//------------------------------// // Chapter XLIX: Field // Story: Astral Aegis // by Silvak //------------------------------// After the meeting with Celestia, timed passed by, as usual, which is to say that I kept dropping any new scenario on my recruits I could come up with. I wanted to work them up to the level of being able to go into the Everfree, until I got news that recently it seems that the part of Everfree nearest to Ponyville seemed to be getting safer. That threw my plans off for a bit; I guess I have to send someone deeper into the forest to determine what parts of it have become safer. Either the Everfree is less of an option, or my recruits will dislike their future expeditions there more than previous expectations. Weeks pass once more, though there was a bit more of excitement during them, in a sense. I got whiff of Big Mac trying to dress as a mare, which I found hilarious since the odds of him fooling anybody were nonexistent. If only I didn't had to put the recruits though a new, harder dodging exercise, composed of them trying not to get hit while I fired like a maniac at them. They were finally getting used to the rock dodging, so I had to step it up. Anyways, shortly after that, I was suddenly invited to the Crusaders' cute-ceañera. Even I was surprised that they actually got their Cutie Marks all at the same time, and that they're alike. I was even more shocked when I found out that Diamond Tiara had become their friend. She even came to me and apologized for bullying me—not the term I would have used, though I learned from the Crusaders that Diamond acted the way she did due to her mother's expectations. With all things considered, I couldn't really keep up my private feud with Diamond anymore, so I guess I'll just hold my grudge with the source itself, instead. Moving on, I was really happy that my friends finally found their callings, along with the fact that it meant they wouldn't be trying anymore insane ideas anymore. Until they said that they are going to be Crusaders forever and help other ponies find their Cutie Marks or figure out what their Cutie Mark truly means to them. I shudder to think of the horrors other ponies will face when the Crusaders come knocking on their door. The gate project is going along as I expected, which is to say that they actually made a gate, only for it to explode instead. Thankfully, no one got hurt, though it meant that the researchers will probably going to have to go through more trials before they can get a working gate. Meanwhile, Celestia seemed to be trying to get more nations on board with my military operation. She made contact with the zebras and minotaurs, who sent some representatives to gauge whether or not they should join in on the effort. While my meeting with the zebra representative caused me to ponder if they have the same level of bravery as the ponies had, the minotaur ambassador actually made me pause for a moment. The minotaur ambassador was on the big side, but, not only that but was bipedal and had hands. I was about to be impressed about how fit the ambassador was, until he started talking about his kind's experience with battle. While the minotaurs would have served as good shock troops thanks to their size, the ambassador was talking a bit about glory of the battles his kind experienced, specifically the fact that he believe that any aliens would cower at the mere presence of a minotaur warrior. I responded by laughing at his face, much to the horror of Twilight who was there on the basis of friendship between our species. Offended by my laughter, the minotaur declared that he is able to handle anything the aliens could toss at him. I answered back by tasing him. That nearly caused Twilight to faint, but instead the minotaur expressed his surprised that a little thing like my taser could cause him to drop to the ground so easily. I then inform him that if other minotaurs were going to enter any future conflict with aliens with that kind of view that he held, they would be slaughtered with ease. I told him about how the warfare Equus had is considered archaic compared to the kind that interdimensional nations engaged in. Upon learning that strength and sheer toughness had become nearly obsolete in the light of weapons that could tear apart hundreds in mere seconds, the ambassador replied that he now had much to think about and would have to relay this news to his leaders. I was glad that I was able to enlighten him on the matter, until Twilight smacked the back of my head for taking such a blunt maneuver. Shortly after the meetings, I manage to spot Discord for a moment, and I was able to catch his attention in order to give a request. Upon hearing it, he laughed at the idea I had and joyfully granted me my request. After setting up one of the training fields along with sending Luna a request for some pegasi help, I was ready to put my recruits through what may be one of their hardest training exercises to date. "Hello everyone, today, I’ve got a new exercise for you lot!" I said with a smile, only to be met with a universal groan from my recruits. Ignoring it, I continued, "Oh, it's nothing like you expect, and it's rather simple! I have placed three flags in the middle of this field. All you have to do is bring them back to me, simply enough, right?" "When is anything simple with you involved?" Stalwart shouted. "Yeah, your idea of simple is like trying to take a tooth from a hydra!" Windbag joined in, others murmuring in agreement. "Fine, I'll go back to my office and get my guns. I'm sure that a do—" "No!" my recruits shouted in response. "Oh? Am I going to hear any more complaints?" I asked, only to see the group glaring at Stalwart and Windbag to keep their traps shut. "Good. Well, you know what to do, so get moving already." Turning around, they eyes the field, till a few brave souls decided to take the risk and slowly ventured towards the flag. After the first few steps, they get a little bit braver and speed up, until the ground beneath them suddenly exploded, sending the poor sap flying into their sky. This caused the rest just to stare at that, until they turn their heads towards me. "Yeah... I didn't say how hard it would be to get to the flags. But don't worry, the explosions only sends you flying, so no real damage beyond the collision you make with anything you crash into. However, just sent into the sky will be caught by some pegasi. So no one is going to get seriously hurt by this. Now mo—" "How the buck is this even training! This is the most asinine thing you ever came up!" Stalwart yelled, causing me to turn my attention towards him. "This is training, cause we're both simulating a... field filled with explosives—" I started to explain, as I made note to send a list of concepts to the researchers so they can come up with Equestrian names for them, "—or when the enemy is firing explosive rounds at us. This case is likely going to happen if the enemy gotten a strong enough foothold to set up weaponry like this. Hence, you need to learn how to handle such a scenario, even if there is a high chance that you lose many of your comrades in the process. Yes, I know this is dangerous, and probably going to leave a few of you defecating yourselves, but this is absolutely necessary. Not only that, but I think it is high time that I start taking your training up a notch. Having you lot as target practice and running from bees will only do so much. I want to have you all be at your absolute best, ready for anything to happen. Because when you deal with interdimensional aliens, anything can happen." "Now, I know many of you really don’t want to do this, but I suddenly remembered something. I have Silver carrying my gun for me. Silver, would you kindly pass me my gun?" "Very well, though I'm curious on how you manage to get one of the fields set up like that," Silver replied, while pulling my personal gun from his saddlebags before hoofing it to me. "Discord," I simply answered as I took the gun, while the recruits' faces took on a look of horror. The last time time I fired at them, there was a lot of screaming and pain, thanks to a special modification from the researchers that added excessive pain to the stun spell. I always felt that pain was a good learning tool. Literally, in most cases. "Ah, of course," Silver responded as he took a few steps back. "Now, where was I? Oh yeah, I remember now... Everyone get moving now or I'm just going to shoot you all!" I ordered, firing a shot at one of the pegasi that took to the air in fear. "All pegasi, changelings and griffins can't go more than five feet above the ground, unless sent flying by an explosion. Now run already!" Faced between the explosive field and my wrath, they took the lesser evil of the two and ran into the field. In mere moments the field rang out with the sounds of explosions and the screams of the unfortunate ones that triggered one of the magic simulated mines. "Are you certain about this change in the training, madam?" Silver asked as he looked at the troops in concern. "It's not so much a matter of being certain, it's more of possible time constraints. I rather give them a few more months at least, if we knew we had years, but we don't know if we have that. So it is high time I started to give them more intense exercises that help simulate what they could face in war," I answered, while raising a shield onto to have a changeling crash into it. "I see... it is a shame that war from where you originated from have grown into this," Silver commented as he watch the changeling slide off my shield. "Oh, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Wait till we hit the chemical and biological weapon simulations. Good thing we got the researchers looking into means to protect the troops from that kind of stuff. If we're lucky, maybe magical shielding can protect us from that," I replied, before spotting something among the chaos. "Huh, Starlight is actually faring well." "On the mention of her, I see that your interest for her has risen to the point that you taken her under your wing. Mind sharing me your reason for that?" Silver asked, as we watch her raising shields just in time to defend herself from an explosion. The mare's instincts and reaction times were better than most of the recruits based on what I'm seeing so far. "Well, I'm hoping that I can groom her to be my potential replacement in the future," I explained. Cocking an eyebrow, Silver turned his head as he said, "Potential replacement?" "Yeah, cause if Equus does end up in a war during my lifetime, odds are I'll be involved in some way. If that comes to pass, I'm not confident that I'll even survive the war. As much training as I could try to give to these guys, someone is going to have to do the high risk, dirty missions. Missions that I'm most likely be one of the few qualified to do them, given my past experience. So if I do end up dying in battle or something like that, I would like have someone capable of leading these guys in my place." "That's a rather pessimistic view of your future, madam," Silver replied as he eyed me with a cautious look. "Don't give me that look, I'm just trying to be realistic. I'm trying to get Equus ready for anything as best I can. So having someone to replace me would be on that list. Better safe than sorry," I responded, before returning my attentions to my recruits' suffering. "While Equestria have manage to come out of so many things with little harm, that won't hold true when war comes for us. So for now, we have to hope we can be ready for it when the time comes."