//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6 
// Story: Defense in Depth 
// by Fon Shaolin 
//------------------------------//

“Why do I need these?” Twilight asked, staring down with a burning sense of hatred at the little brown case her medical examiner had just given her.

If the stallion was intimidated by Twilight’s tone, he didn’t show it. He scribbled a few things onto his clipboard and readied the next case of basic, coke-bottle glasses he was handing out. “You’re myopic. Put them on and move to the next station.”

Twilight wanted to argue, but the next pony in line was already shuffling over. She pulled the ugly glasses out and slipped them over her eyes. To her incredible annoyance, they worked just as well as the old pair of glasses her parents had bought her years ago that she had hidden under her bed the first time someone had laughed at them at school. She caught her ugly reflection in the train window a few paces behind the final processing line and clenched her teeth. The second basic training was over these things were getting thrown out of a window or something.

As ugly as the glasses were, though, they weren’t physically painful – not like the next few processing stations. Twitchy medical students with bad aim stuck her full of more vaccines than Twilight knew existed. It took a lot of patience not to buck the one trainee who had to needle her three times in the flank before she got it right. The one supervising doctor warned her at the end that she could expect some slight sickness on the train ride to Dressage and gave her a foil-wrapped package of pills that were supposed to help. Twilight dutifully downed them with the little cup of water provided and side-stepped to the next station.

Twilight was just one of a hundred ponies making their way onto the train. Most, like her, passed through the final processing stations without issues. Some received bad news from one of the aptitude tests and had to change their jobs at the last minute or were shown the door. When Twilight finally stepped onto the train, thick medical folder, commissioning paperwork, and duffle bag in-horn, the group had dwindled to just seventy or so.

A turquoise mare muscled past Twilight while she was still stowing her luggage. Twilight let out a loud huff, but she received a scoff instead of an apology. “Move it or lose it, Nerdlinger.” To Twilight’s annoyance, the pegasus settled into the row right behind her and immediately kicked up her hooves.

Twilight opened her mouth to say something snappish, but she caught herself and took a deep, calming breath. She was going to be a better pony now. Better ponies didn’t yell at their future sisters-in-arms on the train to basic training for bumping into them. The lingering kernel of annoyance was just a leftover from dealing with Feldspar, Twilight told herself.

“Hey, when is this thing moving? We’re burning daylight here!”

Or maybe the pegasus was just a giant jackass. But that didn’t matter! Better pony now, and all that. Twilight certainly couldn’t drag the mare out of her chair and beat some sense into her; that wasn’t Royal Guard material.

It became increasingly difficult for Twilight to continue telling herself that when the pegasus began kicking the back of her chair.

Fortunately for everyone involved the last of the trainees boarded the train a few moments later. A haggard-looking guard stomped in after the last one and he dispassionately glanced over the spotty crowd of nervous ponies. Everyone stared at him as if they expected him to jump down their throats at any moment, but he seemed more interested in counting their heads than yelling. Twilight recognized his armor – he was wearing the half barding that the military administrators were issued out in the field. One bit of metal on the barrel of the chest, enough to cover both flanks, and the rest was multi-pocketed cloth that was more utilitarian than defensive.

He wearily cleared his throat. For the jittery ponies it could have been a scream for how they all sat up straight. “Okay, so before this train gets rolling I need a visual check of all in-processing documents and medical records. Hold them up so I can see.” Ponies did so, either by magic, wing, or mouth. “Good. Don’t lose anything or else you’ll be getting right back on this train in three hours when it drops you off at Dressage. When you get there, do whatever the cadre say to do. What’s next…right. You all get a boxed lunch in an hour, don’t get too loud, and enjoy your last little bit of freedom. There are instructors on this train, but they usually don’t come back here unless you all make fools of yourself.”

Twilight felt a distinct mix of dread and headiness when the guard’s eyes fell on her. “You, the unicorn in the ROTC uniform. You’re in charge. Keep everyone reasonably quiet and come get me if something comes up. I’ll be in the front car.”

As he walked out, seventy sets of eyes turned on Twilight. She had been part of the ROTC leadership at school, but that was, at most, ten or so ponies at any one time. Now she practically had a small company! She actually had to take a moment and take a deep breath before she forced a crisp smile and stand up.

“So! My name is Twilight Sparkle and apparently I’m in command.” She made sure to puff out her chest a bit, so that her ROTC lieutenant pips stood out. “We have two hours and forty-five minutes from the time this train leaves to get to Fort Dressage, so you can all do what you want until then unless,” she dropped her voice and narrowed her eyes for effect, “you are getting too rowdy. Then I’ll step in. Stay in your seats unless you need to go to the bathroom, don’t start taking down your luggage, and don’t get loud.”

“And what are you going to do if we get ‘rowdy’, General Nerdlinger? Make us walk the plank?”

Twilight clenched her jaw. A few of the more skeptical recruits, who hadn’t looked too enthused at her little directive, now openly laughed. One even clapped. The boisterous pegasus flapped her wings, nearly popping Twilight on the nose, and actually stood up on her bench. She looked out over the gathered ponies with a sharp eye that gauged her support.

Apparently she liked what she saw. “So, someone graduates school with their head buried up someone’s ass far enough that they get a cheap uniform and they think they’re leadership material? That’s a joke. All that guard said was to not get loud. He didn’t say anythingabout not stretching our legs or not getting up to talk to each other. That’s just something this one made up. I don’t think we should listen to her.”

“I was put in charge,” Twilight firmly stated. “It doesn’t matter what you think about it. Sit down, don’t yell, and don’t get up unless you have to.” The pegasus just smirked at her, so Twilight turned to the crowd. “If the cadre see us all getting up and walking around, they’re going to come back here and put a stop to it. We’ll lose last few hours of freedom we get. Is that what you all want?”

“So we put a lookout at the door to tell us when someone is coming. Problem solved.” The pegasus fluttered down off her seat and pushed her way in front of Twilight. “Listen, that guard probably didn’t know it, but I was part of the Junior Wonderbolts in high school. That’s better than some stupid ROTC program. Technically, I should be in charge here, but I didn’t wear my uniform to in-processing like a dork. If we get caught, I’ll smooth it over. Don’t you guys worry.”

Twilight felt the attitude in the train car start to get away from her. She had tried the nice, yet firm, approach, but it was clear it wasn’t working with this lot. Ponies were starting to stand in the aisle and talk in groups and one was even trotting up to the door.

She turned to the source of her trouble. “Sit down,” she hissed. “Last chance.”

The pegasus turned around, looked Twilight square in the eye, snorted, and then said the magic words: “Make me, Nerdlinger.”

Twilight’s horn blazed magenta and the source of her annoyance was deposited back in her seat like a misbehaving child. A few of the bolder trainees raised their voices, but at a glance Twilight sent them back to their seats as well, unicorns that magically resisted or not. After dampening the magic of that uppity magister, Twilight wasn’t cowed by ponies her own age. They, however, seemed quite cowed. One of the more bookish-looking unicorns was staring at her with something uncomfortably close to fear.

This hadn’t been how Twilight had wanted to make her first command impression. She pulled back her magic from all the ponies other than the still-struggling pegasus. “Like it or not, I’m in charge here. Military command isn’t a popularity contest like high school was. If you listen to what I say, I’ll leave all of you alone. If you don’t, I’ll go call for the guards myself and ask them to sit in here with us. Is that understood?”

Grudgingly, ponies nodded. Even the timid ones looked upset at being threatened like that, but Twilight knew she was in the right. Her chances at getting through this training weren’t going to be hampered by anyone else. She looked down at the turquoise pony still squirming and then back at the others. “I’m going to let her up. If she makes a scene, I’ll go to the guards. You’re responsible for her.”

Twilight’s magic let up and the pegasus rocketed to her feet. She didn’t yell or scream, which surprised Twilight, but the look on her face was murderous. She stepped forward and Twilight tensed herself for a fight, but an earth pony surged out of the crowd and put his leg around her neck. Another pegasus took the other side with her wing and covered the pony’s mouth.

"Yes, Ma’am! Understood, Ma’am. We’ll just take Lightning Dust to the back of the train so she can let off some steam and not bother anyone.” The pegasus, a cherry red one with a wagon wheel cutie mark, jerked her head at the earth pony helping her wrangle the irate trainee between them.

With the main agitator gone, the rest of the train settled down into subdued conversation. Twilight was left alone at the front and had an entire row of seats all to herself, but that was fine. She preferred the quiet of personal introspection to chatting with strangers she would only know for two months.

The train lurched as Depot 12 began to roll past. Twilight eased back in her bench and tried to release some of her lingering tension as the clatter of the rails competed with the acceptable murmur behind her.

What was Cadence doing, she wondered. Was her assistant, the one she was ready to throw aside at a moment’s notice if Twilight had accepted her offer, reading out the princess’s itinerary? Did that faceless pony even know how close they had come to being tossed out? Maybe Shining Armor was keeping her company today. That thought lifted Twilight’s spirits. Her brother was a rock.

And Feldspar! What kind of report was that one making right now? Probably telling the High Spire what an ungrateful, spoiled pony he had found. A pebble that refused his polish. What unicorn wouldn’t give half their horn to get into the Magisterium?

She had dreamed of it once, not so long ago that she had forgotten. A little filly had once imagined being whisked away from her boring school, from her boring books, and taken into that life. ‘We know your true worth, Twilight Sparkle. No test is needed.’ It had been one of Twilight’s preferred mental escapes on the worst of days. The Magisterium could take whomever it willed from wherever it willed. It wasn’t completely unheard of for a young pony to step through those ivory doors.  

Twilight sighed, breaking out the breath of a smaller unicorn who had once conjured up daydreams of flowing magister robes and grateful princesses. That unicorn had grown up and gained the ability to read between the lines – Feldspar was not offering her anything great. She was behind the curve, and no amount of raw magical talent could make up for years not spent purely studying magic. Her entire life would go by chasing ponies who had an insurmountable lead on her. At best she would be just another black robe in the crowd. That type of pony wouldn’t stand out.

But the Royal Guard…the Royal Guard didn’t have anyone with her abilities. Even Shining Armor had only cleared the third resistance ring. The Guard didn’t need memorized spells; it needed power and Twilight apparently had that in spades. Instead of rote spell memorization, Twilight had honed her levitation ability. She had learned how to suppress another unicorn’s magic, the basic skill of a unicorn in the Guard. Crowd control, weapons training, physical conditioning – she had learned it all the moment she had decided to go down this path. It brooked no detours. Thinking about what could have been if she had done something else was –

“Ma’am? Ma’am?”

Twilight blinked. A brown-coated unicorn was hesitantly shaking her. She faked a smile as if she hadn’t been staring blankly out at space for however long that pony had been standing there. “Sorry, I must have zoned out. What is it?”

The unicorn pointed at the door. A pair of non-uniformed earth ponies were stacking bricks of cardboard lunch boxes inside the car. Had it already been so long? “So, time for lunch. Have the boxes passed down the row from front to back. No need for everyone to get up and clog up the train car.”

Ponies picked at their dried lettuce and crackers. A few drank their juice boxes. Twilight finished all of her lunchbox and was thankful for it. The train lumbered on, passing forests and rivers as Twilight ate. Gradually, the land became parched and turned to sand. Twilight opened the window and watched a sea of glittering sand of the Palomino Desert burst from the very rocks and plateaus of the plains. Heat hit her face and the horizon in the distance danced. She gave over her thoughts to watching every mile roll by for the next two hours. She doubted she would ever see sights like this again.

Like all good things in Twilight’s life, when she set her attention on it the ride was over in a blink. The desert gave way to an ugly, rocky sort of land that smelled of saltwater and promised horrid humidity. Fort Dressage, a small speck of distant black a few minutes past, now loomed behind the station like a fat toad. Brown buildings, tents, and fencing marred what little pleasantness the landscape might have had.

The doors burst open the second the wheels on the train stopped. A dozen guards, all in matching green cloth uniforms, stormed into the train car. They were screaming at the top of their lungs at any pony that caught their eye. The poor idiots that tried to argue attracted multiple abusers and even Twilight felt completely flustered as she yanked her bag down from the overhead storage bin. Ponies were shoving and pushing to get out of the car as quickly as possible without coming any closer to the angry cadre than they had to. Many, Twilight included, tripped and fell down to the parched wood of the train station as the harried mass behind them poured out.

“I can already tell that this is going to be the worst bunch of recruits I’ve ever seen.” Two guards were standing by the gate leading into Dressage proper. One was in the standard green uniform of the guards still on the train, but the other was in actual barding. The guard in the uniform, even without the armor of the other, was an imposing, barrel-chested earth pony stallion that strongly reminded Twilight of younger, harder Colemane.

He swept his eyes over the ponies still stumbling to get into a line. “You say that every time, Colonel, but we usually end up being surprised. I think you might be right about this group, though. I won’t be taking our usual bet.”

“Good. I feel guilty about taking a poor Sergeant’s bits. Get them into a proper line, Shattershield.”

The big earth pony reared up and jumped into the fray. Cadre and trainees alike tripped over themselves getting out of his way as he stormed through them. “Lines, lines!” he screamed. Ponies worked into a frenzy trying to get where the guard wanted them.

Twilight was scrunched into the middle of the stack. Ponies were pushing on either side of her, knocking her out of attention, so she did the only thing she could – she pushed back. That got her the breathing room she wanted, but also the attention of Sergeant Shattershield.

He stormed up to her breathing like a dragon on a rampage. “You! You think you can just shove your way through your classmates?!” The brim of his campaign hat thwacked Twilight square in the forehead and she could see every little vein in his neck as he glared down at her.

Unlike the kind of rhetorical scoldings Twilight had gotten in ROTC, the sergeant was clearly waiting on some kind of answer. “Ah, well,” she sputtered, eyes rapidly dwindling down to pinpricks. “They weren’t moving fast enough?”

“Oh, Trainee ROTC wants to go fast. Well, I think my little exercise yard can help you out.”

The surrounding cadre only left one way to go and only one speed to go at it. Twilight broke out into a dead gallop, initially surging past the earth ponies and unicorns following her, but they caught up and managed to both run and berate her at the same time, which would have been impressive if Twilight wasn't so terrified. They did one, then two, then three laps before Shattershield waved them off halfway through the fourth lap.

"Still feel like going fast?" he asked when Twilight stumbled over the finish line, chest heaving and shivering from stress. She managed a weak, "No, Sir," and found a place at the edge of the formation. She didn't even have the energy to glare at Lightning Dust when she sent Twilight a smug look.

The armor-wearing colonel stepped up to the line. He didn't look nearly as hostile as Shattershield as he eyed every trainee and only stopped to make adjustments to ponies who had absolutely no idea how to stand at attention.

Twilight struggled to control her breathing as he finally got to her. He looked at her horn, her mane, and then leaned over and took a glance at her cutie mark. "You must be Shining Armor's little sister," he murmured, low enough that only the ponies directly around them could probably hear. "He was a troublemaker, your brother. He got paperwork and extra duties just about every week of training and you look like you're cut from the same cloth. I hope that you had another job offer before you stepped on that train, Rotzee. I have a feeling you're going to be crawling back to it before we're done with you."

Shining Armor! Twilight clenched her teeth and made a metal note to write her brother a letter when she got a chance. Shattershield snorted at her lack of an answer and walked back to the front.

"Well, I see some glimmers of the future once you've all gotten into a proper formation, but also some nails that need to be hammered down." Twilight didn't miss the look the colonel shot her way when he said that. "I trust my training team to turn you ponies into a unified fighting force, proud and capable of carrying on the tradition of the Equestrian Guard."

He turned smartly to the sergeant. "Sergeant Shattershield!"

"Sir!"

"I hereby turn over training of Harass 569. The princess gave us civilians..."

Shattershield snapped to attention and gave a crisp salute. "...and I will give her warriors! Thank you, Sir. My team will not disappoint."

The colonel saluted him back. "It never has. As you will, Sergeant." With that bit of ceremony over, the armored officer and his support staff walked off the field.

All of the cadre watched him leave like vultures waiting on a lion. When the last of his group left the field, they all gave each other smug looks and nasty grins.

Shattershield's smile was worst of all as he looked over the fresh harass. "And now every single one of you are mine for the next eight weeks. And I see a lot of nails that need to be hammered. Let's go see your new digs."

More than half of the ponies made a horrible mistake - they started walking after the sergeant as a disorganized group. Instantly the cadre were on them, yelling and screaming until they all got back into rank and file. They didn't provide direction, though, and Shattershield was still walking. "I don't hear you following me!" he shouted, not looking back. Most of the trainees were growing more and more distressed and a few haltingly started walking again until they were glared back into line by another trainer.

Twilight licked her dry lips. She had an idea of what they were waiting on someone to do, but Twilight didn't know if she should be the one to do it. The colonel had called her a troublemaker, but didn't that mean she should strive to prove him wrong?

She glanced over at one of the other uniformed ROTC cadets. They seemed just as scared and confused as the civilians. Further down the line, Lightning Dust was still at attention and looked like she was trying to keep from laughing at the small circus the formation was becoming.

Twilight pushed down her fear and cleared her throat. "Harass! A-tench-hut!"

Her cry went through the quiet field like a shot. Every cadre head swiveled to her like they were possessed and a few stomped over to her, looming like statues. Silent, but waiting eagerly for her to screw up. Sweat was beginning to slide down the collar of her uniform. 

"Forward, march! Hut-two-three-four, hut-two-three four! Keep your hooves in time with the cadence! Look at the pony to your right out of the corner of your eye and keep pace with them. Hut-two-three-four, hut-two-three-four!"

It was, without a doubt, the worst marching Twilight had ever seen. Ponies in the second and third lines ran into those ahead of them and everyone was out of step, but if you were at a distance and squinting it might have looked like a formation. Maybe. Just the attempt seemed to be enough for the cadre, though. They left Twilight as quickly as they had appeared and set about helping the worst marchers with less-than-stinging corrections as they moved. As she called cadence, Twilight wondered if she ever looked so awkward.

Shattershield led the group through the exercise yard and onto what seemed like the main (dirt) road of the base. Ponies not directly involved in training gave them the right of way with only a few odd looks at their marching. The only time they drew a lot of attention was when Twilight tried to get them to make a coordinated turn around a crossroad. That was predictably a train wreck.

"You ponies are going to just love our accommodations here at Dressage," Shattershield opined. "Finest room and board in the Guard. You want nice beds? We've got nice beds. You want three meals a day? You've got three meals a day. You want personal fitness trainers? We've even got those." He looked over his shoulder. "Personally I think the modern military is a bit too good to you trainees these days. This is practically a vacation."

No one was really in the mood to be quite that gullible again, especially not after the stunt he had pulled at the beginning of the march. A few ponies dared to hope, though.

That hope was ruthlessly gutted like a fish when the sergeant finally motioned for them to halt in front of an empty field. Well, not quite so empty. Twilight spotted a mound of what looked like dirt at first blush, but squinting she could see it was a stack of massive green duffle bags.

Lightning Dust, likely steaming over how she had to march to Twilight's orders, looked from one end of the field to the other. "I don't see anything," she blurted.

"You have to use your imagination, Trainee." He looked up and down the formation, clicking his tongue. "Now, who here seems like they have a great imagination.." His eyes landed on Twilight. "Sparkle! Get up here. On the double! Run, run! Show some expediency! Alright. So, we have here Trainee Rotzee who is going to help with my little demonstration. You all only see an empty field, but Trainee Rotzee sees a five-star hotel. And you know what? She's going to make that imagination a reality."

The big stallion pointed to the mound of duffle bags with his hoof. "You might be asking where your rooms are. Well, that's them. Military-grade surplus campaign tents. Why don't you go grab one for yourself?"

Fortunately, Twilight's eye rolling was hidden by the thick rims of her glasses. She trotted over to the stack of tents and lifted one with her magic.

"Hold! I said to grab a tent, Trainee Rotzee! Not levitate." Shattershield turned to the formation. "This goes for all of you," he said with a glare. "There is no magic or flying at Fort Dressage outside of your specialized training sessions, which will begin in Week 3 - if you make it that long. Until then you do things with your hooves and your teeth."

The pegasi looked heartbroken at not being able to fly for three weeks, but the unicorns in the harass turned ashen. Doing hard physical labor without levitation? It was what made a unicorn a unicorn!

Twilight simply threw the bag onto her back and trotted back at the same pace she'd gone over. The cadre, who had been waiting for a good excuse to jump her, couldn't completely hide their disappointment. Even Shattershield frowned.

"Do you want it back here, Sir, or would you like it in center field?" Twilight asked, careful to keep her voice level.

His eyes narrowed. "Center field."

Twilight caught the strap of the duffle bag in her teeth and tossed her head. The heavy bag sailed through the air like graceful sack of potatoes before landing squarely in the middle of the training area.

If that little display of prowess was supposed to endear her to the the sergeant, it didn't work. He looked at the bag, then at Twilight, and smiled. "Very impressive, Trainee Rotzee. Now - put it together without magic."

Twilight stepped over to the bag and unzipped it. A dozen different pipes and tubes immediately tumbled out, along with a roll of fabric that partially unwound itself like a party streamer across the grass.

"Whoops. Looks like the last bunch of ingrates didn't properly stow their tents! Sorry about that, Trainees. Looks like you'll have to be better Guards than they were."

There were stakes at the bottom of the bag along with a hammer. No instructions, but Twilight went to pulling everything out anyway. She staked down one half of the tent, pulled it tight with her teeth, and staked down the other side. It was small tent, designed for two ponies at the most.

The ease of setup ended with the last stake. The poles that acted as the skeleton had to be bowed to loop over the top of the tent. Without her magic, Twilight struggled with it for a few minutes before she turned to the sergeant. "Sir, I need help with the poles," she said, trying to ignore the way Lightning Dust was smirking at her.

"Congratulations, Trainee Rotzee. It only took you half an hour to finally get that though your skull. These tents are to be set up using the buddy system. Trainee Giggles, get over there. You're going to be her buddy."

Lightning Dust's smirk soured. She flexed her wings to fly over, but a unicorn instructor pushed them back to her sides with his magic. "No flying," she snapped, and Lightning Dust clenched her jaw and walked over to the tent.

She glared at Twilight like it was her fault. "Hold the end of the pole when I push it through the loops," Twilight said. She wanted to get this over just as fast as Lightning Dust did.

"How about you hold the end of the pole and I'll push it through," Lightning Dust snapped. She didn't wait for an answer and began trying to pick the rod up with just her hooves.

"Use your teeth," Twilight snapped right back. "You won't get it with your hooves. You're just --"

Shattershield stomped over to their tent. "Are you two done with your little committee yet? I told you to get this tent up! What part of that didn't you two understand?!"

"Well, Sir, I was just trying to get it done but Twilight wouldn't hold the tent right and--"

The massive earth pony just glared down at Lighting Dust. "Move," he ordered, and the pegasus got out of the way so quick she might as well been flying. He rooted around in the bag and pulled out all the little intricate parts and fasteners that connected the poles to the fabric of the tent. He set about putting them all on, with his mouth, in a matter of minutes. Twilight could barely follow what he was doing it was so swift.

"Stop gawking and grab that damn pole, Sparkle."

Twilight went right to it and bit down on the metal with her teeth. It had a plastic film over it, which made it easy to grip. Shattershield took the other end and bowed the rod with a simple twist of his head and the round dome of the tent popped up. He stomped over to the other crosspiece and they had the entire thing up in less than a minute without breaking any more of a sweat.

"And that," he called out, gesturing to the tent behind him, "is your new home for the next six weeks. These tents are precious government materials, so I expect them to be in the same condition you found them in. If you rip or tear them up, we'll know. And we'll take it out of your hide."

Shattershield looked around at the formation. "What the hell are you all doing standing there like slack-jawed idiots? Get to putting up your damn tents!" Ponies scattered like ants, encouraged by the cadre snapping at their heels.

His head swiveled to Twilight and Lightning Dust. "And you two. I expect two fine future lieutenants like yourselves to take the lead on this. No pony left behind without a tent, do you hear me? I want all of these tents up before lights out tonight at 2000. Get it done or there will be absolute hell to pay."

2000. Eight o'clock. Twilight looked up at the sun and wagered they only had about three hours left, including dinner if they got it. They had close to fifty tents to get up and she could already see ponies having trouble. The cadre were walking around, yelling at the ponies who tried to levitate or fly without thinking. They weren't helping with the tents, though.

"Okay, Lightning Dust, we need to get..." Twilight looked around. Both Shattershield and Lightning Dust were gone, leaving Twilight standing like an idiot by her own tent. She took a deep breath and let it all out in a long sigh. This was going to be a long eight weeks.