Millennia: Beginning

by Thunderblast

30. Lunar Marine Officer School

The train raced southwards out of Manehattan towards the smaller city of Baltimare, sleepy neighborhoods and eventually snowy forests passing by the windows at incredibly high speeds, while everypony on the train sat comfortably. The other Marines sat opposite of the aisle of my seat, chatting up a storm and by far making the most noise in the car, though thankfully at the station we learned it was completely rented out to ourselves and meant we didn't have to be concerned about mothers of young foals or businessponies complaining about their rambunctiousness.

On the other hoof, I sat perfectly still in my seat, elbow on the windowsill and chin resting on my hoof and eyes locked on the outside world as it passed by in a blur. Aside from the others and their constant talking, the only thing settled on my mind was none other than the future. There was plenty to be stressed about, all the while not all of it was centered around the upcoming stress of being transformed into a leader—if that were possible at all for me.

About halfway through the ride, a mare behind a snack cart made its way through our car. Food-wise, there were small bags of potato chips, candy and granola bars, and even cookies, though not freshly baked. For drinks, there was the option of water, coffee, and cans of soda. I gave the mare a few bits, which she exchanged with by pouring a cup of steaming coffee and sprinkling it with a tad bit of sugar before handing it to me and turning to serve the other Marines, each ordering more than I did.

Keeping my focus out the window as I sipped my coffee, my thoughts once again transitioned elsewhere, and being an idea I hoped to put away for the time being. Rather than contemplating more about my classes, the only thing on the top of my mind was the thought of Rose—how she lied to me—how she spied on me—how I even trusted such a suspicious and mysterious mare as herself. I had to have gone wrong somewhere for it to have happened, and the issue I faced mentally was now where I screwed up.

Beside that, however, I already knew well that it wasn't good to stress myself over something that wasn't a problem, yet I couldn't convince myself that it wasn't just yet. Perhaps I handled how things went down between me and her wrong—or maybe I did the right thing, but did terribly by not giving her a second chance. Was I really that stubborn? No, that was Anchorage. He was a stubborn pony. If I were slowly reaching the title he earned months ago, then there must be some serious problem.

No, wait. Back to Rose. Perhaps I should have given her a second chance and just let her know when I would be ready to speak to her again. Of course it would take a lot either way for me to even ponder about regaining her trust, even if she did change just for the sake of me wanting to be in the same room as her again.

What felt like just a few seconds of thinking later transformed into a good half hour or longer of me thinking about the situation, going back and forth with an imaginary voice within my mind in a mental argument thinking about if I really hurt Rose that bad, or if I didn't at all and she didn't care about having me gone—I'm certain one side of the fight was killing the other.

Shortly later, I jumped back into reality and looked back outside the window, taking a nice, long sip of my drink. Despite the added sugar, it was still quite bitter although by then I was used to the previously awful taste of plain coffee. I continued to stare out the window, the types of trees having noticeably changed, as well as the depth of the snow in some areas compared to Manehattan, which had just barely two inches covering the ground.

Baltimare, however, was another story. Seeing as it was located against Horseshoe Bay, this meant it was in more of a snow belt of Equestria than Manehattan was, surprisingly. Just from a guess and a peek outside, there was twice as much—or more—snow covering the ground with some drifts a third of the height of an average sized stallion.

"Next stop, Baltimare-Horseshoe Station," spoke the conductor of the train through the intercom, just moments before a few brief screeches of the wheels beneath the train as it began to brake, entering the outskirts of the city and down a very slight incline. This served as a reminder that Baltimare was somewhat situated within a valley between some larger hills to the north, and the horseshoe-shaped bay situated south and east of the city.

Sooner than later, the train chuffed slowly up to one of the central platforms of a station similar to, but larger than the one in Canterlot and wasn't enclosed like the main one in Manehattan. Compared to both of them, Baltimare's didn't compete. It didn't even come close.

As the train stopped, I stood up and grabbed my bag, lifting it over my shoulder while holding the now-empty beverage cup in one hoof, in need of a trash can to dump it into and hoped one would be on the platform or in the building somewhere. Then, with a final glance outside, I noticed two stallions dressed in uniforms rigorous to our own, though noticeably bulkier for the purpose of keeping warm. Both of the ponies, one a Sergeant Major and the other with a rank patch I had never seen before stood there, waiting ever so patiently for us to exit.

The doors opened, and in a single file line we stepped out onto the platform, the icy air immediately nipping at the exposed parts of ourselves and even enough to make the toughest-looking pony out of the group shiver, whilst the Marines waiting weren't affected by the weather. Obediently, the five of us fell into line and stood at attention before them.

"Good afternoon, Marines," the first stallion asked, the one with the strange rank emblem. "On behalf of Marine School Baltimare, I would like to personally welcome all of you here. Second Lieutenant Arc Nobis has spoken well of each of you, which only makes us happier to accept you into our school. To start off, my name is Warrant Officer Dustoff, and this beside me is Sergeant Major Snivel, but you, recruits, will refer to us by our ranks. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Warrant Officer," we answered in complete unison.

The warrant officer turned to the earth pony standing beside him. "Well-disciplined. We should make quick work of them," he stated, the sergeant major chuckling and nodding afterwards. "Now, I'm sure many of you have been informed that Officer School is basically military college, which it is, but there is a catch."

Oh, great. A catch. This should be good.

"All students of the Lunar Marine Officer School are required to enter a physical course to fully determine your strength that should very well have been built up in you during basic training, and if we notice one strength lacking, you will be sent back to undergo what us higher ranks refer to as a 'fresh session'. This also doesn't guarantee you a spot back in our school. If you fail to meet the requirements, you will have to try again next year."

The sergeant major nodded, then spoke up, "I will be managing your physical tests within the Platoon Leaders Class for the next few weeks. If you did well in basic training, this should be no problem and I would expect you to perform outstandingly and excel in your class. As Warrant Officer Dustoff has said before, this is your one and only chance for the next twelve months to get your butts into high-gear if you all wish to become officers within the Lunar Marines."

"You all will undergo similar conditions you faced during basic training and any exams that may have followed. After the first three weeks of being here, those of you who make it, granted all of you pass, you will be moved on to your normal classes that will teach you into becoming full-blown leaders," he continued, walking up and down the small line slowly.

"It is a rather tricky course, and I pray to Luna that each and every one of you are prepared for the load of stress we will toss your way. Should I remind you all that nothing you will endure during your time in Baltimare will be easy. One other thing we look for in Marines is effort, which credits you extra points in your class and can bring you closer to passing."

Snivel concluded and trotted back to stand beside the warrant officer, him shifting his focus onto us from the sergeant major. "More will be explained once we're back on campus. For now, everypony on me, we're taking taxis," Dustoff added, walking stoically beside the sergeant major and into the station, each of us in a single file line behind them all the way to the front door.

The warrant officer raised his hoof to his mouth and whistled loudly, just a few moments later, four pony-driven taxi carriages rushed up and stopped before us. Him and the sergeant major hopped in the first one, a couple others in the second, me and another Marine in the third, and the final Marine in the last one. Thankfully the taxi ponies knew where we needed to go and didn't need to ask us to be sure.

Compared to what Nightpath described, Baltimare didn't appear to be all that bad. The architecture of the city's surrounding neighborhoods didn't nearly have the outstanding design as those where we came from, yet they weren't junky and appeared to be rather new compared to Manehattan, which had at least two-hundred year old buildings, aside from the city's massive skyline which couldn't have been around for longer than fifty or so years.

Eventually, we pulled up to the front entrance of the place, the entire school being surrounded by a brick wall with one main wrought iron two-sided gates that were operated electronically by a gatekeeper, whom allowed the taxi ponies to take us inside onto the campus, which was massive in size and had multiple large buildings beyond two massive snow-covered fields in which the cobble path we traveled down went straight between, leading up to a fountain statue of Princess Luna, the water in the fountain not running and what was in it sat in the bottom cement bowl, completely frozen over.

The carriages stopped before a large two-story brick building, covered neatly with half snow-covered dark orange wavy tiles that made up the roof. Above the main doorway, engraved in a large stone block sitting in the place of a window, was the Lunar Marines emblem, an alicorn-like figure standing over top the moon, with a large anchor leaning sideways behind it, and the figure of a unicorn with slits for eye pupils, very much eerily resembling what her highness used to be known as for a millennia, Nightmare Moon.

Hopping out of their carriage, the warrant officer and sergeant major made their way up to the door, the sergeant major waving his hoof for us to follow. "Come on, all of you."

We followed suit, forming another line and entering one by one, out of the chilly weather and into a large open hallway that led to another door out the opposite side of the building into a courtyard that appeared to be like a small park. Between the two doors in the center cut two more long hallways on either side, us stopping in the middle.

"Alright, now listen up. You'll be briefed shortly, then be assigned to your barracks. Yes, you will all have roommates, if not be roommates with each other as our rooms have two bunks. Chow times are at 0600, 1100, and 1830. Each barrack has it's own mess hall so there's no need to go to a whole other building just to eat. You will not be let off campus until either you graduate, you fail, or there is a national emergency and your presence is required elsewhere," Warrant Officer Dustoff explained.

"I'm assigning Sergeant Major Snivel to showing you all around so you know where to go. Starting tomorrow, you will begin Platoon Leaders Class, and yes, it will be cold. The sergeant major will collect you and others on campus and bring you outside to begin your first physical exam. After that, you will begin your Officer Candidate classes, and by the end of that, and I speak for the both of us when I say we hope by then, you will have earned the title of a Marine officer," he continued. "Also, I advise you leave your bags here. They will be picked up, inspected, and brought to your assigned rooms."

***

"Now, as Warrant Officer Dustoff stated, tomorrow will be your physical exam. It will be a short series of tests to see what you can handle and show us if there is room for improvement, and if there is anything we can teach your ourselves without having to send any of you back where you came from," Sergeant Major Snivel said, standing at the front edge of a small room with us seated in chairs, eyes locked on him.

"That is also why there will be three weeks of this in total, it will be to get you up to speed on the physical necessities of an officer, which as said before, will be followed up by your actual classes. You will be tested mentally on what you know about being a leader in a quiz, and everything will be gone over in class for the remaining four weeks, and in that final week, you will be tested once again, this time on paper and in reality to determine if you truly have what it takes."

"I can't stress it enough either, none of this will be easy for any of you, but rest assured it will not be held against you if you fail, even in the slightest bit. You have already proven your loyalty to the Marines for being referred to our school, and there is no denying that you are already great soldiers. With that, all I expect from you today is to get settled, and please, please do follow orders and go to sleep tonight when we advise you to. While you aren't punished for staying up late, it doesn't serve you any good in the long run when it comes to the next morning and you become too groggy and exhausted to reach your full potential."

The sergeant major then trotted to the door. "All right, I've kept you five around long enough. I'd better get you settled in before Dusty does things I would prefer not to disclose to any of you," he said, eyes shifting from side to side and hoped none of us would catch on to what he was suggesting. As always, that wasn't the case and the others chuckled in response while I remained silent. Snivel rolled his eyes, then opened the door. "All of you, on me, on the double."

At his word, we stood up and formed a line behind him, the sergeant major leading us out of the small class room and down the hallway towards the main one, and out the opposite door we entered from, into the courtyard that sat between multiple similar-sized buildings that one could assume were the school's barracks. Then, at a quick steady pace, we marched across the courtyard to one of the further barracks, leading us inside through the northern door and stopping before a couple of rooms with the doors not entirely shut.

"So, since there are five of you, four will be in this room, 13B, and you—" he pointed right at me. "—will be in this room, 14A. Questions?"

I raised my hoof, the sergeant major nodded for me to go on. I lowered my hoof, asking, "Who will my roommates be, sir?"

"I'm afraid your room has no other ponies occupying it, therefore you have it to your own until somepony else comes in. And please, private, just because you will have the room all to your own does not grant you permission to do your own personal stuff in it. I've had to clean up so many others' messes in the past that I can't warn you enough."

The others burst into a chuckling fit for a short moment while I stood there, somewhat dumbfounded. I wasn't sure whether or not to be relieved about not sharing a room with anypony else. Sure, I would enjoy the peace and quiet, yet it was nice to have even just one roommate to chat with every so often when neither of us were busy. The idea of being alone for the next two months didn't help much either, and meant I would most certainly be spending Heart's Warming and New Years pent up in a small twin-bunked dormitory room.

The sergeant major then left us to go into our rooms, mine sitting across the hall from the others'. Pushing the door open, I entered the much cooler room, a chill running up my spine as I did so and immediately buried my neck into my shoulders and shivered lightly. It was almost as if the room didn't have that much heat, if any at all, until I realized the space heater sitting just beneath a single window that looked out towards a large snow-covered training field where some Marines were performing rapid push ups, and then sit ups, with a higher-ranking officer standing over them, observing their every move.

I sighed, stepping forward after shutting the door behind me, then stammering on my hooves as I tripped over my bag that somepony else brought to the room while the sergeant major briefed us. Letting out a soft groan prior to standing back up on all fours, I rubbed my forehead, having dinged my forehead on the side of the space heater, and out of a brief sense of animosity I kicked my bag hard with my forehoof, further hurting myself as I struck something hard as a rock stuffed in the bag.

I yelped in pain and then glared pointlessly down at the lifeless object, then noticing a strange square-ish shape on the edge of the bag, what ever it was not supposed to be stuffed in with the few uniforms I did bring along. Lifting the bag up onto my bed and undoing the zipper, I began taking my other uniforms out neatly until I reached the strange object and found a rather thick hardcover book, pulling it out to take a closer look.

"Hey, I never packed this..." I murmured, holding the book in my hoof, turning it over when I realized it was being held upside down, then reading the title.

The Life of a Lunar Marine by C.W.

Eyes expanding with bewilderment, I stared right down at the dark blue-colored book, the emblem of the New Lunar Marines the main picture of the book, the front cover having the camouflage pattern of the branch as well. It was one thing to not remember packing a book, yet it was another, much stranger discovery by finding out it was a book I never purchased—or rather, heard of to begin with. The author's initials and hoofwriting on the rear cover had, however, slightly rang a bell in my mind and that was as far as it went.

I repacked my bag neatly but left it unzipped, next removing the jacket, gloves and winter cap I already was wearing and hung them up beside the bed, leaving just the dark blue t-shirt and dog tags underneath, then finally settling down on the bed without bothering to flick the room heater on and opened the front cover of the book, finding a small folded piece of paper that slid out onto my chest. Picking it up and unfolding the note, I began reading.

To: Star Shooter

From: Nightpath

Heard you were leaving before you told me, even though the second lieutenant told you that day. I knew beforehand and decided to get you a little something to take with you, then found this. I haven't read it, but judging by the author, it's bound to be a good story. Who knows, it might even make you feel better after what you went though.

Enjoy buddy, and good luck with Officer School.

Author's Note:

Here it is everybody, the final chapter before the final hiatus of Millennia. After this, 10 more chapters to go, then the epilogue!

Also, huge thanks to my U.S. Marine friend, as he helped me out with ideas and provided information about the real life USMC OCS to integrate into this story, which will come into play in chapter 31!