Chapter 3
Darting from tree to tree, Firefox cast rapid glances in all directions as she made her way towards the top of the mountain. Be swift. Be silent. Don’t just note your surroundings, use them. Take advantage of every resource, utilize every opportunity. Such was the hallmark of a good soldier.
Nobody had expected much from her when she’d first come to the Academy. Almost a porcelain doll in stature and appearance, she looked far too pretty to ever voluntarily enlist. In fact, most assumed her one of the local nobles attending the entrance exams on a lark. By the time she’d sent her third opponent to the medical ward, however, that sort of image was quickly discarded for another, one that came with as many colorful nicknames as feathers on a peacock. Mad Dog. Rabies. The Tawny-Eyed Terror. From that day forth, the Academy rang with hushed whispers of a demonic little warrior, but only when they thought her well out of hearing range.
All according to her carefully laid plans.
They say that a good chess player thinks five steps ahead. Firefox averaged around twenty. What few people realized was that everything Firefox did, from tear people apart in practice to snarling like a caged badger, was all the product of a devilishly cunning mind. Nothing came from the girl without a meticulous series of calm, rational calculations to justify the act. Enlisting? Best way for a girl without two bits to rub together to make her way in the world. Joining the marshals? A few years hard work for credentials she could bank all her life. It wasn’t anything special, it was just business.
In the same way, Firefox had carefully mapped out her time at Academy from day one. She hadn’t really wanted to hurt the other applicants – she had nothing against them after all – but she knew that a strong reputation was a powerful weapon that could both demoralize opponents and deter potential adversaries in her quest for dominance. A few injuries here, some well-placed snarling there, a couple of wild-eyed looks over yonder, and before you knew it, most were too scared of her to even look at her cross-eyed.
Thus freed from the typical jostle of classmate politics, Firefox could devote her time to developing her skills. With such an astute mind, her investments in tactical knowledge and technical skills soon produced bountiful returns. Not the strongest mage? Snipe them before they saw you. Not the strongest combatant? Change the playing field around them. Facing overwhelming odds? Take pot shots and run, stringing them along till they overextended. Then strike. Firefox understood resourcefulness like none other; to gain the high ground was the absolute law of the world. It didn’t matter if she was outmanned or outgunned, if she could find a way to change the rules in her favor, even armies wouldn’t stand a chance.
That's probably why Firefox respected the marshals so much and distrusted them even more. Whenever people spoke of the fabled marshals, it was always with tones of reverence and awe. After all, who wouldn’t be impressed by soldiers with the strength of ten men, more magical power than a genie and who could fly like phoenixes without wings? Nobody obviously. And that’s what got Firefox to narrow her tawny eyes.
There’s truth in every story, but whether in nuggets or grains, it was often hard to say. How much of the marshal’s abilities were really there and how much of it was smoke and mirrors? Who’s to say that the marshal’s weren’t just a band of pretty good soldiers who simply used the mystique of their title to wage psychological warfare before the battle even began?
Especially Graves. Honestly, the Ghost of Thunder. Any more grandiosity in that name and he’d have to start addressing himself with the imperial we. Firefox didn’t doubt that the man was a good soldier, but really, a marksman who never missed? She personally practiced three hundred round every morning and even on her best days, she’d be off on at least one. Obviously, that was more hype than substance and mere puffery designed to give the grey-eyed marshal an edge. Well, she wasn’t falling for it, and after she took him down, all that hype would be hers, just one more tool to add to her kit.
It was with this resolution that Firefox slowly approached the mountain summit and the rapidly thinning tree line. Dropping to her belly, the bronze-haired cadet began to crawl forward at a snail’s pace so as not to disturb even a single blade of grass. Following the natural contours of the slope, she advanced forward bit by bit, covering mere inches per minute till at last, she came to the edge of the woods.
There, at the center of probably thirty paces of open ground all around, stood a small wooden tower at the very top of the summit. The vantage point used by officers to oversee training, the height and position of the tower made it the ultimate high ground unrivaled anywhere else on this mountain. From there, a good marksman could lay down fire on just about any point on those rugged slopes. For a great marksman like her, it would provide her unrivaled power.
But only if she could make it, of course. Naturally, a sharpshooter like Graves would be well aware of the tactical advantages of taking the spot, and with the head start he’d gotten, Firefox would bet bits to barleycorns he could make it there first. Could. Perhaps he’d adopted a more aggressive strategy. She didn’t know, and that’s why she waited.
Steadily, time ticked by as Firefox lay still, every muscle frozen in such motionless patience even stones would have been impressed. Carefully invest attention now to reap the rewards of assured victory later. Sharp eyes focused on the tower, the young soldier waited and waited and waited, looked for any sign, anything at all that might indicate a presence within its wooden wall.
She saw nothing. Nearly an hour gone, and not a breath stirred.
Time to make a calculated gamble. Undulating very softly, Firefox slowly worked the stiffness from her muscles and gathered her strength. When every fiber of her being was charged with kinetic potential, Firefox exploded, pouring the fiery ferocity she took to every fight into her legs as she dashed across the deadly open grounds. It was only thirty paces, but it was still thirty paces of pure, exposed vulnerability with made it seem more like thirty miles.
Even so, not once in that harrowing race did she let her attention falter. Ears were strained for the first crackle of thunder. Eyes darted for the faintest of silver flashes. Nose twitched like a hunted jackrabbit’s just in case the breeze brought in the charged whiff of ozone. Though she was taking a risk, she did so with every ounce of focus sent out to make sure that risk was reduced to zero.
And then it was over. She was across the clearing, up the rough-hewn ladder, and in the assuredly empty tower. The high ground was hers.
Firefox allowed herself the briefest of satisfied smiles before she instantly got to work. Darting around the tower’s interior, the cadet cast her sharp eyes over every open surface and scanned for traps. Just because the marshal wasn’t here now, didn’t mean he’d never been there, and a single strategically placed spell tag or concealed tripwire could turn this advantage into one giant, combustible cage. But she found nothing. Even checking for loose floorboards and looking under the steps spiraling up the tower’s central support pillar revealed nothing. The tower was cleaner than the mess hall on mystery chowder day.
Only once triple sure that she was safe did Firefox ascend the stairs to the viewing platform above. There in the open air atop the tower, the bronze-haired gunner took a deep breath of cold, crisp air as she panned her view over the entire mountain. From a crouch, of course. Standing up for all the world to see would not have been the most tactful of choices.
After a quick but thorough inventory of the surrounding lands, Firefox braced her spell gun against one of the low crenels encircling the tower’s top and reached into her travel pack to retrieve a long range scope. A few minute adjustments, a quick snap to the top of her rifle, and one standard recruit’s weapon transformed into a dealer of death from afar. Satisfied with her weapon, Firefox got comfortable, taking a well-practiced shooting stance as she relaxed her body and let her gaze drift out of focus as it crossed over the mountain side.
“Where are you?” she softly whispered to herself. “Where are you hiding?”
Don’t try to find the target. You never would. Instead, take advantage of the eye’s attraction to motion. Look for disturbances, distortions in the pattern. It’s at these distortions that the enemy hides, and it’s at these disturbances where you should fire. Smoothly rotating from crenule to crenule, Firefox’s now foggy, unfocused eyes searched the trees, never looking, but always watching. Always watching…
Firefox felt it almost before she saw it. Hairs standing on end, the tawny-eyed marksman caught the silver flash just out of the corner of her right eye. Snapping towards the sight, Firefox let loose with her own shot, a brilliant bolt of orange fire right for the lightning’s point of origin. The two arcane blasts passed in midair, streaking passed each other like hissing hornets before each found their mark.
The cadet’s shot hit exactly as she intended, striking the spot from whence the lightning came and exploding into a searing bloom of mystic flame. It wasn’t likely that it’d taken the marshal down, but it’d probably shook him up a bit. And most importantly, it’d given away his position. Now, all she needed to do was focus her attentions in that direction, train down, and then…
Firefox blinked.
Hold on a second. They both had guns. They’d both shot. Yet only one, hers, had been on point. Why was that?
Peering over the edge of the tower’s rim, Firefox saw that the lightning had not come for her as she’d expected, but had instead struck the tower dead center and burned a neat little hole through the enchanted wood. Why? There was no way that kind of shot would have done anything to disrupt a good marksman. Why hadn’t he aimed higher?
That’s when she heard the hum. Looking down into the tower, Firefox saw the central support pillar, the one right in line with the freshly seared hole, beginning to glow with a hum of magical charge. A hum that sounded an awful lot like…
Oh, buck.
Leaping from the top of the tower, Firefox cried to high heaven as the tower exploded into a typhoon of blinding light and wooden shrapnel. Hasty as her departure was, the bronze-haired cadet barely managed to catch herself in an awkward, tumbling roll as her body came into hard contact with the grassy ground below.
“… Ouch,” she winced, fiery splinters raining about her as she tried to collect herself. Tried to, being the key, as being tossed about unceremoniously like a sack of old potatoes has a decided way of making collecting oneself rather difficult. That’s why, prone on the ground she was, it was very easy for Firefox to catch the sound of approaching footsteps.
“Decent,” a gravelly voice called. “But predictable.”
Wincing as she sat up, the cadet spotted the broad, flat-brimmed hat first as the silver-eyed marshal crested the summit.
“High ground’s an advantage,” Graves continued as he idly tapped the barrel of his rifle on one shoulder. “But if everyone knows it, owners will add insurance, no?”
Of course. A fail-safe. One built into the very structure to keep it from falling into ill use. Of bucking bleeding course.
With a snarl, Firefox launched herself at the marshal with a flurry of ferocious strikes. Graves merely swatted them away, his hand seemingly predicting where the blows would be and beating them to the spot. The marshal had seen her previous behavior and would expect such a savage attack. What he wouldn’t expect was that the rain of blows merely provided cover as suddenly, Firefox opened her clenched fist and flung a fistful of carefully concealed grit straight for his gunmetal grey eyes–
–only to have it bounce harmlessly off his hat’s broad brim as a quick nod completely shielded his face. Then, with an almost casual step forward, Graves pressed a palm to the cadet’s chest, thrust, and sent her small frame skipping across the grass like a stone on a pond. It took a good twenty feet before she at last skidded to a decidedly unpleasant halt.
“Always have a trick up your sleeve, people will come to expect it,” the marshal rumbled as he stepped up and leveled his spell gun at the immobile girl. “Predictability is death, and now you’re dead.”
Bang.
*****
As Graves strolled down the mountain side, gravel crunching beneath his boot soles, he paused.
“… I know you’re there.”
“Of course you do,” a voice called out. “Nothing gets past you, huh?”
Out from behind a gnarled oak came Comet, spell gun trained on the marshal in perfect shooting form and a confident grin on his handsome face.
“Could’ve shot me, boy,” Graves idly remarked as he looked at the gun. “Why didn’t you?”
“Because that’d just be playing into your hand?” Comet quipped. “You’ve been waiting for me to open fire ever since you left the summit. I’d just be walking into a trap.”
An eyebrow arched in surprise. True, Graves had given off all the impressions of being oblivious, what with the spell gun braced up against his shoulder like a boy with his fishing pole. But really, mana had already gathered in his palm and a single twitch would have been enough for him to sling the rifle forward into blast of electric wrath. The fact that the boy had spotted it was more than Graves had expected.
“I see,” he nodded as he continued to face the cadet. “So what now? Show down at high noon?”
“Possibly,” Comet grinned. “But honestly, I’d still prefer to settle this like men.”
Eyebrow arched over silver eye in curiosity, then shot to stratospheric heights as Graves saw the handsome cadet take his spell gun and readily toss it aside. The marshal gaped, literally unable to keep his jaw from falling open in surprise. The boy had actually thrown his weapon away?
“It’s been said,” Comet continued as he began rolling up the sleeves of his uniform tunic, “that there are two ways to truly know a man. You spend a lifetime with him, or you can fight him. And since we’re on the clock, I figure number two’s the way to go.”
“So… you want to fight me,” Graves blinked. “Hand to hand.”
“No strings attached,” Comet nodded. “To be honest, I really respect you. You’re probably one of, if not the greatest marshal of all time, and if you think I don’t have what it takes, that’s got to mean something. But I don’t think you really know me, which is why I want to take this chance and show my worth to you in the best way I can.”
Graves looked at the cadet. Though younger than him by a few years, he was already at the point where age meant little. The soldier was tall and strong, with weight well centered on the balls of his feet, his whole frame ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice. Even his smile, as sincere as Fluttershy in speaking of love for furry animals, revealed not a hint of weakness. His green eyes were clear and focused, confident without hubris, just like good soldier’s eyes should be.
“Well?” Comet asked once more. “What do you say?”
Graves said nothing. But he did reach up one hand to remove his hat.
With a fierce smile, Comet prepared to fight. Lowering his weight with left arm extended forward and right fist held beside his face, the young man entered the fabled Archer stance. A fighting style that focused on overwhelming strength and speed, it was one many cadets sought to learn before realizing just how difficult it was to bring into actual combat. However, from the way Comet settled in, with weight perfectly centered and every muscle balanced on the knife’s edge between relaxed and ready, it was clear that he held no such qualms about its use.
And even then he wasn’t done. Without a word, brilliant emerald flames erupted around his fists, flames that burned bright yet left his skin unmarked despite the close proximity to his face. A perfect display of contained battle magic, a highly advanced skillset that created destruction for only the enemy. Few enough soldiers could use it adeptly in the field, and here was a cadet who showed the numbers would increase by one.
Perfect strength. Perfect skill. Even perfect planning. As the sun made its way down the horizon, it silhouetted Comet in a halo of light. Before the battle had even begun, he’d positioned himself to make use of the sun itself to blind his opponent. When the lad had said he was best, he hadn’t been bragging. Comet was certainly a man who had the makings of the perfect warrior.
“Alright then,” Comet smiled. “Let’s–”
Words cut off as he flew backwards, knocked off his feet by a blast of silver light from the marshal’s now extended gun.
“Wh-what?” Comet gasped, sandy hair in disarray as electricity danced over his skin. “You… you shot me.”
“That I did,” Graves nodded, hat back on head as he ambled over to the fallen cadet.
“But… but you agreed. We had a deal.”
“First off, I didn’t agree,” the marshal corrected. “And second… why the hell would you believe me even if I did?”
Comet could only stare in mute disbelief as the marshal – looking as if he were in acute gastronomical distress – pointed his rifle at the fallen youngster.
“You can’t be an idiot, alright? You just… you just can’t. Buck.”
Bang.
**********
I am thrilled for the update but devastated by the cliffhanger. I'll be eagerly awaiting the next update.
Damn, I thought Comet had him! Unlucky.
I was also expecting Graves to be in the tower or shoot her from somewhere else... not shoot the damn tower!
Comet is a complete twonk. Throw away an advantage? Assume that just because someone is good at what they do that they are like you? Confuse honour with sheer bloody minded-ness? It's that sort of thinking that lead to a great many Famous Last Stands. You always get remembered for Famous Last Stands, it's the ones who win that never get remembered.
Thank you for restoring my faith in the comedy of this site.
I thought that Graves might take him out with his bare hands.
Can't wait for more!
4058411
I hardly think it would be necessary, Graves is rather like his lightning really, he always takes the path of least resistance to his desired outcome. Once he realised that the boy was dafter than than a severely concussed lemming there was no real point in expending any more effort on the matter. He'd have won anyway, what would be the point?
close combat magic always a cool choice.
4058435 Honor maybe. He accepted Spike's request to fight him hand to hand. So why not now? I get that Spike didn't have a chance in hell of beating him but he still gave him a shot.
4058456
Ah, but Spike was doing it for the love of his life, Comet was doing it because of a rather tired cliche, that you get to know a man best by punching each other's lights out. Besides, Comet must be approximately ten years older than Spike and ought to know better. As for honour, what would you prefer, an honourable defeat or a dishonourable victory? Even if he had decided to fight him hand to hand I would have been deeply disappointed in Graves if he had won by means other than kicking Comet squarely in the meat and two veg.
I refer you to the following video from 6:20 up to the end
Wow, he just back stabbed that other guy. That was awesome, I like the way he thinks.
4058482 True, didn't take that into account.
The video is blocked on my end.
4058658
Same for me actually, damned if I know why, just go to this web address. The scenes up to 4:50 are rather good as well, if only for comedic value, which is always worth something.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNJvn-M_PhI
4058688 Still didn't work.
4058730
Bugger. Youtube search "Johnny English reborn good scene" if that doesn't work then I'm out of options.
I burst out laughing. The sheer incredulity in this line, and the absurdity of Comet's actions, got to me.
Looks like some cadets really need to re watch Daring Do movies again?
I like how Firefox checked for placed booby traps, but didnt think about entrenched booby traps, self destruct or demolition charges.
Given the sub 4 minute mile, Graves would probably be able to run far enough to escape a bunker nuke on his start position.
Firefox forgot several important points, the most important being that an enemy will always have the advantage even if you're in his strong-point because it's his strong point. As for Comet? His lesson was not to be such a dewy-eyed romantic. A Marshall has to be determined, gritty and maybe even unethical. Too many innocent lives are on the line not to be cynical about these things.
4025109
Oddly enough, I could hear Boulder quoting Meet the Heavy:
4061488 Is that really his quote? Because lord have mercy, it is brilliant!
And Comet had such a promising start too, since he actually anticipated Graves' trap. But actually tossing his gun away before making sure the other guy does the same?
As for Firefox? Trying to beat a legendary sniper in a sniper duel probably wasn't the best idea.
4061589
Yep, from the official Team Fortress 2 Trailer mini-series.
If this is the best of the class, then I'm beginning to doubt the Academy's credentials. I'm starting to suspect that Shining Armor's success as a captain was only because he joined in Graves' insane training program.
I can't wait until Spike enters the Academy. Between his Salamander skills, Twilight's tutoring, and Graves' training, Spike would be the greatest student they had since Shining Armor.
4064959 Now now, let's not be too harsh here. You have to keep in mind that these are students not yet graduated facing a person with nearly 10 years of field experience, half of them in unprecedented solo work. After all, textbooks and simulations are one thing, but getting real down and dirty's a whole other ball game.
And interesting question. You think Spike would be the kind of guy to join the military?
4065074 Well ... His two biggest role models / father figures are Shiny and Graves. One is married to a princess; one is going out with Rarity. If Spike feels like he needs to impress the ladies, (perhaps a certain three crusading ladies) he may feel like he has to enter the academy like his heroes.
Spike has too much potential for Celestial and Ironside let sit idly by in Ponyville.
I knew that Comet would either somehow beat Graves, really put up a fight, or do some stupid crap like this and make it super easy for Graves.
Remember kiddies; never toss your gun in a war zone, because even if your enemy is stupid, they will still shoot you.
4065183 Very interesting. It's true, the main male role models he has are soldiers, but his sister/mom is much more cerebral. Given that combination, I always figured he'd become a diplomatic envoy and anthropologist to the Salamander tribes across the world. Given their warrior culture, it'd be impossible for any level of respect if Spike didn't reach a high level of martial prowess, and his scholarly upbringing would make him a perfect sociologist to observe and learn of their relatively little known culture. That, plus his introduction of baking culture would certainly make him a hit with the ladies, know what I'm saying?
That's how I pictured it anyway. Thought I'd share.
4066858 Is there a reason why he couldn't do both? Does the Academy not teach diplomacy and social sciences, or does Canterlot have a separate university for that?
4067477 Probably separate. You train your soldiers in one area and your politicians in another. Never actually thought about it. Huh.
Gosh darn it, Comet. It's a battle. A war. Not a God-forsaken honor duel! As soon as he proposed the fist fight I knew Graves was going to shoot him. Graves is actually a bit more patient than I would have been. I would have shot him about a split-second after his gun wasn't pointed at me anymore.
I like these cadets, but they have so much to learn and getting those lessons from Graves is going to be fun. Fun for the readers and maybe Graves, that is, probably less so for them.
The poor girl was just Wrong Genre Savvy. IRL, or in any work set in more 'realistic' setting, she would be right to assume that no one can have a level of skills so ridiculously higher than that of an everage specialist. We were shown time and time again just how ridiculously OP Graves is.
The saddest part is that she wasn't able to come anywhere near the level of hype her own backstory had set. Twenty moves ahead my ass.
quote]Enlisting? Best way for a girl without two bits to rub together to make her way in the world. I can name a few far more prominent ones right off the bat.
4068679
It depends on what kind of social norms and traditions Equestria's elite has in your fanon. For a very long period of time in a variety of countries, military education was a must for almost any politic or diplomat.
P.S.
I believe those a typos.
4086732 All excellent points.
1. It's like questioning Batman. You never question Batman because he's the g*****n Batman.
2. Remember, the hype is amongst cadets, which is less than a soldier's steps, which is less than a marshal's steps, which is less than the Ghost of Thunder's steps. Compared to Graves, even thirty steps for her would probably only equal out to about .277 of his (my conversion calculations are a bit rusty, so please bear with me).
3. I should probably have added legitimate, no?
4. Indeed. The only problem is I haven't fully established the canon for that since I've never actually had to deal much with the intersection of nobility and military and diplomacy. Perhaps in a Silmarillion type work one day, but not yet.
P.S. Rectified.
At least what? You can't say a minimum without giving a number, that's just silly!
Erm, English please? He could to make? I think you should take out the 'to'.
Are you missing a word here, or am I just not understanding the sentence?
Found another small typo. (Please don't hate me :v) That('s). It's at the begining of paragraph five.
Wow. he's good.
Hey, quick warning, this post is way too long, way too detailed, was written and edited (checking for spelling, grammar and to see if there's anything I could have phrased better, of which there were a fair few entries) in the space of a few hours and ultimately comes from the perspective of a deeply bored young man with no connection to the author. Just thought I'd let you know in case you were wondering what the hay is this.
After rereading this story a few times and giving the information time to settle, I think I can point out all of the flaws in the 4 new recruits and even one or two in Graves. Graves isn't wrong on any of his points, but there's more to it than he points out and probably more to it than I will.
Spellbound
The first and most deeply flawed of the recruits. He has several problems which are obvious and would always come to bite him in the plot if he went into this line of work without a fallback plan: he has little to no stamina; his strength is negligible; he has no apparent skill in stealth (and no, the irony of that statement is not lost on me).
For a civilian, having little physical strength and weak stamina isn't a problem. For a soldier, a lack of strength and stamina is a death sentence: he would struggle to retreat if something went wrong; he would struggle more than most in prolonged engagements due to flagging performance (especially given that his approach requires the most control and attention to avoid it going horribly wrong); if someone got close to him, he'd get torn apart without a fight. His lack of stealth skills also means that he'll have to face most problems head-on unless he intends to carpet-bomb every last Kobold individually and his aforementioned lack of strength and stamina (as well as a desire to avoid collateral damage) means that this is not a good approach for him to take.
Which brings him to his 2 big crippling flaws. Firstly, if Boulder was specifically talking about Spellbound when he talked about over-complicating things, I'd have wholly agreed without hesitation. He really didn't need to make a massive spell nexus and pour so much time and energy into finding Graves. Second is that he also clearly suffers from tunnel vision as he got so hooked up in finding Graves that he never thought about what he'd do when he found Graves or what to do if Graves found him. The problem was never going to be finding Graves, he's been found a great many times over the years. The problem is in bringing him down and this never even seemed to occur to our erstwhile archmage.
Ultimately, his problem is that this isn't the right line of work for him. If he's dead set on the military life, though it seems like he really shouldn't be, he should become the equivalent of heavy artillery in the equestrian regulars or a specialist who can be brought in when someone needs heavy magical support. If he's open to life outside of the army however, then he should become a magical teacher or archivist or such; his strength lies in the theoretical applications of magic. He has no skill whatsoever in its practical use.
Boulder
Big, fast and horrendously stupid, Boulder makes an (I assume intentional) excellent counterpoint to Spellbound. Boulder is excellent in stealth and close-quarters combat and, much like the man himself, his problems are simple and easily solved.
He has tactical tunnel vision. Even if he just learns to pay attention to his surroundings rather than outright use them to his advantage, then he should be fine. His other problem is, again, obvious: he's too simple. This means that, while his approach is powerful and effective, anyone with any reasonable combat experience could easily outfight him just by using some Celestia-darned finesse and, if he ever does find a problem that he can't just muscle through (which, as a marshall, he would. A lot), he has no fallback option and no other skills to utilize. Get him some skills that give him some tactical flexibility and suddenly his value as a soldier is doubled, easily.
Given his introspection and awareness, along with the fact that he apparently still gets middling scores in tests without really trying, I doubt that he's really straight-up thick. It's not that he's accepted that he's an idiot, it's that he's given up on being as smart as the other students who are aiming to become marshalls, which is not the same thing. Give him some practical skills and train him to keep his eyes open and he'll be fine
Foxfire
Ah, Foxfire. When we got our first look into your mind, I started to get my hopes up that you weren't as bad as the other two we'd seen so far. Tactical awareness; resourcefulness; planning; psychological awareness; cunning. She has everything she needs to be an instructor or a tactical adviser and, with some refinement, could very easily excel as a marshall, but if she wants to continue down that last path, then her weaknesses are going to need to be addressed quickly or she'll be in real trouble.
This is actually one point where I would dispute Graves' assessment. He makes an excellent point and it's something that she does need to learn, but it's not any one of her three core problems, but rather a symptom of them; the idea that she plans so far ahead that it makes her predictable and the implication that she relies on those plans for success is not the root of the problem itself, but instead comes from her biggest problem and causes her second biggest.
Firstly, her reliance on"carefully laid-out plans" and the same few tricks all of the time implies a lack of adaptability which stems from an apparent overspecialization: she can shoot, she can sneak and she is willing to use underhanded or extreme tactics to achieve her goals. If she can't do any of these then, as with boulder above, she is left hurtling towards Neighagara Falls in a canoe with no paddle and a hole in the bottom of the boat. Again, get her some more broadly applicable skills to cover areas where her current skill set can't help her (like a defensive martial art in the vein of Tai Chi Ch'uan for close-quarters engagements in case her tricks fail her) and she'll go far.
Her second issue is a lot harder to tackle. As Graves points out, she always uses the same tricks and is predictable. This, to me, implies that she tends to view opponents as having a set "power level", for want of a better term, with no regard to their individual skills. This would come as a natural part of being a soldier as everyone is taught to think the same way to foster greater coordination, but it leaves her completely unprepared for when someone doesn't do what everyone else does, like the trap built into the structure of the tower and Graves casually dismissing her sand-in-the-eyes attack. She expects everyone to think and fight the same way and, again, lacks the ability to adapt.
The third one is a problem that shouldn't be as severe after today, but still bears mentioning. She is aware of the psychological impact of a good reputation and is aware that most of it is almost always made up. While she should always proceed as if all of it was true (as even if she knows that most of it is made up, she doesn't know which bits are true), the main problem seems to be a rather ironic one: she knows that a reputation is almost entirely untrue, but also seems to have bought into her own hype. This is true of all of them, but I mention it here because it's something that she really should be aware of. She seems to believe the hype about her ferocity in close-quarters and her skills at long-range, thinking that Graves can't possibly make every shot because she occasionally misses and being completely flummoxed when he sees her attack coming. She also seems to have failed to take into account the downsides of having a reputation; Graves isn't as dangerous as he is because he's impossible to spot and never misses with lightning bolts, he's that dangerous because, in addition to that, he can track, hold his own barehanded or with weapons in close-quarters and keeps plenty more tricks up his sleeve that he makes sure no-one else knows about (like the security system on his door a few stories down the line). He's terrifying because no-one seems to know where his list of skills ends. Foxfire needs to learn how to work outside of her reputation as well as within it and needs to learn that there's always someone better than her at everything she does.
Comet
This one's gonna be short because he's by far the biggest idiot and so we didn't get to see much of him, though I have no doubt he'd have more weaknesses that'd make themselves apparent if we saw more of him.
Comet is arrogant and believes himself above reproach. He believes that he is better than everyone else and thinks that they're just waiting for a chance to prove him wrong by beating him at his own game. This is clearly untrue and he is a moron. He needs to start learning some Celestia-darned tactics and actually applying them.
Additionally, his belief that he is the best at whatever he does is also just plain wrong. No move, style, technique or ability is without flaw, even those which are the product of the combined work of dozens of masters of that field. If that many masters all working on one thing in their field of expertise can't make it perfect, then he hasn't got a snowflake's chance in hell of being perfect in everything he does, regardless of how much talent he has or how much effort he puts in.
Looking at the description for the archer stance, it looks like a highly aggressive form which tries to overwhelm opponents quickly. He almost certainly has other martial arts up his sleeve, but that one should never be his first port of call against anyone short of Graves; the all-out approach will almost certainly mean that the form is exhaustive and the way it's described makes me think that it'd struggle against opponents who used more conservative and defense-oriented forms (like the aforementioned Tai Chi Ch'uan) and multiple opponents due to it's apparent focus on attacking in a single direction and an apparent lack of defense. Having not seen (or read) it in action, I can't say any of this for certain, but that's the impression I got.
Even Graves, widely regarded as the best solo operative in equestrian history has his share of issues. He needs total emotional stability for his lightning, he needs enough terrain to use as cover for stealth and his sub-par mana pool means that if his large and unwieldy gun is damaged or the confines are too tight to use it, then his lightning is worth nothing and his other magic is also suddenly far more strenuous and can even be outright dangerous. What makes him so good is that he's worked to mitigate his flaws and has developed skills to counteract them (too close for lightning? Fight them hand-to-hand. Need to escape across a wide gap/hole or up a sheer cliff? Use the spell-harpoon-and-chain), but none of them are completely gone and none of the counters he's made for his weaknesses are perfect either.
Sorry for the overly rambling comment on what was a filler story released 10-11 months ago, I just got back to reading this one and got swept up in my overly analytical nature. I'd also like to add that this is just my opinion and I'm probably looking WAY too deeply into this. If it makes me seem any less invasive/insane this is the same kind of thing I do for a lot of characters I write, except there I start going into the psychological reasons for why and what this belief means to them on a deep personal level to help me get into their mindset so that I can write them more effectively. I'm very thorough.
From what I can see about Foxfire, she's most definitely Black, a bit Red, and maybe has a splash of Green. Comet is definitely White. Graves, upon thinking about it, is probably Red, Black and Blue with a focus on Red.
Also, changed my mind about Boulder earlier - he's still Green but he probably has a fair bit of White and/or Blue in him too.
Here's a page that details a bit of what I'm talking about - the five colors of Magic: the Gathering (I just like to examine things and analyze them).
http://mtgsalvation.gamepedia.com/Color_Pie
The Color Pie is a way of identifying characters and other things according to their goals, motivations, philosophies and the means that they use to reach their ends. I have to admit that you made a very well-rounded and diverse crew here. Props to you!