Eleven recruits. That's all that left so far after another one decided to give up before his turn came up during the interviews. With just barely over half the original amount gone in just one day, some ponies would consider this to be a major problem. I, on the other hoof, considered this to be a great success of weeding out those that wouldn't make it in the long run.
With my potential squad assembled before me outside the library, the majority of them scowling at me, I said, "Congratulations everypony. We got rid of the ponies that would only have dragged us down. So far, you lot seem to be the ponies best suited for this squad. So weeding time is over, it's time for me to give you all some actual details on the line of work you're signing up for. Which we will discuss inside the library, don't need everypony in town to know... yet." Judging by how everypony's ears perked up and their faces bore less hatred towards me, I think this lightened up their moods a bit as we headed inside Twilight's library.
They're not going to like what's coming then, I thought to myself as I took a seat in front the group.
"Okay, I personally don't like speeches, so I'll keep this short. I'm an alien that came to Equus by accident while I was traveling from one dimension to another. This occurred do to an incident that caused Equus' natural dimensional barrier to be damaged. After a period of time, I aided the princesses with my limited knowledge on dimensions which resulted in the barrier being repaired. However, some things have come through, and odds are some interdimensional organizations that have taken notice of these events. Hence, Equus will have future dimensional issues, and this squad is being made in case those that contact our world are hostile or intend to take advantage of this world. Which I have to say is quite probable, though I don't know when Equus will be truly discovered. Could be months, years, or centuries before an interdimensional force discovers us. Regardless, the princesses and I believe that we should be ready for the worst."
With my speech finished, I was catching my breath as I looked at the typical reaction from anypony hearing this. All of them were staring wide-eyed at me, a few with slack jaws. Before any of the recruits could gather their wits, I continued. "Now I know some of you are wondering why my 'training methods' are so... well, abnormal and, what some may be thinking, cruel. In reality, it is better than facing what I have faced without any experience. It was not pretty. So, to make clear how important each part of my training is to you all, each part is meant to teach you something or train you in a way that will help keep you alive in the various kinds of... problems we may encounter in the future. Does everypony understand?"
Receiving blank stares from the lot, I simply sighed before I turned to Silver to say, "Once their brains start working again, bring them to that large hill outside the northern outskirts of town. I have something set up to finish up today's training."
Huh, surprised that little revelation stopped their brains for that long. I wonder how long Silver was out when he first heard of this, I thought to myself as I saw Silver leading the small group to my chosen hill. Indicating for the recruits to stay at the bottom of the hill, Silver took his spot beside me with Twilight off to the side, observing us still as I said, "Well, seeing that you recovered from knowing the true purpose of this squad, does anypony have anything to say about that before we continue with training?"
Only receiving confused mumbling from a couple of them, I decided to move on. "Alright then, time for the next phase of our training. I'll give you all to the count of ten before we start. One. Two. Three. Four. Ten!" before I lit my horn up with my magic as my recruits tried to scramble in an effort to be ready for whatever I was going to toss at them. Which... in this case was literal as I levitated up a few watermelon sized rocks. Turned out that after getting my Cutie Mark, I somehow got a boost to my magical power, making levitating so much easier for me. However, just as I was about to toss them down the hill, a lavender aura grabbed hold of them, causing me to shoot a glare at Twilight.
"What do you think you're doing‽" Twilight shrieked as she glared back at me.
"It's called a training exercise where I throw rocks at my recruits and see how they react. Besides, I thought you were here only to observe, not to interfere," I bluntly replied, noting that Silver was just darting his eyes back and forth between us. Apparently he couldn’t choose whether to back up a princess or his boss that a princess assigned him to.
"Because I don't see the point in a training exercise that has to involve throwing rocks that can break bones!"
"There is a point. This shows me how they react to large incoming objects, and how they would react to a pony being injured or suffering a broken bone!" I yelled back as I stomped a hoof. "Interdimensional travel is too random to predict without probes being sent first, which is often not done for folk like me. Everything that I throw at my recruits is relevant to their training and is a softer... copy of what I have faced!"
Ears folded against her head, Twilight was cowed by my anger as she replied, "I'm sorry... I just thought you were being... needlessly mean to them like you were in the morning."
Sighing, I dragged a hoof over my face as I said, "Twilight, no matter I do to my recruits, it is not my intention to be mean to them. Sure, I can be too harmful to them, but I need to judge how they react to it, and I'm not going to hold back due to just how dangerous this squad will be for them. Ponies will get hurt, so it is better that they deal with it now when they're training early on so they can decide whether to stay or not instead of the future and potentially waste everypony's time."
"So... you planned things to be as efficient as possible?"
"That's the whole point, otherwise I'll be wasting time. So do you still have any issues in regards to my training methods?"
Looking down with shame plastered on her face, Twilight answered, "Yeah, I won't interrupt them again like that."
Sighing, I replied, "Twilight, I'm not angry with you. Annoyed that you interfered, yeah, but not mad when you just have the best intentions at heart." This cheered Twilight up as I turned my attention back on the recruits, whom for some strange reason grouped together again.
At the lead of the group, Golden Sword asked, "Does this mean this training exercise is over?" Instead of even giving him a response, I just engulfed the rocks again with my magic and tossed them at the clumped together group.
These ponies never learn, I thought to myself as I kept tossing rocks at the scattering group from a rather large pile that I hid behind the hill.
Well, I don't think the staff at the Ponyville hospital will like me anytime soon, I thought to myself after leaving the place with about a third of my recruits, which consisted of unicorns and pegasi. Apparently earth ponies are built to be tougher, or something. Regardless, those who ended up with serious injuries were protesting like foals, to which I simply offered them a simple deal: they can break one of my legs if they so truly desire. With the fact that I said it in a dead serious tone and that no pony would really want to harm a filly, that pretty much shut up the whiners. Though part of the reason they complained so much was the fact that I forced them to go to the hospital without any aid from anypony. My reasoning though was, since I had to deal with injuries on my own in my former life, odds are they will face the same issue too.
Moving on, turned out Twilight can't show up for tomorrow's training session. It seemed that the Crusaders are now having private lessons with Twilight now, which is actually a better idea than having them trying to follow in my own hoofsteps by trying to learn what skills I possess. Though I wondered if they are just following my hoofsteps on how I got my own Cutie Mark, which started out with me learning magic from Twilight.
Anyways, it was afternoon when I let the remaining recruits have the day to themselves as I was making note of any positive aspects that any of them had shown, which was pathetically few. This led me to start planning tomorrow's training schedule when Spike ran down the stairs, carrying a letter as he said, "Aether, you got a letter from Princess Celestia?"
"Really? It's been barely past a week now," I replied as I grabbed the letter with my magic.
Dear Aether,
While I know that you have just started training your squad, your presence in Canterlot is needed. The Royal Guard has finally found and gathered all the material that was expelled from the portal, and we have furthermore gathered and stored all the Maralus shards in a safe place. Due to the unknown dangers the material could possess, I have determine that without your advice, we can't be certain if they should be kept in Canterlot or stored in some region far from population centers.
While you are here, I have to inform you that there is a possibility that you may meet some members of the nobility. Hopefully this warning will help you prepare for any possible interactions you may have with them. Hence, in order to attract less attention from them, you will be traveling here by train instead of chariot. I have manage to set up tomorrow's morning train to have a private car for your needs.
Princess Celestia
"Well, this is a short letter and an annoyance," I commented after reading out loud its contents. "I don't want to give my recruits a day off so soon."
"Well, while the injured recruits would be released tomorrow, a day off would help ensure that they are fully healed. Though if you want them to be training still, I could oversee your planned exercises tomorrow madam," Silver offered.
Rubbing a hoof against my chin, I was pondering my options when an idea came to mind. "Hey, would a private train car have enough room for my recruits?"
"Yes... but why are you as—wait, you're going to bring the squad along with you‽"
"That's the plan, I rather keep my eye on them when they're training so I can see what each pony can do."
"But what's the point of bring them to Canterlot if you can't train them?" Spike asked as he scratched his head in confusion.
"Oh, it's just so I can get to know my recruits better. It also helps to show them some of the stuff they may come across," I calmly replied. "Lastly, I want to see if I could have them beat up any nobles that annoy me too much," I added with a grin, to which the two just groaned and facehoofed, or in Spike's case facepalmed.
She has diffidently gone full blown into childhood.
Oh boy. I think that'll be more of a danger to the nobility than it could ever be to Aether. You can't imagine how much I'm already looking forward to seeing that.
6281756
I'm pretty sure he/she realizes, he just doesn't consider his personal wellbeing enough of a reason to forgive someone for casually endangering an entire reality like that.
Ohh time to see what goodies came through the portal, is it a gun that creates holes in anything, or a gun that just makes holes, not bullet holes but holes from a to b and, well someone will figure it out. I even have cake for whoever does!
go Aether! because I SO want this to happen, ESPECIALLY to Blueblood
Aether... I think I already did that, but... *brohoof*
Aether, someone really needs to talk to you regarding your dangerously sociopathic behavior.
I'm sure Aether would totally just be all chill while someone's doing it too, like "You're putting too much distributed force on it. You need more sheer force if you want a clean break, bend it if you want a messier break."
Why is be preparing them with scout training if they plan to defend?
Most of the training so far was reaction training hinting toward survival. Celestia wants defense not exploration.
Aether reminds me of Piccolo.
Heeheehee, Aether is awesome XD
Hahahahaa, so awesome.
Nicely done, nicely done!
CANTERLOT hoooo!
The fudge? Why am I not getting updates for this story?! (probably because I'm an idiot who didn't press the right button or something, but still, it's the principle of the thing!)
6282442 Worst Case-scenario: They end up like the other small races.
Aether wants to have them trained for that scenario, and even so:
If you can't dodge a watermelon, you can't dodge an atom-bomb
6282452
Yeah, now she just needs to learn to duplicate herself, teleport, to fly, and shot destructive beams!
6282442 I'd say scout training is also useful in a war as well.
Aether with nobles?... I can't wait
6282442
In pacific rim, to stop the kaiju, it took a brief skip into the other dimention to stop the invasion.
it's that sort of scenario.
just with less giant monsters.
hopefully
6282139
Yup, though we can't be too sure without evidence of what she was like pretransformation. Still with how Aether is I can't say who I will feel more sorry for; her or the nobles?
My prince blueblood getting hurte sense is tingeling :)
Pleas tell me the first noble she meets is Blue Blood.
Aether after dealing with a dozen nobles:the next snotty nosed tail up idiot I see is getting trashed before they get to say anything.
Blueblood runs into Aether at a cross junction.
Aether finds out how hard and far she can throw a unicorn stallion into a wall.
6283411 Probably the nobles, Aether IS now a noble, but she is still a child. True she has an adult's knowledge but at the moment she has a child's mindset on how to deal with this knowledge and how she interacts with others, So expect her to say rude things and to probably not care about just about everything that goes with being a noble.
6283913
That is the most probable chain of events.
Yeessss...
6282210
Not too sure it would be a good idea to give Æther a portal gun, i'm not sure why, but it just sounds a little bit...extreme.
What is with the Blueblood hate? We haven't even met this version of BB
6285237 no but until further notice we will assume he is canon blue blood... Who is a dick
6286050 he might not be such a dick...maybe he has reason to act like such....he can be rather civillized in what seem to be a political move from rarity during the im a pony everypony should know song...
I do agree that Aether is kind of a jerk. But considering his experiences and what little we've heard about his upbringing, his attitude may be considered 'mild mannered' where he comes from.
This brand of tough love seems to be the only thing he's ever known. In Equestria he likely sees a chance to give ponies the very thing no one did his own species. A fighting chance. Perhaps even give those in charge of this Dimensional Organization a black eye in the process.
That said, his sense of self importance is going to get him into something he can't handle eventually, no doubt about it.
So...
In "Night Errantry", Luna uses her power over dreams to quickly train her massive army. She can basically give them physical training during the day and put them through very realistic and dangerous scenarios while they rest, and even kills them repeatedly just to get them used to the idea of themselves or their fellow soldiers dying. I keep wondering why they don't try that here...
6287580 Not very practical for unit cohesion or muscle-memory, and it could well have an effect similar to nightmares or night-terrors. It could make for practical command training, to a degree (more for tactics, and for a limited number of ponies since there's only one Luna to play the opposing commander).
Of course if Luna can link dreams easily and have them reasonable coherent, and negate the power of wishful thinking, then it's more plausible.
6288579
Just... Go read Night Errantry. It's one of the best fics on here and he takes a whole chapter to get into it...
6289461
It would by most helpful if you were to put a link to the story.
I cannot for the life of me find it...
...
You know, with a mentality like this, I wouldn't be surprised if one of his other training methods was to have them all chug as much cyanide as they could to weed out those who couldn't withstand a huge dose of poison.
Generally, one doesn't train what are effectively naïve children right off the bat by chucking large rocks at them.
6428469 if you can dodge traffic, you can dodge a ball.
He is such a caring teacher.
Oh...
Not "Aether's Heroes"...it's "The Dirty Dozen" staring Lee Marevin....oh, uh...what's this?
Kevin Lee: "What!? A cease and desist order from MGM?? oh futa "
Aether: "Okay, so where did you store those maralus shards?"
Celestia: "Down here in the catacombs below the castle."
Aether: "Sweet Celestia! That's a frelling lot of shards!"
Celestia: "Oh, those aren't the maralus shards. The shards are right here."
Aether *looks at the small collection of debris Celestia is pointing to*
Aether: "Wait...Then what the frell is all THIS!?"
Celestia: "Oh, that's the mountain."
Aether: "This entire mountain is made of these crystals???"
Celestia: "Actually, those crystals pretty much make up the entire planet."
Aether: "oh futa! Forget the shards. We've got a WAY bigger problem!!"
i sometimes forget that she's a foal so when i remember and reread this kind of stuff in a filly's voice. i can't keep a straight face for long.
6691062
Brilliant. Thank you for that.
Wow. She really doesn't have a clue how to teach soldiers.
Should it be faceclawed? Idk when it comes to these things.
7155393 She isn't teaching soldiers. Soldiers are trained to follow orders and to fight. She's training an all-purpose team who can react to whatever could happen in the hopes that they can defend the country from encroaching threats.
haha ha ha I would do the same thing. But if I were actually physically there I would destroy all the snobs and maybe destroy their homes and businesses but only if I was given a really good excuse. And I would play this song. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PzPxqFGcaUU