Night and Day

by BlueLgihtening

Chapter 7: A Different Kind of Warfare

I shook my head, causing my short hair to fly about my head. I sighed, looking down at the journal sitting in front of me on my bunk. It had been nearly two months since Basic Training had started. The first two months had been all physical training and drilling to perfection, it had been horrible, except for some moments, like learning how to navigate the obstacle course or field first aid.

The pink-haired girl, Fluttershy, had been struggling throughout the first month, her scores and performance just barely passing. She had her moments, though. She was an excellent field medic and actually pretty good at non-weapon combat, which definitely surprised everyone.

The purple-haired woman, Rarity, who was usually what I would describe as prissy, turned out to be really, really good at hand-to-hand combat. She picked up each technique flawlessly, and applied each with deadly accuracy and force. She complained a lot in the first week, but the Sergeant soon fixed that with a hilariously strange punishment; She was ordered to find every rock in the fort and place them in a pile in the middle of the field, after which she was commanded to do fifty push-ups in the rocks and dirt yelling "here comes Tom" after each push-up.

Rainbow was the master of everything athletic, she was the polar opposite of Twilight. Despite her amazing performance in the physical part of things, she was severely lacking in respect and attention to detail. She was constantly in trouble with the Drill Sergeants, accepting each and every punishment, creative or otherwise. Though besides this, she was one of the highest ranking on the scoreboard that we kept in the Dining hall.

Twilight wasn't that strong, her performance was mostly average. But, she also happened to be the best at paying attention to every tiny detail. Her bunk area was always spotless, making her a favorite of the Sergeant, a favorite for punishment, that is. During week three, Twilight had forgotten about a small red string stuck to her grey uniform shirt. The Sergeant had noticed this during inspections and commanded her to name the string Mr. Snake and that it would be her duty to guard it at night, yelling "who goes there? Mr. Snake is mine" at every person that passed. No one slept that night, either awoken by her yelling or the sheer amount of laughter in the barracks as every Private stood in a line to pass her.

Pinkie Pie was a genius and was actually pretty good at everything. She had great talent, especially in attention to detail and clearing the obstacle course. If there was one thing she struggled with, it was conduct. The Sergeants got irritated with her high pitched and hyper way of speaking, so they locked her in the supply closet with a clock and some helium. Whenever anyone opened the door, she was required to say that person's full name and rank and tell them the time, all while sucking on a helium balloon. After an hour, though, she passed out from lack of oxygen and we all had to put her in a chair and pour water on her until she woke up.

Applejack was the average one, she was pretty decent at everything, including attention to detail and conduct. The one thing she lacked, though, was agility. The obstacle course always took her more time than with anyone else. Despite this, she never received any punishment beyond being ordered to do a couple push-ups, sit-ups, or running.

Sergeant Sea Foam was by far the scariest and most creative Drill Sergeant in the entire barracks, my own punishments falling into the category of too many pushups to count and cleaning the entire Barracks with a toothbrush. She always managed to keep a scowl on her face, even when she handed out strange punishments. Although we had yet to make her laugh, it was always funny when she started yelling the most insulting and creative words to ever grace my ears.

Then there was me, and boy did I struggle, though not in the way you'd think. I was okay when it came to physical training and the obstacle course.I was okay at attention to detail and conduct, I was okay at hand-to-hand and field first aid. I had yet to stand out in pretty much anything. I was just okay and it was driving me insane, Mom told me to be great, do something great. She trusted that I could do something amazing, and I felt like I was letting her down by just being okay.

When I had a break, I discussed my issue with Grasshopper. He just replied that I should keep my head low and get out of here, then do something amazing. He was right, as much as I hated to admit it, the Elements were constantly singled out, especially Twilight, for being great and 'special'.

Sighing, I closed my journal and placed it back under the bunk. I stood up and stretched, turning to the white-haired man, Lead Hooves. We had become good friends over the past two months, his sense of humor balanced with wisdom was calming in the chaotic cycle of everyday life. He was a few years older than me, being drafted at the ripe old age of twenty.

He smiled as I sat down next to him on the floor,"Hey, Fire, how's yer day goin?"

His accent made me grin, reminding me of when Mom took us down near Bayston a few years ago," Not bad, especially now that Phase two is over."

His purple eyes lit up,"I know, 't's great, finally gonna learn howta shoot our guns and slash wit the fancy swords."

"I didn't even know that guns existed until I got here, I wonder why the other guards back home don't have them."

"T'as somethin' to do wit them being imported from Saddle 'Rabia," Lead replied, tapping his restless fingers against the ground, "an the fact that the Army didn't need em til we got in this whole mess wit Gryphus."

"Really, Saddle Arabia is more advanced than the biggest empire on the continent?"

"Acctually, Gryphus is tha biggest 'mpire, didn't ya here? They conquered half o' Colthage a few months back, they're usin their guns and the whole nine yards o fancy military tech," he replied, his hands moving around expressively as he spoke.

“They conquered Colthage? What kind of military are we facing?” I asked, my eyes widening.

“One o’ the biggest and greatest unconventional militaries the world had ever seen,”Lead replied, his purple eyes looking at the ground in front of him.

“Unconventional?”

“They were int’ usin guerrilla warfare and insurgency durin their invasion o Colthage, hear it was 100,000 Gryphus soldiers that overtook the 500,000 Colthage sodliers. ,” He replied,” I hear Sarge talking to Captain Cobalt the other day bout trainin us to fight like the Gryfos as ‘pposed to fightin like we’re “used to”.”

“When are they planning to do this? We only have two months left then we are gonna be stationed somewhere,” I replied unsurely, rubbing my hands together,” And we’ve already been learning traditional warfare.”

“The Sarge said they’ll whip us int’ fightin shape by the end o week sixteen, they’re planin on this phase o trainin to teach us.”

“So, we’re starting tomorrow?”

“Think so, Fire. lights out is gonna be called soon, might want to go an get to sleep fore Sarge starts yellin ‘gain,” He replied, standing up and offering me a hand.

I hopped up next to him and glanced around, he was right, it was almost time for lights out. Climbing into my bunk, I set my head on the pillow and drifted into a fitful sleep.

-----------

We marched silently in the early morning light, heading for the rock outcroppings a few miles south of the base. The cool fall air caused me to shiver, it was nearly time for winter. The ocean roared beneath us, the waves colored satin as the sunrise spilled out over the horizon. We had been marched for nearly three hours, mostly along the coast, as we headed towards the combat training grounds.

My duffel bag felt heavy across my shoulders. The Sergeant had woken us in the early hours of the morning, telling us to grab everything of value and leave behind our fake weapons. We soon discovered we were leaving behind the base and were going to be living in a camp of tents between the coast and mountains near Baltimare for our combat training.

The brittle leaves that had fallen from the auburn trees cracked under the leather of my shoes. The sound of the waves combined with the smell of fresh salt air only served to calm my frayed nerves a bit. I breathed in through my nose heavily, letting out the air through my mouth as I looked up ahead.

There were about twenty soldiers in front of me,all marching with their duffel bags over their backs. The officers were sitting on the backs of horses, their guns slung over their shoulders and swords sheathed. I could clearly spot all of my friends, family, and some of the Elements.

I was near the back of the Platoon, I knew that much, I was in the twentieth row, third row in the middle. Two soldiers marched on each side of me, the Sergeant marching right behind us on her horse. The Standard was in the hands of my Dad, Captain Cobalt, as he rode in front on his horse. The falcon looked angrily on, its worn gold eyes watching the crowd, its flared silver and steel wings snapped out on its sides. Its ebony talons grasped at the air, its tail attached firmly to the top of the flat wood and steel of its perch. It drew my eyes, it looked dead, worn, like its seen too much, but it attracted me, I wanted to see it closer.

My eyes snapped forward, focusing on the air in front of me as we approached a crest in the hill. The camp laid out in front of us, the grey of the tents standing out against the green and oranges of the clearing below. There were a lot of tents, so many, in fact that I was pretty sure that there was a least three other Platoons in the camp.

On one side of the camp sat a large range, the grass cut short and targets at various distances set up. On the other side sat the ocean, small boats lined up on the beach. I could spot small shadows flickering through the outcroppings, the distant sound of a Drill Sergeant could be heard as he instructed his soldiers. Soldiers marched throughout the camp, some sitting in front of tents cleaning their weapons or warming up near a fire. Their shirts were were either brown or black, the brown-shirted soldiers appearing to have the most freedom around camp. I could even spot some of them coming back from the direction of Baltimare, carrying food and alcohol with them.

I smiled half-heartedly as we marched into camp, we had just one more month, then specialized training for the last month. One month to figure out my talent, then one more month to master it, I was officially dead.

“Get out your tents and set up camp!” Yelled Sergeant Sea Foam as we arrived.

me and the other four soldiers in my line split off, found an empty area, and set up a tent in the middle of it. Unrolling my bedroll after I retrieved it from my duffel bag, I set it to one side of the tent. The other soldiers in my tent followed my lead, the badge on my shirt signaling me a squad leader. Lead, Solar Flare, and Ice Charmer were all in my group. It was comforting knowing I would be spending a good amount of my free time around the people I knew.

“Okay, after you guys set up your stuff, go outside and stand attention in front of the tent,” I said as I set my duffel bag at the end of my bunk like a chest,” Wait until Sarge explains what we’ll be doing.”

Everyone nodded as they set their stuff out, Solar Flare pulling a divider out of her duffel bag and setting it at the far end of the tent. She turned and noticed my questioning expression.

“What? It’s a mixed gender tent and I got this from the Sarge, just thought I’d put it to good use,” She said with a shrug, her blonde hair cut short and shaved on the sides in a flat mohawk.

The Bat Aeros turned and walked out of the tent, slowly followed by everyone else, including me. Captain Cobalt was back on the ground, striding up and down the lines of soldiers, observing each of us for any mistakes in our uniforms. Once he was satisfied, he stood in the middle of the lines of soldiers and looked around.

“Good morning soldiers, hope you had a pleasant hike. I bet you are wondering why, exactly, we left the fort to come here.” He said as he waved his hand, signaling us an ‘at ease’ as he continued addressing us,” We are here for Combat and specialty training, simply put.”

“But, as you can probably tell, we are training differently from our older military, we are teaching you all unconventional warfare tactics. You see, Gryphus has already managed to claim some of the land up north, near the Crystal Empire. They are using sheer numbers to overpower us, which they have managed to do efficiently in the past few months.”

He paused, causing all of us to stare wide-eyed at him while he observed us.

“Their current military is somewhere around three million, Which means we have the smaller army, but this could also work to our advantage.”

I swallowed nervously.

“We will be learning insurgency, sabotage, unconventional warfare, and sky-to-sea tactics over the next month. After this month, you will be split off into different teams for specialized training, then graduation and stationing. Okay, now go on!” he ended his speech, a chorus of whoops sounding from the soldiers as he left for the middle tent.

Sea Foam walked down the middle of our Battalion, glaring at everyone with her white eyes,” You buckers will put on your new shirts and report to my tent at Eight Hundred sharp!”

And with that she walked away, leaving it up to the lower ranking officers to hand out the new shirts. The officers walked through the lines of soldiers, handing each soldier in our Platoon a black shirt. I looked on after them, turning back to my squad as they disappeared from view.

“I think we should probably go and put these shirts on,” I said walking back in the tent and taking off my shirt, switching out of my grey shirt and into the new black shirt.

I heard Ice make a noise somewhere between shock and confusion,”We have a divider!”

I turned around and glared at the Uni, his shirt halfway over his blue-white hair,” We can use the divider for changing all of our clothes, it doesn't matter otherwise. I mean, we are all stuck in the same tent.”

He grumbled as Lead laughed, slapping the smaller man on the shoulder as he walked past him. Everyone was soon changed and we all walked down the pathway to Sergeant’s tent. All hundred soldiers positioned outside the tent, Sea Foam yelled at us to stand attention while she verbally read the schedule.

“Okay, Soldiers, repeat everything I just said!” She bellowed, a fumbled list of our schedule pouring out from the soldiers.

She glared at a soldier standing near her,” What was that, Private Dawn?”

“Um, Food, Swords fighting, Insurgency Tactics, Navigation, Battlefield First aid, Food, and uh....um..”

“Stop mumbling, come here.” Sarge commanded sharply, causing Dawn Feather to salute and run up directly in front of the woman.

“Did you forget the schedule?”

“Yes, Ma’am!”

“Were you distracted?”
“Yes Ma’am!”

“Why? Were you staring at Raven Flight’s flabby ass again?” The Sergeant yelled, looking down at the terrified brown-haired girl.

“No Excuse, Ma’am!” Dawn yelled, her face red like a tomato.

“Well, then, you will follow Private Raven, if anyone asks, tell them you were mesmerized by his ass, understood!?” Sergeant Sea yelled, more than a few stifled laughs rippling through the crowd of soldiers.

“Miss Princess, would you care to repeat the schedule,” Sarge said sarcastically, singling out the Teraruni once again.

“Yes Ma’am,” Twilight said with a salute,” Physical Training, Clean up, Food, Swords fighting, Insurgency Tactics, Navigation, Food, Battlefield First aid, Marksmanship, Boat Drills, Advanced Hand-to-Hand Combat, Food, Drill Instruction, Free Time, Bed.”

Sea Foam nodded, someone in the back of the crowd coughed loudly, slipping in neat freak between the coughs. Sarge shot a glare at the crowd, then proceeded to turn away and walk back to her tent,” Dismissed! you group on the left; follow the schedule forwards! Right: Backwards! Start at Food, end at Food!”

The crowd dispersed, heading towards the long tent at one end of the encampment.

I sighed, This was going to be a long day.

--------

"Here."

The sheath landed in my hands, causing me to stagger slightly. The sword felt heavy, the smooth leather of the grip polished and new. I glanced up at the officer in front of me, bowing my head as I stepped back. Nodding, the officer moved on to the next soldier, handing them a sword as well.

I breathed out heavily as I glanced around. The sand of the arena was surprisingly solid beneath my feet. Dummies lined one side, a giant red circle sat in the middle of the arena. I felt Rainbow Dash shift next to me, the soft hiss of steel against leather sounding through the cool air.

Turning to look at the other Aeros, I noticed she had unsheathed her sword. The polished steel glowed in the sun, the sword plain yet elegant. She smiled slightly as she resheathed it, looking back up at the instructor as he walked into the middle of the arena.

The dark-skinned Terra looked at us calmly, his brown eyes gleaming as he observed his newest students.

“Good morning, recruits,” A small voice floated through the air.

One double-take later, I realized the voice had come from our instructor. Unsure how to respond, our squad shuffled their feet nervously. The swordsman gave a short laugh as he waited.

“I am your swords instructor, Silver Blade, and no, my job is not to yell at you. But that doesn’t mean I don’t expect respect and discipline from all of you,” He said, his voice deep but quiet.

We all nodded, waiting for him to give the lesson.

He sighed,” You can talk, you know, just don’t speak while I’m talking.”

The squad relaxed, a chorus of ‘yes sir’ s sounding from our group.

Silver drew his sword from his sheath, swinging it calmly around him, almost like it was a part of him,” So, any volunteers?”

Rainbow Dash’s hand shot up like a rocket.

------------

One sword lesson, black eye, and multiple clumsy swings of the weapon later, my squad was following me to our next lesson. I rubbed my eye, trying to get the stinging to go away. Solar Flare snorted at my antics, tapping on my shoulder to catch my attention.

“You know, you should probably go and have the medics take a look at your eye. I mean, you were hit in the eye with a sword hilt,” She said, pointing to the infirmary on the other side of camp.

“I’d rather not explain that it was my sword hilt.” As it turned out, I was pretty horrible at sword fighting.

“Your loss,” she replied with a shrug.

We walked up into the outcroppings above camp, looking around for our insurgency instructor. As we passed a huge rock, a loud explosion sounded to our right. I hit the ground, my ears ringing as I laid in the dirt.

A man was crazy red hair walked out of the rubble,”Good mornin’, soldiers!”

We shakily rose to our feet, standing attention as the man, Lieutenant Potshot, laughed.

“Ah, ya shoulda seen the look on yer guys’ faces,” He chuckled,” Hope the charge woke yall on up a bit, you guys ‘re marchin ‘roud like abuncha zombies.”

We chuckled nervously as the tall man stood up to his full height, a gleam in his green eyes. He was our Drill Sergeant for half of our stay at Fort Landbridge, so it was fair to say he made our group of fifty nervous.

Looking past Potshot, I took notice of our surroundings. We were on the edge of a forest, the clearing we were standing in covered in long grass. Rocky outcroppings were behind us, falling off into a cliff-face above the camp. A lone pathway led up the face of the cliff, running into the camp below.

“So, ya guys ‘re all here ta take some insurgency?”

We nodded, Potshot smirking.

“I’m hopin we’ll get ta use these here tactics when we head North, go an’ take back the Crystal Empire an’ all that jazz.”

They took over the Crystal Empire? I thought as Twilight tensed next to me.

“An’ with that, yall go over ta the forest and try ta find yer gear!” He said, clapping his hands together as we took off towards the forest,” Whoever gets theirs last hasta be cleanup!”

-----------

The ringing in my ears was barely fading as we walked to the firing range. The Insurgency had been fun, except for the fact that when we learned how to use the charges and mines, we weren’t given earplugs. Navigation had been interesting, the sun, stars, and compass teaching us how to get to where we were going. Battlefield First Aid was actually more advanced and a hell of a lot harder to learn, but still pretty intense all at once. In the end, I still had yet to find something I was really good at.

Lightning Hoof had finally appeared in my group after lunch, his presence was comforting, knowing that he had my back if I messed this up. The instructor told us all to line up as she observed each of us.

Her eyes peered directly into mine, making me uncomfortable as she studied me. Her grey eyes alit with some type of understanding as she continued down the line, doing the same thing to each soldier.

Once she was finished she walked calmly in front of the group,” Good afternoon, soldiers. My name is Corporal Deadeye, I will be your weapons instructor for the next month, or two if you decide to go into the advanced course.”

We all stood on, nodding our heads as she continued to speak.
“Now, with the introductions out of the way; Private Fire Flight, Private Fluttershy, step forward.”

I jumped, looking at Deadeye in confusion,” Um, I don’t know-”

“I don’t expect you to talk, Private, I expect you to shoot.”

I shut my mouth,” Yes ma’am.”

Stepping forward hesitantly, I looked to my left at Fluttershy. She looked terrified, her blue eyes wide and her arms held close to her. She never really stood out to me, but now I realized why, she didn’t want to be put on the spot. Deadeye nodded as she handed me a pistol, the iron and wood feeling somehow familiar to me. Glancing over at Fluttershy again, I raised an eyebrow as the instructor handed her a sharpshooting rifle; at least, that is what I assumed it was, considering I’ve seen the tower guards at Fort Landbridge carrying them around.

Deadeye stood back and looked at both of us,” Guns either up in the air or downrange, I don't need either of you accidentally killing someone. Good, now, you see the button right above the trigger? That is the safety, we take those off of the weapons on the battlefield, but we will use them here. Red is dead, black is live.”

we nodded as we approached the shooting line. I looked down at the pistol in my hands as we stood on the line, waiting for further instruction.

I swear, if this thing somehow manages to shoot me.......

“Fire Flight, hold up the gun up.” Deadeye commanded, causing me to snap my arms up with the revolver pointed downrange.

“No, I need you to hold it with both hands, Dominant had on the grip- good, feet shoulder-width apart, lean forward, put your left foot forward a step. Don’t hold it so loosely, that could get you killed. Lean forward more. Raise the gun up, aim at that target over there, and shoot.”

I brought the gun up, looking down the range at my target. Lining up the sights, I pressed the safety off and put my finger on the trigger.

Bang!

I flinched, my ears ringing as I lowered the pistol to look downrange. The hole was right on the shoulder of the target, I heard someone snort behind me.

“Ah, she ain’t even that good!” Someone yelled, causing Deadeye to glance up from where she was helping Fluttershy.

Blocking out Deadeye’s response, I brought my gun back up again. Looking down the sights, I pulled the trigger.

Bang!

a little to the left.

Bang!

up, aim for the head.

Gotcha.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

I lowered the gun and turned back on the safety. Looking back up, I smirked as I saw the five holes; one in the shoulder, one in the heart, and three in the neck and head.

Maybe I’m not so bad at this after all.

I stepped back from the line as Fluttershy raised her gun, a surprising grace in her movement. Everything was silent as Fluttershy turned off the safety and aimed.

some smartass finally spoke up after a few minutes,” It’s just a target, shoot it alrea-”

Five shots, all clustered around the head and chest. We gawked at Fluttershy as she lowered the gun and turned back on the safety, handing it back to Deadeye.

“Eep!” She squeaked as she saw everyone staring at her,”I-I’m s-sorry.”

“What the buck, Flutters, I didn’t know you could shoot!” Rainbow Dash said as she went up and patted Fluttershy on the back, taking her back to the line.

“Me neither.” I heard the pink-haired girl whisper as she walked with Rainbow.

----------

I walked back in my tent, collapsing on the bedroll as I groaned.

“Buck the universe,” I said as I rubbed my eye, the stinging acting back up.

“I don’t know what you’re complaining about, you are one hell of a shot,” I snorted as Solar Flare sat down across from me.

“Nah, I’m not that good, that award goes to Fluttershy.”

“It’s always the quiet ones,” Ice Charmer muttered, causing Lead to hit him on the back of the head,” Hey, no innuendo intended!”

Lead laughed,” Ha, sure, mister smoothtalker, ain’t my problem Rarity nearly broke yer neck t’day.”

“I don’t mean any of it that way! I was just complimenting her and she tried to kill me! Buck my accidental flirting,” Ice grumbled, sulking as Lead laughed.

“Oh good, I thought ya were tryin to hint to me that ya swinged both ways, if ya know what I mean,” Lead said, causing Solar to laugh loudly and Ice to bury his head in his hands, his pointed ears bright red.

“You guys would make a cute couple,” Solar said with a smirk, causing both Lead and Ice to groan,” You have only known each other for what? Two months? And you guys already fight like an old married couple.”

“Hey, Miss Squad leader, permission to shove a cat in Private Solar Flare’s mouth,” said Ice.

“Ooooo, kinky.”

“Permission denied. Privat Solar, shut up,” I said as I laid on the ground staring up at the ceiling of the tent.

Solar snorted as she went over the her bedroll and curled up under her blanket, “Night, see you bastards tomorrow.”

I sat up and took off my boots and pants, then proceeded to get into my bedroll as well,” I’m gonna get some sleep as well, give you two lovebirds some privacy.”

“Hey! I-I don’t like him! I just accidentally flirt a lot!”

“Aw, shut up, Ice. Their jus’ tryin to piss ya off.”

“Make me!” I heard him yell.

“Just make out already!” I heard Solar Flare yell at the two, both going silent as they glared at the Bat Aeros.

“Everyone shut up! The Sarge is gonna hear us! I’d rather not have to face her in my underwear,” I huffed causing everyone to look at me and surprisingly shut up.
I sighed and stood up, blowing out the lantern in the middle of the tent. Walking back over to my bedroll, I laid down under the fleece blanket.

“Good night,” I said shortly as I fell asleep, ignoring the annoyed groans as everyone else went to sleep.