Sage of Harmony (Season 2)

by Eon Seb

Basic Straining

Spitfire was trying to solve a training problem. This was not uncommon because she had to be able to adapt training on the fly so all the newbies progressed to the same standard.

The two most common problems were convincing overconfident or whiny cadets to do their training. And grading the training for cadets who just squeaked into the program.

This, however, was NOT one of those situations and it was making her want to reach for some hard cider.

"Okay How can I upgrade my own training, without making it obvious we are on the same level already?" When she had been told she was going to be training Rainbow Dash of the house of Clover she had been expecting a whining noble or a fangirl.

Well, to be fair, she had the "fangirl" part right. However, she was a bit embarrassed to admit she had forgotten that this was the same pony who won the Best Young Fliers Competition and took notes upon notes during her tour when she wasn't hyperventilating. Spitfire had witnessed the results of this as Rainbow had used her tour to come up with new training plans of her own to push herself.

Of course, she did not realize she was already at the expected level of a Wonderbolt. In fact, she had shattered the academy record by completing the course in just over ten seconds only to break it again at the beginning of this week by doing it in ten flat.

Thus her current problem. Rainbow was already at the level to be a captain physically. She just needed to reach that level mentally, The problem being that, while she had the ABILITY, she also had the attention span of a fly when it came to doing anything academic.

Unless it was disguised as an exercise, a game or coupled with physical activity (or any combination thereof). Which was why she was busy making up a new course so she could quiz Rainbow as they flew. The only bit of levity she had gotten was watching the mare's face when she got her new standard issue flier mane cut.

"Well, on the bright side, she should be at an acceptable level or better by the end of the month. Only 2 weeks to go."

**************

Chimera (They never could agree on a better name) flopped to the ground exhausted. They had proven quite quickly that they were more fit than most of the ponies until they tried to copy the workout that the ghouls used.

It was cruel and insane and no living thing (not even a DEMIGOD) could complete it without injury (which made sense once one remembered that the ones doing it were undead). Mac and Ditzy had to stop several new recruits from trying to copy their routine for precisely that reason. While Chimera rested, they thought back to how things in town were changing. It started once the ponies got as used to her and Slendy as they were going to, helped by both Midnight and Gilda. None of them had realized the affect this would have on the other creatures.

Fluttershy was the first to find one of them when she found a cockatrice striking out with her hens. She'd had to have a stare down to make him leave, as he was not taking getting shot down very well. Add to this the fact that manticores had started to prowl around and timberwolves were starting to become a common sight in the park, even Snips and Snails could tell something was going on.

It took some investigating but they were able to figure out that, due to Midnight being in town so often and the fact that two of the strongest creatures (other than Ursa’s who were in a class of their own) were spending time there, the 'monsters' had started to view town as part of the forest, albeit a part that was all Midnight's territory. The good news of that being everypony in town was safe.

The predators viewed territory as very important. You do not hunt in the space of another unless you have no other choice. With Fluttershy getting used to them day by day and seeing them as more of her critters, this was not going to be a problem for a long time.

But they still needed discipline, which was why she could get a kick out of watching Manticores learning formations and how to march. It had taken quite a bit of effort to make them work together but, once it was accomplished, they were scary. The timberwolves on the other hoof -

"Now everyone sit." Slendy was trying to teach them how to behave and give them guard dog (or was it guard wolf?) training. It was going as well as could be expected until he lost his temper.

After one too many wolves ignored him, he had suddenly grown to the height of a door frame while black tendrils sprang from his back and his blank face split revealing a maw of jagged teeth

"I Said Sit!"

After that terrifying incident, they had never disobeyed him again. This would later be labeled as the start of the Everfree Legion, AKA the Monster Squad.

**************

Ralph and Ralf (Yes those WERE their names, yes they were twins and no, it is not funny [okay, maybe A LITTLE funny, but don't tell that to THEM]) were currently regretting ever thinking of joining the guard. Princess Nightmare was putting them through drills for fighting styles tailored to each tribe's abilities and magic, She was a master of ALL of them and was worse than any drill instructor could ever hope to be. Nightmare had taken one look at the state of the current guards and been appalled once she had pointed out the level of decline that had happened in the guard force to her sister, who was equally horrified. Nightmare took it upon herself to whip them back into shape as was her role when she lead the military. (Celestia later remembered that Luna's absence was the reason conditions degraded.) Both sisters had mastered forms of martial arts fit for each tribe and combined them.

This was what Nightmare was teaching. Utilizing speed, strength, and focus as the three pillars, each guard, regardless of tribe, was being run into the ground and put back together better than ever.

Whatever was coming they would be ready, no matter what.

Comments

[Comickook]

Once again, thanks immensely for letting me help you with the edits. I really appreciate you doing that AND going to the effort to do the chapters in the first place. Anyway, you once again did a superb job on the characterizations, humor and future chapter set-up in all the right places.

I'll very definitely be looking forward to more of your work, but will also be perfectly willing to be patient. After all, I get that real world concerns have to take top priority AND inspiration is NOT always easy to come by.

[Dark Feather]

Well that will put an invation on indefinat hold.

[SennenRyu]