Royal Guards: Dusk Fire

by Sychopomp

Basic Training, Week 1: Basic Principles to Being a Basic Guard I

Welp, it's finally time to get the show on the road! It was only a few days after I swore in and I was already on my way to basic training! I'm not sure why I was so excited to go—when I went to BCT on Earth I was nervous and apprehensive about the whole thing. Even a bit scared. Here though? It felt like I was going to camp or something.

I had left the recruiting office a little while ago and had been walking to the castle grounds to find my liaison, to which I was approaching soon. I'm supposed to meet some chick named "Mrs. Popper" to help me find my way to the barracks that I'm going to be staying at.

As I got closer to the west gate, there were two guards with spears stationed at the front. Behind them was one of the biggest castle spires I have ever seen. Well, it was the only castle spire I've seen, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that it's huge. As I trotted towards the gate with nothing but a small satchel that Sergeant Uplift gave me for my paperwork, the guards gave me a nod to continue in, likely guessing that I was a new recruit. Which I was. I gave a mock salute as I entered. They rolled their eyes at me. Fuck you.

Anyway, I immediately spotted the pony I had wanted to see. I think. There was an old earth pony mare talking to a unicorn stallion in the courtyard—another recruit perhaps, so I made my way to her to confirm it was Mrs. Popper.

"Yes, once you make it to your barracks, there will be a guard there to assist you and the other recruits in gathering all your equipment for tomorrow." The posh mare sounded a little annoyed, probably having to say the same thing a hundred times already.

"Ah okay, thank you ma'am." The stallion turned and walked to where the barracks are probably at, I guessed. I walked up to her, giving her a jolly greeting.

"Howdy ma'am! I'm assuming you're Mrs. Popper? I'm Dusk Fire, one of the new recruits." I say, giving her a hoof.

"Ahem, yes, that's me. It's... nice to meet you too, Mr. Fire. Let me see here…” She looked through her clipboard as she searched for my name. “Oh there it is, Mr. Dusk Fire. Alright, like I was saying to the... gentlecolt that was just here, you have been assigned to 1st Company of the 1st Royal Regiment. Your barracks will be located over to the far side of the courtyard next to a large statue of Princess Celestia." Instead of reaching for my hoof, she waved her foreleg over to the same direction as the other pony trotted to. What a bitch.

"Dope, thanks. Have a good one, lady." I say with some false gusto. I followed her directions with a trot and headed over to my new barracks.

I finally got a place to sleep tonight that's not in an alley. I probably smell pretty bad right now too, so it'll be nice to take a shower. It's been like a week and half already without one; if you don't count bathing in a fountain of course. Anyway, I made it to the front door of the barracks. On the door was a sign that said "2065A1". I opened the door to take a look inside before stepping in all the way.

Inside was something I wasn't expecting. Back on Earth, when I was in basic training, the barracks we were assigned to were big open bays that housed sixty-five beds, with the same amount of lockers to follow. Here though? I saw a common area that had a small kitchen, some couches, and a hallway that looked like it led to some rooms.

It was more of a college dormitory than a basic training barracks. I think I might have entered the wrong building. Shit.

As I go to step out, I spot the recruit I saw earlier come out of one of the dorms down in the hallway. He held up a piece of paper with his magic as came down the hall to grab a black duffle bag that I failed to see until now in the living area. Maybe I was in the right place. "Hey, excuse me, man. Is this the recruit barracks? Just got here and I'm not sure what's what." I asked the tan unicorn stallion. He looked towards me as he lifted his bag up with his magic.

"Uh, yeah. You're in the right place, I think. There was supposed to be somepony here to guide us, but you're the only other pony I've seen over here." He walked over to me and held out a hoof. "The name's Jelly Sandwich, but you can call me Sandy for short." Jelly Sandwich? That's a dope ass name. I give him a hoof shake. "What's up, man. My name is Dusk Fire. Dusk works fine. So, which rooms do we take?" I ask.

"They have our names on the doors. Actually, you might be my roommate if I recall correctly." He walked back over to his room to drop off his bag. I decided to follow him to see if my name was on the door. Sure enough, my name happened to be on the door underneath Sandy's name. Inside the room was interesting. It was decently sized with a curtain that split the room half way. Each side of the room had a bed, desk, dresser, and a closet. Seemed modest and simple, but this was already ten times better than my time at Basic. Sandy had taken the right side of the room, so I put my things on the other side.

“Hey, Sandy, they got showers here?” I asked. Like I said, it’s been a while, and I’d like to be clean before we start all the fun. “Uh, yeah. End of the hall, I think. Haven’t been in there yet though.” Sandy said through the curtain. Dope. “Alright. That’s where I’ll be. Come get me if anything happens. I’ll be out soon.” With that, I made my way to the showers.

The showers were fairly nice, it wasn’t just a large room with shower heads like I had experienced back on Earth during basic training, but instead there were individual showers with curtains. A few stalls and sinks lined up on the other side of a wall as well. Not too shabby. I found myself a shower and felt the relief of warm water on my body. I didn’t have soap or anything, so a rinse would have to do.

After about fifteen minutes, I dried off with a shake like the dirty dog I was, and made my way out to the common room. I saw that a few more ponies arrived at our humble abode putting their things in their assigned room. I took the time to just sit on the couch in the common room. A few of the other ponies did the same. A white earth pony stallion sat on the other couch across from me, while a peach colored pegasus mare and a light blue pegasus stallion sat at the common room table. Looks like Sandy is still in the room.

“So, what are y’all’s names?” I ask. Everyone seemed a little anxious and nervous—might as well distract them with some small talk. The earth pony stallion on the couch answered first. “Oh, uh, I’m Noble Conquest. What’s your name?” He asked. He seemed to hold himself up right and somewhat confident. I can tell he’s gonna do great. Also, super cool name. “I’m Dusk Fire,” I looked over to the other ponies. “And y’all?” I questioned.

The peach colored earth pony mare gave me a friendly wave. “I’m Peach Ring, nice to meet you, Dusk Fire.” I nodded in response. Name certainly fits, just like the candy. “Likewise. And you?” I look over to the last pony here. The light blue pegasus stallion was the most nervous out of everyone–to the point he was almost shaking. “O-oh, uh, um… I’m S-Sky Jet.” I can tell he’s a pretty shy dude. Jesus, he’s gonna have a rough time. Oh well, I guess. “Well, nice to meet y’all. Is this everyone? Seems a little bare.” If this is who we’re all gonna have in our training platoon, I don’t know what to expect now.

“Hey everypony, I’m Jelly Sandwich, but you can just call me Sandy. Nice to meet you all.” Sandy finally left our room as he came into the common room.

Everyone else said hello and introduced themselves again. I was about to say something when the door slammed open and an odd looking mare ran inside looking a bit frantic. The small mare had a dark gray coat, sharp fangs peeking from her mouth, and odd, elliptical eyes. But her most distinct feature was the bat wings attached to her sides. Was she one of those festeral things? Wait, was it thestral? Whatever, the nightmare horses from Harry Potter.

“You okay?” Noble asked as she takes some deep breaths. “I…phew…I thought… I was late. My alarm didn’t go off this morning…and I had to fly from Hollow’s Peak all the way here.” I didn’t know where Hollow’s Peak was located, but I could take a guess that it's far. “Well, at least you made it. Name’s Dusk Fire, what’s yours?” I ask with a smile and a hoofshake. She looks at my orange hoof credulously for a moment before accepting it. “I’m Cinnamon Song, nice to meet you Dusk Fire.” I shook her hoof with some added gusto. “Pleasure’s all mine.” I said.

After that, Cinnamon Song put her things in her room that she and Peach Ring shared and made introductions with the rest of the group. We sat there for what felt like thirty minutes just talking nonsense until someone came to get us. The door was forced open by a tan pegasus stallion wearing guard armor. On his center crest was three sharp chevrons, making him a sergeant. I decided to bring everyone to attention, just like how Sergeant Uplift showed me.

Oddly enough, in the Royal Guard, you always go to attention, regardless if they are a non-commissioned or commissioned officer. You only salute a commissioned officer though.

“Room–Attention!” I say, standing rigid. The others followed suit quickly–except Sky Jet, he fumbled out of the chair before standing at attention. Jesus, kid. The drill sergeant looked at all of us with narrow eyes before locking his sight on Sky Jet. He immediately flew over to him, getting into his face. “Recruit, what’s your name and designation!?” Sky Jet could barely form a sentence as he struggled to find his words. This just pissed off the drill sergeant more. “Recruit! I said GIVE ME YOUR NAME AND DESIGNATION!” The poor kid’s mane flew backwards at the drill sergeant’s roar. And now it starts!

“S-sir, my name is–'' He was cut off by the drill sergeant. “NO! There is no ‘my, me, or I!’ You will say ‘this recruit’ every time you refer to yourself, do you understand me, recruit!?” Sky Jet had tears pouring out of his eyes already. Like I said, he's in for a rough time. “S-sir, t-this recruit’s n-name is S-Sky J-Jet… designation 16364...uh… s-sir!” It was so hard to watch. I had to use all my willpower to not cringe. The drill sergeant got real close to Sky Jet's face as his face turned red.

“Why are you such a cry baby, recruit!? Stop crying–I SAID STOP CRYING! YOU'RE A GROWN ADULT! IF YOU DON’T STOP, THE REST OF YOUR SQUAD WILL BE THANKING YOU FOR THEIR CORRECTIVE TRAINING!” Ah dammit. Come on, brother! Keep it together!

Sky Jet muttered some more pathetic words to the drill sergeant before getting over his dramatics. "Now what did you do wrong, recruit!? WHY AM I CORRECTING YOU!?" The drill sergeant was certainly relentless, that's for sure. Good, maybe this will be challenging after all. Sky Jet held back his tears as he answered. "B-because this r-recruit f-f-fell out of-of the c-chair, sir!" The drill sergeant closed in on his face, almost touching his snout with his own. "NO! ITS BECAUSE YOU MADE ME WAIT." The drill sergeant yelled. "DON'T DO IT AGAIN, RECRUIT!" The drill sergeant finished showing off his dick and moved to the front of the room.

“Alright, give me two lines right here, three and three. MOVE!” He shouted as we all scrambled to meet his directions. “Now, center–face!” Pulling out the weird ones first. huh? No one moved except for me and Noble Conquest as we made the movement. Shit, we were the only ones who followed the command. Everyone else seemed confused at what he said. Jesus Christ, did no one read the packet? Everything was in there! His eyes locked onto Noble and I and raced up to us.

“Recruit–name and designation!?” The drill sergeant flew straight up to my face, almost making me flinch in surprise. “Sir, this recruit is Dusk Fire, designation 16366, sir!” He looked me up and down for a moment before looking towards Noble Conquest. “Name and designation!?” Noble tightened his posture. “Sir, this recruit is Noble Conquest, designation 16361!” He looked back at the other recruits in the room.

“It seems these two recruits are the only ones who studied the packet given to you all. WHY IN THE FLYING FEATHERED FORK ARE THEY THE ONLY ONES TO KNOW THIS! DO YOU RECRUITS NOT CARE!? IS THAT IT!? WELL I’LL MAKE SURE YOU CARE! You two, get down! GET DOWN!” He shouted. “Sir, yes, sir!” We both say in response.

I did what I was told and got into a push-up position, as did Noble. Not like I wasn’t familiar with this; I don't think a single soul within any military isn't familiar with pushing the earth.

“Recruits Dusk Fire and Noble Conquest will do push-ups until you can all perform every single facing movement! EVERY SINGLE ONE! IF YOU MESS UP, THEY BOTH START AGAIN!” Ugh. Come on, guys, don't keep us down here forever. We both started to do the push-ups, "One, sir... Two, sir... Three, sir..." Damn, my forelegs were already tired. Fuck, I'm totally out of shape in this body.

“Right–Face!” Peach Ring and Sandy both faced to the right as instructed, but Sky Jet and Cinnamon Song messed up the movement completely. Sky Jet didn’t even face the right way. Ugh. “DO IT AGAIN! GO BACK! AS YOU WERE! AND YOU TWO, START OVER!” We started counting from one again as we restarted our push up count.

This will be a while…

---

"Good! Now that you all can do the ABSOLUTE BARE MINIMUM REQUIRED OF YOU, we can continue on. Recruits, get up." I stood back up, my forelegs feeling like Jello. "Sir, yes, sir!" We shouted. I looked over to Noble and he shook his head, holding the same look of disappointment I had.

As we all faced each other now, the drill sergeant walked between the aisle we created. "Alright, recruits. My name is Drill Sergeant Straight Arrow. But you will refer to me as 'sir!' You will say 'sir, yes, sir' when I tell you something, and you'll say 'yes, sir' or 'no, sir' when I ask you something. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir!" We all said in unison.

"Good. Now, I will be taking you all to go get your gear, uniforms, and to finish processing. Go to the statue of Princess Celestia and form-up! Center–Face!" We all turned back to facing the door. "Column Right–March!" Sky Jet happened to be leading our column, so he just stood there for a moment. "RECRUIT–MOVE!" Sky Jet quickly stepped off to exit the building to go to the statue as Cinnamon and I followed behind. "FOLLOW THEM–GO!" The drill sergeant yelled at the other column as we left the building.

"Psst! Guys! When we make it to the statue, stop going forward, but keep marching in step. Don't stop until he tells us. Stay in step or he'll be on our asses!" I whispered to the two in front of me. As we neared the statue, Sky Jet thankfully listened and stopped at the statue, and we kept marching in step. I saw the other column march up to the right of us, trying to match our step.

"Squad–Halt!" We did as commanded. "Left–Face!" Thankfully, we did it in unison this time.

"Good, you're actually listening! Now, I am going to take you to the quartermaster first, so follow my commands. When we make it there, and once I give you the command of Fall–Out, you will make a single-file line from the door. Am I understood, recruits!?" He shouted. "Yes, sir!" We shouted in unison.

"Right–Face! Forward–March! Left... Left... Left–right... Left..." We marched over to the quartermaster in a timely manner, our formation only slightly out of step. As we made it to the quartermaster building or whatever, he halted us and fell us out to make a single file line. The building was actually quite nice, had some fancy pillars and some of those topiary bush things of some ponies doing poses out front. We entered the building, our drill sergeant only yelling at us every now and then. As we made it to the back of the building, we entered a bay-like garage that had cages, lockers, and a giant, open vault that had a pony behind a cage. Must be the quartermaster.

"Hello, sir, I have some recruits for you." The drill sergeant walked up to the quartermaster behind the cage, who looked quite bored. He had a hoof holding his head up as he leaned against the cage window. "Huh? Oh, hey Drill Sergeant. How many?" He said as he picked up a clipboard. "Six recruits, sir. Four stallions and two mares." The quartermaster looked up at us briefly as he pushed his eye-glasses at the end of his snout back up to his eyes. "Rrgh, alright. Need y'all to come in one at a time, starting with the gals first." He said.

We waited for each pony to get sized up for their armor. Of course, I happened to be last, but whatever. Also, unfortunately, they didn't have Cinnamon's size, so she wore a bigger set that seemed to almost swallow her up. She would have to wait until they could get one for her size. To be completely honest though, it made her cute as hell.

Anyway, I was able to get myself some armor, which was pretty cool to be honest. It was a tad heavy, but it wasn't terrible. After we finished at the quartermaster, we headed over to the couturier to get our service uniforms. They looked pretty nice, and they were different from the uniform I saw Sergeant Uplift wearing. He was a Naval Marine after all. Our uniforms were red in color.

Although not what I pictured for our first day in Royal Guard Training, it wasn't too bad yet. Today reminded me somewhat of reception back on Earth, but otherwise, I had a good day. Chow should be happening soon and then we have to finish our in-processing. Not too shabby!

This is going to awesome!

Comments

[Gohot]

American army.

[Gohot]

Nowadays war things are not appreciated.

[Cosmic ember]

the red coats are coming...

[Wolfwaffe]

Rule of thumb: new paragraph for different character's speech, otherwise it is hard to follow who said what.