlike the last time, Celestia told me through her letter that she assigned a pony to debriefed the basics of the role to any volunteers that signed up, which help turned away those that decided that this wasn't the job for them. "Now, I know that some of you are ready to start, in some sense, but first, I have to put you all through a series of tests to determine if you can make the cut. The ponies behind me were part of the first volunteer group. Not many, but the test was made to weed out the undesirables, since they are just half of the original group. So since you all now know a bit of what to expect, if anypony doesn't want to undergo these tests, leave now." Seeing that nopony was going to leave, I gave them a shrug as I said, "Well, don't say I didn't warn you then," before giving a nod to Silver, who brought out a little box. The crowd just gave me a weird look as I pulled out a ball with my magic, though their attention shifted to my recruits who flinched and started to back away from me. "Oh please, the spell on the ball is designed that only newcomers can get hurt, you lot will be fine," I told them, causing them to relax before I launch the ball with all my might. It seemed that my magic had gotten stronger since the ball was thrown even faster than the first time, which was unfortunate for the pony that got hit right between the eyes, knocking him back into the pony behind him. Similar to last time, the ball started zipping around the room, bouncing off walls and ponies. The difference this time is that there was such a large crowd of ponies that there was no practical way for the non-flight ones to avoid the ball with their comrades in the way. This resulted in ponies pushing and shoving as they tried to flee for safety, only to get ponies to shove them back, which ended with the majority of them stuck in the same spot. The ponies with wings tried to take flight, though that didn't save them since the ball was bouncing around too fast for them to be able to avoid. So every so often, a pegasus or thestral got hit hard enough to be knocked out of the air, falling into the crowd below them. "Heh, this is much more entertaining than when you guys had to go through this test," I commented with an evil grin on my face. "I don't see how you find this amusing," Dusk Cloud said as he tried to keep his eyes on the ball. Some of my recruits freaked out when the ball flew by them, though after seeing that our group didn't once got hit by the ball, they started to relax and just watch the scene unfold before them. "Eh, some stuff are funny to some ponies but not to others. Anyway, I bet you guys are wondering why you're here." "Could it be that you intend for us to be some sort of leader to the ponies that pass your test madam?" Golden said, causing me to shift my attention to him for a moment as I cocked an eyebrow at him. "Yeah... you're right on the mark on that there. You guys are probably going to be squad leaders when we get enough ponies, so getting started now at leading them is better than waiting for later. Besides, you can also mentor them and teach them any tricks you may have picked up from our training sessions," I explained before I resumed watching the mayhem before me. As before, some unicorns tried using their magic to catch the ball only to be beaned by it. I kept grinning throughout it all, until suddenly the ball bounced off the side of one unicorn towards the front hard enough that it knocked him out. While I would just let out a chuckle at that sight, instead my grin dropped as the pony was suddenly engulfed by green flames. Before my eyes, I saw the unicorn’s fur burn away to chitin, into an insect-like pony that I recognized to be a changeling.