"There isn't a single way this plan can go wrong. It's fool proof! I just need some time and command of the team and I can have them whipped into shape in no time!"
"Fine. But your team had better place within the top two Soarin, I'm pulling a few strings here for you, not because I like you, but because if we lose to the night guard for one more year, I'm going to throw you out of a window"
"That's not so bad--"
"I'll be sure to tie your wings up."
"Oh."
Soarin contemplated wether she was bluffing or not. It had taken up a bit of courage to create this presentation to persuade Spitfire, regardless of how well they knew each other off-duty, she still acted as Commanding Officer. Unfortunately for Soarin, Spitfire did have a track record of holding true to her threats. She had to put the fear into her subordinates, sure. But she sometimes did it because she got a kick out of it. Soarin's eyes nervously darted over to the window, where he saw the small crater in the ground from where Spitfire's last threat had "landed". Spitfire caught his ever so slight eye movement.
"If it's any consolation, she at least landed hooves first... I can't say I'll be as generous with you. For both of our sakes Soarin, put the Wonderbolts drill team back on top, and I'll see to getting you one month payed leave... And maybe advancing a promotion. But that's only if you place the team within the top two. Any lower, and it's out the window for you."
Soarin audibly gulped.
"You pushed for command of this team, now you've got it. Don't whine if you don't like my conditions... I know Quick Turn has also been interested in commanding this team too, if you're scared Lieutenant, I'll just give his Department commander a quick call..."
"No ma'am! I will put us on top, so help me Celestia! Just please, for the love of flight, don't put Quick Turn in charge of it... H-he can barely put on his flight suit correctly." Soarin spit out a sudden spur of courage, only regretting defending his position after it had been spoken.
"Then it's set. You've got six weeks, and access to any of the Wonderbolts facilities to practice." Spitfire attempted to hide a sly grin as she signed off on the Order to transfer Soarin into temporary Command of the Team.
'Oh crap oh crap oh crap, that's not good, ABORT ABORT ABORT' Soarin thought to himself, a sudden cold sweat breaking out.
"Unfortunately... All Active Duty Wonderbolts are Deployed or on Assignment... So, You'll be working with the Reservists."
"And?" Soarin tried to keep how relieved he was hidden, maybe a certain multicoloured maned pegasus would sign on, "I know about half of them personally, I already can think up a team--"
"Oh, you don't get to pick your team. That requires at least 5 years of experience on the team as a member, and 2 as Team Commander or Deputy Commander. To which you've got neither. You're not getting cream of the crop here, Oh no no no... You're getting those I choose, most are on disciplinary action."
"Ah buck me..." Soarin mumbled under his breath.
"Maybe another time. You've got your orders... Now get out of my office!!"
Soarin didn't have time to process why he was running to the door, Or his salute at the enterance, all he was thinking of was how hard it was going to hurt when he slammed into the dirt.
"She really assigned you the Drill team?"
"Boy, do I feel bad for you."
Soarin continued to stare at his mug. He had been a Member of the Academy's Drill team back when he was still a Cadet. His team placed within the top three against the other units at the Academy. Sure, it had been a few years since he had done Drill at a competition but it couldn't be that bad... Could it? Soarin looked over to his two friends, Fleetfoot and Firestreak. He had decided to come and drown his sorrows in Cider before shipping out to meet his team. Unfortunately his friends always had his back... Or maybe just wanted to leave him the Tab in the Officers club. He could never tell.
"It can't be that bad Soar', think of it this way... The ground will hurt less if you don't know when it hits you" Fleetfoot commented, Pulling a bandanna in Wonderbolt colours out from a pocket on her Flight suit.
"Hardee har har har." Soarin glared at her.
"Just remember what they did back in the Academy." Firestreak suggested prior to picking up his mug and tilting it back.
"Which is what?"
"Quite frankly, I slept through that class, so I don't remember."
"You're always a lot of help Firestreak..."
Fleetfoot and Firestreak chuckled between themselves. The conversation droned on for a while, Soarin wasn't listening to any of it.
"You alright there Soar'?"
"What? Yeah... Yeah, I'm fine. Just... Thinking." Soarin stared into his empty mug. Reminiscing about the first time he ever saw the Wonderbolts. Not when they were performing, but on a Parade square. The percision, the timing, the discipline. They enchanted him, even at his early age. He followed the Cloudsdale Squadron around while they performed their Drill Sequences. It wasn't until he was a little older that he learned they did much more then marching.
"Well, I guess we'll leave you to it, good luck with that team Soar' if you need any help, call one of us up," Fleetfoot said, paying for some of her drinks.
"Spitfire told me all active duty personnel were either on Deployment or Assignment, how is it that you're not??"
"Heh, I've got more then just one trick for avoiding those duties." Fleetfoot chuckled as she waited for her companion to finish his drink
"Welp, I just do them because Spitfire scares the heck out of me. It encourages me to do them faster." Firestreak said, hammering back his last shot of cider. The duo walked away, and out of the officer's club. As Soarin watched them walk out, he couldn't help but not stop thinking about how all of the other drill teams he had seen were operated. Soarin dug himself deep into thought, only to be disturbed by the bartender.
"Hey, Who's paying for these drinks."
And for the second time within a matter of hours, Soarin was again, screwed over by a trusted friend.
It would've been much easier just to fly over to the Drill team's Armoury, but Soarin needed precious time to study his predecessors methods and practices. Watching short films of their performances and sequences, reading over the Officer's logs and reports. It was quite an undertaking. So much so, he set out a few days in advance to do facility inspections. Besides a part time garrison that occasionally used the Armoury, it commonly sat in disuse. With Spitfire throwing a lot more effort and resources into the team this year, she had all of their kit and equipment transferred and the Armoury refurbished.
She's waaaaaay too serious about this, Soarin thought, looking over to the number of files spitfire had issued him.
Soarin lost count of the amount of films he watched by the time the train pulled into the station, but it was many years of teams then he'd been alive. The reports detailed the former commanders techniques and performances. Typically, from what he read, only the years prior report was read by the new commander. This didn't show the flaws that overlooking decades of reports could show. Typically, when the first team was formed they had a requirement of 30 air-ponies to fill the ranks. However, interest in the team dropped sorely each year, and now, they just needed enough to make a squad of six. Soarin hadn't seen a Personnel report of who he was getting, but was sure it wouldn't be either of the two. He hoped it was closer to the former.
As the train began offloading Ponies, it came to Soarin's attention where exactly he was. The telltale signs of City Hall, a Gingerbread house bakery, and a large orchard gave it away within seconds. Ponyville, as he recalled. Strange that the small town even had a garrison, let alone an Armoury. Considering the new giant Treehouse castle thing, it didn't exactly surprise him that such a building would be constructed if the other existed. He found that the weird Castle thing was quite an engineering feat, but also felt compelled to purchase licensed products.
Shaking off the feeling, Soarin dusted off his Dress uniform and picked up the large amount of Files and his Duffle. The walk to the Armoury was silent, but humble. The ponies greeting him as he passed, welcoming him. When he reached the Guard house, he noticed the lack of on duty guards, and the placement of a very high security fence. Opening up the gate with his keys, he walked down the outdoor parade square, taking in the flags placed around the outside of the asphalt rectangle. The asphalt was incredibly dark, presumably one of Spitfire's new additions. The flags had yet to be raised, confirming Soarin's suspicions of no-pony occupying the armoury within the past few weeks.
Yet he couldn't shake a distant tingling feeling of being watched. Regardless of how calm the surrounding nature was, there was definitely something following him. He quickly hurried into the Armoury. A large 3 Story building with a few guard turrets built into the Architecture. He doubted the effective use of such a Building in an actual siege, but, it did make the Armoury look menacing. The stone brick lead one to believe it wasn't very thick, but Soarin knew better. Behind the walls was layers of concrete and metal. They had tested such construction previously against an arrangement of weapons and creatures. It never faltered.
As he swung open the heavy metal doors, the darkness of the interior overwhelmed him. With some small groping around the wall to find the Light switch, he finally found the control panel. Flicking all of the lights on, the Illuminated Crystals sparked up one by one, showering the interior with light. The first story was reserved for offices. The second appeared to have classrooms and briefing areas. The third story, to his surprise, was non existent. The interior of the Armoury was hollow, the offices and classrooms were all built on the outside of the indoor parade square, with the third story being left open for indoor flight training. The building was massive compared to the outside. He knew there was still two floors of unexplored areas below him. He took in the colours of the building. The outside had been brick red, but the inside was another story. Each level had the Blue and Yellow of the Wonderbolts, with Clouds painted on the incredibly tall ceiling. On one of the walls, the Crest of the Wonderbolts stood proudly.
He went around looking for his temporary office. Finding the door with "Commanding officer" adorned to it, he felt a small bit of pride. He wasn't very far away from being promoted, sure, but it was still unusual to see a Lieutenant of his status in charge of anything. To his surprise, the name "LT SOARIN" was already engraved on a bar of metal attached to the door. Turning the Handle, he felt suddenly overcome with fear. Something was off. Pushing the thought aside, he opened the door.
"SURPRISE!!"
Soarin fell backwards and tripped over his bag, and that's the last thing he remembered.
"Gosh, I'm so so so so so so so so super duper looper sorry, it was totally and accident," Pinkie Pie said, handing him another icepack.
"I've told you a dozen times miss, it's alright... Just don't ever do that again. Like, ever." Soarin hissed at her through the pain. "How'd you even get in here through all the security?"
"Oh, I have a key to every building in Ponyville."
"Fantastic." Soarin mumbled. "How did you manage that?"
"Manage what?" Pinkie asked, now on the opposite side of him without having moved.
"The-the key thing!"
"What? Keys? You mean like those candy ones? Those are my Favourite!" Pinkie said again, now on a different side of Soarin.
"No, Key's for doors..."
"Wait... Doors need keys...?"
Soarin was at a loss for words. How such a pony could talk so much and make no sense was beyond him. It took all of his will power to coax her into leaving the building. Once the Pink menace had left, he worked on setting up the Armoury. He found the Equestrian, Wonderbolt, and Ponyville flags deep in the Supply room in the basement, and raised them that afternoon. He arranged his office, with the required supplies to where it needed to be, and claimed a room in the Barracks to act as his temporary quarters. He had to keep a radio blaring somewhere in the building to scare off the silence that tried to creep in.
After making sure the Armoury was in working conditions, Soarin proceeded to lock down the facility for the evening. As he was locking down the Heavy doors, he received a Letter in a poof of smoke.
General Firefly Armoury,
Ponyville Equestria
Lieutenant Soarin
Wonderbolts
Dear Lt Soarin
I've inclosed the Personnel list for your Drill Team. It has been Approved and Finalized by HQ, and Celestia herself, may I add. You can expect team members to arrive within the next day by Train. They know the destination of the Armoury, and should be able to find it themselves, however, I would recommend meeting with them and walking them to the Armoury prior to getting them settled in. After that, the Team is under your control.
Don't screw this up Soar'. I have faith you'll do your job well.
Good luck, and may Celestia favour your future Endeavours,
From the Desk of Captain Spitfire,
Commander of the Wonderbolts
Soarin sighed, remembering how just a few days ago she had threatened to throw him out a window. Soarin glanced over the team list, browsing through over 16 names, but only one stood out to him.
"Rainbow dash... What in the world have you done to tick off spitfire?" He wondered aloud.
With the moon rising over the horizon, Soarin decided to call it a night. As he turned down the Radio, he noticed just how eerily silent the Armoury got. Hopefully with 16 more Ponies running amuck, the place would sound much more lively. Soarin had a rough idea of how he wanted to run this team -what he was going to do to shape them up in 6 weeks- but he was fearful it wouldn't be enough.
And then he learned just how much he'd gotten himself into.