//------------------------------//
// Chapter 16: BCT Day 1 (1/2) 
// Story: The Ultimate Sacrifice 
// by DarkWolf 
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*Note*
Just a quick word before the chapter. If your OC doesn't seem to get much time in the chapter, they will in later chapters. Each will have their 'time to shine' moment and I will try to make it as even as possible. I am trying to keep them as close to their personality you gave me about them. If you find anything that isn't like them, or want to add in more detail about them, mail me. ANYWAYS... here is the chapter!



Chapter 16: BCT Day 1 (1/2)

“What time is it?” Sandman asked Haybrun while they waited near the entrance of the castle. Haybrun pointed a hoof towards the clock on the wall behind them.

“1:53PM. The recruits should be here any minute now.”

“Well, actually, two are already here.” Sandman corrected.

“Ah, White Flash and Storm Breaker. Well, they are going to be the ones leading the recruits up the path to the castle and more than likely end up being the squad leaders, as you said. I didn’t tell them about the plan, however. Are you sure that it is a good idea though?”

“Of course it is! We will be able to see who is courageous and who is cowardly by doing this.” Andrei said proudly.

“Well, none of them know about guns. All of them will probably run or freak out. I consider it a waste of ammo.” Grinch said from behind the group.

“It’s better than tossing a flashbang at them.” Andrei replied.

“Well, of course it is! Toss a flashbang at them and they will probably look straight at the damn thing out of curiosity. Then, add in the possibility of permanently screwing up their vision and hearing and/or having them hurl and lose consciousness. We want to see how they react, not put them out of commission.”

“This is why we decided to do away with the flashbang and go with the gunshots.” Andrei said slowly, antagonizing Grinch.

“Ugh, so what’s the actual plan boss? After we do this here, what’s next?”

“We take them down to the training room and do the IST… well, as close to it as we can that is.”

“Um… IST?” Haybrun asked.

“Initial Strength Test. We will rate all the Pegasi’s wing-power, time all the Unicorn’s on their endurance, and all of the recruits buck-power. After that, we will do the timed run of 1.5 miles. That room is one thousand yards long, and there is one thousand, seven hundred and sixty yards in a mile, so I will just round and say they have to run down to one end, then back, then to the middle…”

“Sounds like one hell of a suicide to me…” Frost thought out loud. 

“Anyway, that’s what I have set up so far. Don’t know if we can do crunches with them though...”

“Yes, you can.” Haybrun said.

“Wait… you can actually do crunches?”

“Yes, it’s not THAT difficult.” He responded. “Why, can you not do them?”

“No, it’s not that. I can do a shit load of them if need be, but HOW do YOU do crunches? You’re a pony!”

“Um, you lie on your back and lift your chest up off the ground until it touches your hind legs?” He said while looking at them strange.

“Show me.” 

“Really? You want me to SHOW you how to do a crunch?” He asked. 

“Yes, I have got to see this myself.”

“Oh what the… ugh, fine.” 

He laid down on his back, and sure enough, he was able to tuck in his hind legs, and do a couple of crunches. It looked almost exactly like how a human would do one.

“Well I’ll be damned. Ok, we will add that one in too. I am just going to take out limits and we will just see how many of them they can do in two minutes.”

“Can you do push-ups?” Frost asked out of curiosity.

“Yes, must I demonstrate that as well?” Haybrun said, starting to get a little annoyed by all the questions.

“No, it’s fine, but if they can, we will add that in as well.”

Out from behind the group, Princess Celestia walked up them.

“I trust you are all ready?” She asked, causing all of them to jump slightly.

“Yes, ma’am. Wait, did you tell her the plan Haybrun?” Sandman asked.

“Yes, she knows. She informed the other guards of it as well so they won’t be out on this side and nothing will get in your way.”

“That is correct. However, I do ask for you to be as careful as possible. I understand your meaning behind it, but it still worries me. Do try to not hit them with those weapons of yours.”

“Don’t worry, ma’am. We are only going to be shooting the ground a couple of times.”

“Hey, that’s the train. They are here.” Haybrun announced to the group.

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“Okay, we are here! Everypony exit one at a time.” A royal guard at the front of the cabin said as everypony got up and formed a line inside. 

There weren’t that many ponies that volunteered for the ESDF. Only ten had been brave enough to step forward out of everypony, plus two royal guards from Canterlot, or so they were informed. None had stepped forward from Hoofington or Las Pegasus. Two had come from Manehatten, a unicorn called Wise Free and a Pegasus named Swift Wind. One had come from Trottingham, another pegasus called Silent Blade. One from Fillydelphia, an Earth Pony by the name of Gallant Force. Three from Ponyville, all of which were Pegasi. Night Arrow, Breeze Chaser, and Dual Ties. Two from Baltimare, another Earth Pony called Black Night and a pegasus named Cloud Sabre. Finally, the last one came from Appleloosa, a unicorn named O’Tipsey. 

Throughout the entire trip, none of them had spoken much to one another. Most just sat by themselves, looking out the window, waiting for the scenery to change. Really, only three of them seemed to have any conversations. Breeze Chaser, Swift Wind, and O’Tipsey all sat near each other the entire trip, talking away with one another, looking as though they had known each other their entire lives.

After everypony was out of the train car, they were met by two new pegasi.

“Hello there, glad to see you all got here safe. If you would please follow us, we will lead you up to the castle where you will meet the Princesses and your trainers.” The one on the left said.

“I am sorry, but who are you?” Dual Ties asked, examining them both closely.

“I am White Flash, and this is Storm Breaker. We are going to be training with you as recruits from Canterlot.”

“So, you are the two royal guards that were selected?” Wise Free asked.

“Yes, we are. Now, if you don’t mind, we have no time to waste. Please follow us.” White Flash said as he turned around with Storm Breaker and began to trot off towards the castle. Slowly, each one of them followed suit and began to go after them. After a couple minute journey, the entranceway to the castle came into sight. As they approached, Dual Ties began to slow down, looking around cautiously.

“Something’s off here…” She whispered to the closest pony, which happened to be Gallant Force.

“What do you mean?” He asked.

“All this way, I haven’t seen a single guard. Everything is really peaceful… almost TOO peaceful.Aren't we in a state of enemrgency or something?”

“You’re being paranoid. We are in the middle of Canterlot. What could possibly happen to us here?”

“I don’t know…” She said. After a couple more steps, she casually slowed down behind the group and flew over the hedge along the pathway and walked on the opposite side, off of the path. No more than ten seconds later, she saw up on the entranceway a figure hiding behind one of the columns. She quickened her pace, passing the group and heading up along the side of the entrance. As she approached, the figure moved out from behind the column, as well as several others behind various pieces of cover, followed by extremely loud and repetitive bangs coming from something they had in their hands. She flew up and rammed the closest one to her, knocking it to the ground. She almost went for the second, hadn’t she been stopped by another pony blocking her path.

“CEASE FIRE!” One of them yelled out, causing the noises to stop, and the rest of the figures to step back and lower whatever was in their hands. She looked out to the courtyard and saw that everypony appeared to be ok, just really frightened.  Most were hiding behind anything they could find, with the exception of Wise Free who had placed a shield around himself, Cloud Sabre, White Flash, and Storm Breaker.

“What are you doing up here?” The pony in front of her asked. She turned to see it was wearing gold armor, used only by the royal guard. It had a couple of medals strapped to the front, suggesting he was a high ranking officer.

“Well, I saw these… things… hiding behind the columns, so I went around to see what they were doing. When I started hearing the noises from those things in their hands, I thought they were trying to attack us, so I went and attacked them.” She responded proudly.

“Did anyone see her come up the side?” One of the strange creatures asked, followed by all of the others shaking their heads no. The one that she had tackled began to slowly get back up.

“Glupyĭ proklyatyĭ poni! Yeblya vybila veter iz menya!” It shouted out, not seeming to be directing it towards anypony around.

“Heh, so much for this plan of yours Andrei. Looks like she managed to smell us out before we even had a chance to do much of anything.” Another one said, followed by laughing from the rest of them.

“What the hay just happened?” Swift Wind called out from down below them as everypony else began to step out of their cover.

“We wanted to see how you all would react when you weren’t expecting anything to happen. Test Number One.”

“Who are you all? Or… better yet, WHAT are you all?” Dual Ties asked, examining them all thoroughly.

“I will explain that to you all.” A voice called out from behind the group. They turned to see Princess Celestia walking out of the castle. Everypony bowed out of respect. After everypony rose, the Princess began to explain. “They are called humans, and they will be your trainers throughout the course of your time in the ESDF. They are highly experienced in the art of warfare and will be of great benefit to you. You are to respect them as you would respect me and listen to everything they tell you. Humans, please tell them your names."

“My name is Sandman. This here is Truck, Grinch, Frost, and Andrei, but you will refer to us all with Sir at the end. Like the Princess said, we are going to be training you so you all can become the best of the best. It will not be easy, as the training we have set up will push you not only physically, but mentally as well. At first, it may seem easy, but I promise you this… it WILL get harder. With that said, if any of you wish to back out, now would be the time.”

Nopony moved. 

“Good. Now, follow us inside and we will lead you to the training facility.”

Everypony quickly followed suit and entered the castle. Dual Ties stayed back for a second and approached the one called Andrei.

“Um, sorry sir. I didn’t know you were here to help us…” She began.

“Okh, Iisus Khristos… It is fine. Now get up with the rest of the recruits!” He shouted back at her.

“Uh, yes sir!” She said as she galloped back towards the others. When she got closer to the group, she walked up next to Gallant Force, and with a sly smile on her face, whispered into his ear.

“Told ya so.”

“… Oh shut up…”

After a couple of minutes, the group entered the training facility. All of the new recruits gave the same expression as the soldiers did when they first entered the room.

“Wow, this place is absolutely GIANT.” O'Tipsey said to nopony in particular.

“Oh really? I didn’t notice…” Gallant Force responded sarcastically. 

“Oh yeah, one more thing. No starting fights with the other recruits, else all of you will pay for it. Same goes for the training. If one of you fails, you all fail with them.” Sandman announced to them.

“Wait… so, if someone screws up, ALL of us get punished? What is the point of that?” Night Arrow asked angrily.
Sandman did nothing but turn around and stare at him expectantly.

“Oh, um… why do we all get punished if one of us screws up, SIR.” He reiterated, putting a good emphasis on the SIR.

“That’s better. Now, to answer your question… it is because it only takes ONE of you to put the entire squad in jeopardy. All of you must work together as one single unit, or else you WILL fail. It is better to learn it here than out on some battlefield where your life is on the line.”

“Hmm… makes sense.” Wise Free mumbled to himself.

“I almost forgot, these are for the recruits.” Princess Celestia said as she walked in the room with a couple of boxes levitating in front of her. She set them down in front of the group of humans at the front. Frost pulled out his knife and opened up the first one, revealing a bunch of vests. Each of them were black with the Equestrian flag stamped on the side. Above the flag in big yellow letters was the letters ESDF. Some had holes in the side for pegasi, but the rest were just normal vests. He did the same with the other two boxes. Each held the same thing.

“Ok, well, how about this…. Haybrun, give me the lists with the names on it.” Sandman said. Haybrun pulled out the list from a saddlebag and handed it to him. “When I call out your name, walk forward and get a vest. Once you get it, stand over next to Grinch and Truck.” 

Sandman cleared his throat before he began. 

“Wise Free.”

Out stepped a unicorn wearing a white scarf around his neck. The same unicorn that had put up the shield in the courtyard.

“Why are you wearing a scarf?” Sandman asked, looking at him strange. The temperature outside was burning hot.

“I don’t know, I just like wearing it, sir.” Wise Free responded.

“Well, take it off. You can’t wear it in here.”

“Wait, why sir?”

“Because I told you so. Take the damn thing off.”

Reluctantly, Wise Free levitated the scarf off of him and set it down near the entrance. Sandman picked up a vest and tossed it to him.

“Next, Breeze Chaser.”

A pegasus walked out from the group, his eyes mostly trained at the ground. Sandman tossed him a vest and he quietly walked off to join Wise Free.

“Next, Gallant Force.”

Out walked an Earth Pony with a serious expression across his face. Sandman looked at him for a bit, for he didn’t seem as big as the other Earth Ponies he had encountered. After a couple of seconds, he gave him a vest and looked back at the list.

“Next, Silent Blade.”

Another pegasus walked out. Sandman studied him for a little bit. He looked really agile and had a neutral expression on his face. Sandman gave him vest and he went off to join to join the others.

“Ok, Swift Wind.”

Out walked what appeared to be a pegasus, but his wings didn’t look right. 

“What is wrong with your wings?” Sandman asked him as he approached.

“It is a birth defect, sir. I was born with bat wings.”

“Can you fly with those?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Ok…” Sandman said as he handed him a vest.

“Next, Dual Ties.”

Out walked yet another pegasus. The same pegasus that had sensed their ambush and planted Andrei in the ground.

“Heh, Andrei, I found your friend from earlier.” Sandman said, causing Andrei to mumble something in Russian and the rest of the group to let out a small laugh. Sandman tossed her a vest.

“Next, Night Arrow.”

A dark colored pegasus slowly walked out from behind all the others and slowly trotted up to the front. Sandman gave him a vest and returned to the list.

“Ok, Black Night.”

Another Earth pony walked out with what seemed like a really pissed off attitude. He approached and stood in front of the humans expectantly. Sandman debated asking him why he looked like he was about to kill someone, but instead just threw him a vest and went back to the list.

“Next, Cloud Sabre.”

Another pegasus walked out from the group and walked up to the humans. He seemed to be smiling a little bit when he did. Sandman gave him a vest and looked back at the list.

“Next, O’Tipsey” Sandman said, looking it over again to make sure he said it right.

Out walked a unicorn with a rather odd smile on his face. He walked up to the group in a less than straight line.

“Are you drunk or something?” Sandman asked, although he already knew the answer to that question. He had seen enough drunks in his life to know what one looked like, even if this one was a pony.

“No, sir.” He said in a heavy Irish accent. Sandman just stared at him.

“Ok, well… maybe a little bit sir.” He said again.

“Well, you better drop it, because it isn’t going to turn out well for you or your squad mates over there if you don’t.”

“Don’t worry, sir. I know a spell that makes me sober again.”

Sandman looked at him for moment before responding. 

“If that is true, then why haven’t you used it yet?”

“Well, it isn’t much fun if you’re sober ALL the time, sir.”

“Well how about you use the damn spell right now and not show up in this room drunk again?”

“Sounds like a plan, sir.” He said as his horn lit up. After a couple of seconds, it faded away and O’Tipsey was standing there like he was a brand new pony.

“See? I’m perfectly fine, sir.”

“Yeah, make sure it stays that way.” Sandman said as he thrust a vest towards him.

“Ok, White Flash and Storm Breaker.” He called out. The two pegasi approached him as he threw them both a vest.

“Well, we got ourselves a rather odd mix of recruits here.” Frost whispered to Sandman.

“You can say that again. Let’s just do the IST. Then we will know what we really have to work with.”

Sandman turned back to the group of ponies. All had their vests on and were quietly talking amongst themselves.

“Ok, listen up!” Sandman shouted out to them, causing all of them to instantly shut up. “You got your gear, so we are moving on to the second part, the Initial Strength Test. I want all the Pegasi to move over to the left, all the Earth Ponies in the middle, and all the Unicorns on the right.”

After a moment of the ponies looking at each other, they started to move into the correct order, but ended up in a jumbled mess, not knowing where to go.

“Jesus… what is the problem? Don’t you know you’re left from your right?” Sandman shouted out at them.

“Sir, whose right? Yours or ours?” Wise Free asked.

“MY right.” Sandman responded angrily. 

“Then this way.” O’Tipsey said, walking to the left.

“No, over here.” Wise Free said from behind him.

“No, it’s over this way!” He reiterated, pointing towards Sandman’s left.

“That is YOUR right. He said HIS right.”

“Oh for the love of God…” Frost said as he was about to walk forward towards them, but was held back by Sandman.

“Don’t help them. I want to see how they handle it on their own.” Sandman whispered to him.

“I can’t find the middle until you find the right.” Black Night said angrily to the two unicorns.

“This is the left.” White Flash announced to the group. “Pegasi over here.”

“No, that is the right!” O’Tipsey said once again.

“Oh for Celestia’s sake!”  Silent Blade yelled out to the group. He walked over to O’Tipsey, grabbed him by the tail, and pulled him over to Wise Free. “RIGHT!” He yelled into his face. He then walked over and pointed at the two Earth Ponies, then down at where he was standing. “MIDDLE!” He shouted out to them. Then he walked back over to where the pegasi were bunched up. “LEFT!” He announced before rejoining them.
Sandman just stood there with the others watching with a less than content expression on his face.

“This is going to be one long ass day…” He mumbled to himself.

“Does your training usually start off this bad in your world?” Haybrun whispered.

“No… not normally, well, at least ours didn’t.”

“They got into order at least.” Frost whispered to the group.

“Yeah, took them long enough, but they don’t seem to work together well.”

“They are lucky I am not running this.” Andrei said to the group. “If they questioned me at all, I would have made their life a living hell.”

“Heh, don’t worry. You will get to spend some time with them. They look as though they need it, because I don’t think they know what they are getting themselves into. How about this, after the IST, you can be in charge of training them in hand to hand combat AND be the one who gives out discipline. Sound good?”

“Hell yes!” Andrei said as he cracked his knuckles.

“Now, let’s try to keep the discipline within reason here? This means not physically beating the shit out of them, ok?”

“Fine.”

Sandman turned back to the group of ponies. They were standing at attention, waiting for their next orders. He did a quick overview of all the ponies. There were eight Pegasi, two Earth Ponies, and two Unicorns.

“Ok, all the Pegasi, come with me and Haybrun. Earth Ponies head over to Andrei and Grinch. Unicorns go with Truck and Frost. Think you can do that without screwing up?” Sandman asked the group of ponies. A couple of mumbles and some indistinct yes sir’s were heard from the group.

“I CAN’T HEAR YOU!” Sandman yelled out to them, causing all of them to jump slightly.

“YES SIR!” A collective shout came back from the group.

“NOW GO!” 

Each group quickly galloped to their designated locations without another word. Frost went and passed out a piece of paper and a pencil to Sandman and Grinch.

“To keep track of the scores they get.”

“Got it. It’s time to really see what these ponies can do.”