Equestria Warfare: Ponyville
Written by Frost Mantis
Original My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic characters copyrighted to their original owners, and used for non-profit amusement reasons. Comments, constructive criticism, and especially compliments are not only welcomed, but encouraged.
Chapter 10: New squad, new teammates.
The chariot carrying Shining Armor and Crosby headed to Canterlot.
Crosby sat silently on the seat as his eyes scanned the tired face of the Brigadier General who stood at the hold talking to the pilot and co-pilot. Crosby yawned lowly as he pulled up his goggle. The chariot ride had been going on for some time and he had fallen asleep at some point.
Still wearing their gear from this morning the Staff Sergeant was tired and covered with layers of dirt and dust along with blood, but he was happy to hear over the chatter in the leading pegasus that they are about to touch down at the base camp.
"Good to see you are awake." Shining Armor called out warmly as helped the tired man to his feet as the chariot touched the ground causing Crosby to almost fall backwards as the chariot touched down.
The Staff Sergeant followed after the young General as he exited the landing pad area which was located within the court yard of the military base.
The military base looked quiet different with bases Crosby stayed back in Afghanistan. The base's court yard was surrounded by a large stone castle wall with two large guard towers were located in the front. The base was a fort and castle itself.
At the end of the court yard was a large castle building that towered high above them the sound of pulse fire roared from the back of the complex as behind the building was a collection of shooting ranges, obstacle courses, and mountain terrain in the distance which Crosby assumed was used for long hikes and mountain training.
"Welcome, to the head quarters of Royal Guard Ranger Crosby." Shining Armor announced as he approached a pair of gates that acted as the main entrance of the building. Crosby watched as Shining Armor reached to two Guards guarding the door. After a short conversation between them Guards walked a step backward. With a low cracky sound the two wooden gates opened allowing the Shining Armor and Crosby to enter the building.
Crosby sighed with relief as a sudden gust of cool air hit him as the wooden gates closed behind them allowing the air conditioned lobby to stay cool.
The lobby was secured by guards as no one was around to greet them, but Crosby expected that as this wasn't a hotel but a military base where no one greeted you with warm smiles and chocolates on your pillows.
"Crosby, this will be your new home." Shining Armor called out making Crosby jump slightly at the booming voice of the Brigadier General as the lobby echoed throughout the room. At the end of the lobby was a geared up guard sleeping with his back leaning against the wall.
"Looks like we have somepony slacking off his duty." Shining Armor growled angrily as he was obvious annoyed that one of the guards within his so called, 'Elite Royal Guard' was sleeping on the job right in front of a new member.
"Dust!" Shining Armor roared out right in front of he sleeping guard.
The stallion stumbled and fell down to floor with sudden booming voice right in front of him. He lifted his face to see a new member and Shining Armor who was about to explode.
"Ge...General!" The stallion cried out as he suddenly launched himself from the floor and stood up properly. The stallion looked to be in his mid-twenties, he had milky white coat, with blue mane and emerald green eyes. On his chest plate, he had a insignia of Staff Sergeant.
"I'll deal with you later Sergeant." Shining Armor barked angrily as the Ranger shook his head lowly in annoyance as Shining Armor turned his back on him.
The stallion looked as if he was about to say something to Crosby but before he could Shining Armor turned around and signaled for Crosby to continue following him.
Crosby did as he was told as he followed slowly trailed behind Shining Armor down the wall hay his eyes plastered to the large glass windows that ran across the two walls of the hall. On the left was a large indoor gym where he saw a few stallions in the weight lifting section bench pressing and not far from that area was a small group of stallions gathered around some punching bags taking turns beating (actually kicking) on the defenseless sand bag.
"Second Lieutenant Arrowhead, I'm happy to have found you so easily in this maze." Shining Armor called out as there was obviously a change within his tone as he was greeted by a stallion exiting the gym area through one of the main exits. Crosby turned his attention from the base's training facilities to make eye contact with the stallion who had just greeted them.
"Hello sir. I was just going to see what one of my stallion was screaming about." The stallion explained as he was obviously referring to the Guard on guard duty who had been startled by them.
The stallion who Shining Armor had refereed to as Second Lieutenant, Arrowhead was a muscular stallion as he seemed to be about in his late twenties. He looked extremely similar with Shining Armor as they looked like twin expect for their manes. While Shining Armor had multiple colored mane, this stallion had only one color as sapphire blue.
"Oh, the fellow you call Dust. He was sleeping on guard duty, I hope you'll take care of this little incident." Shining Armor stated as Crosby stood there silently not sure what to say as he felt awkward to be around.
"I will, sir. Is he the new member?" Arrowhead asked curiously as his eyes fell upon dirt covered face.
"Yes, introduce yourself to your new Field Commanding Officer, Second Lieutenant. Arrowhead." Shining said as he took a small step back allowing the stallion and former Delta Force operator to shake hands with each other sharing a brief moment of eye contact before releasing their grip.
"Names Staff Sergeant. Crosby, sir." Crosby said looking Arrowhead's eyes through his goggle.
"Crosby, Welcome to Royal Guard Rangers." Arrowhead gave a simple nod as he didn't seem to be interested by Crosby's look.
"Well, I'd like to stay around but I have a meeting with councils. They always talk about rules and laws now do they." Shining Armor burst out as he re-entered the conversation his eyes going from face to face as he nodded to stallion and man showing them some sort of signal wishing them good luck.
"General" Arrowhead simply stated as he saluted Shining with his back erected and his chin high. Shining Armor nodded towards the Second Lieutenant and gave Staff Sergeant a wink before he disappeared down the hall away leaving Crosby alone with his new leader.
"So, let me introduce you to some of the other stallions you'll be working with" Arrowhead explained as he re-entered the training gym which he had only exited a few minutes ago to be greeted by SA.
The gym was large as work out machines lined the walls with boxing rings stationed in all corners of the room, and punching bags scattered across the room. Crosby watched curiously as a group of stallions stood around a near by arena a few of them talking casually as one was beating upon a punch bag showing it no mercy as another stallion held it in place his stance tense as the other stallion's punches had it hard to hold in place.
"Rangers, gather up!" Arrowhead roared loudly as the group of stallions all stopped what they were doing and their eyes fell upon the fully geared up man who stood next to his commanding officer. The stallions all lined up neatly their eyes glued upon the dirt covered face of Crosby who was slightly uncomfortable with the sudden attention.
"This is Staff Sergeant Crosby and he has been hand picked by Shining Armor to join our unit. I expect you Rangers to treat this stallion (this was because the term 'man' does not exist in Equestria) with respect because as you can see by his appearance he's no rookie!" Arrowhead called out his booming voice traveling through the training gym loudly as every stallions gave a simple nod their eyes never leaving the new member.
"I never saw a creature like you, but let me introduce myself. I am Master Sergeant Holt and I'm second in charge of this squad." The unicorn in the middle explained as he slipped to shake Crosby's dirt covered glove wearing hand. Holt had been the stallion who was hitting the punching bag when he entered the gym, he had a dark grey coat with milky white mane, and his emerald eyes stared upon the man warmly.
Another stallion came out as he was a yellowish earth pony who had been lifting some dumbbells while talking to the other stallions. He had brown mane and his dark blue eyes wandered from Crosby's covered face.
"Nice to meet you, Crosby. I'm Sergeant, John Miller. I am taking position of assault along with Holt." The earth pony explained his eyes locked with Crosby's.
"John Miller?" Crosby muttered lowly as his mind traveled back to 75th Ranger Regiment. Back then he was just a Private First Class and had a sergeant named John Miller in his squad. The Two have been close friends although there was gaps between their ranks.
The last time Crosby saw John was when he went on a mission to Iraq. Few days later, he heard the new that John is killed during mission. After his death, Crosby suffered depression for next few months.
That was more than 4 years ago and Crosby managed to get away from his death, but now he was looking at a stallion who resembled his dead friend.
'That's just coincidence. That stallion cannot be my dead friend.' Crosby thought trying to forget John's face. His frustrated and confused emotions were covered by his goggle and balaclava.
"It's good to see you Sergeant." Crosby barely managed to shake his hand with stallion's hoof. John didn't seem to notice what's happening behind the man's covered face. Before Crosby could fully calm down, another stallion came to introduce himself.
"I'm Sergeant First Class Scalpel. I take position of field medic, but I am not sure if there's medical books about creatures like you." A unicorn sighed lowly as he was the stallion who had been holding the punching bag for Holt. Scalpel was slightly smaller then Holt, he had light grey coat with milky white mane and his pale yellow eyes scanned the body around Crosby curiously.
"My name is Sergeant, Rook. I take position of assault with Holt and John." The last stallion in line called out as he grinned happily as he stood there casually. He appeared to be the youngest probably around the age of twenty or twenty one years old. His face was still young but had been slightly aged from days of combat, his green eyes locked with Crosby's goggle, and his smile greeted him warmly.
"Well, these are more stallions actually but this is all we've got right now. You've already met Dust who was sleeping on the job, but his rank is Sergeant First Class so although he acts like a colt he still is your superior." Arrowhead explained to Crosby as the two of them left the gym allowing the other stallions to go back to their usual exercises as they continued walking down the halls of the base.
After, walking around for ten minutes they finally came upon the barracks area which was a collection of rooms in a main hall way each room allowing three to four stallions (or men) to stay within one room comfortably.
Walking down the hall they came to a halt at one of the closed doors Arrowhead sighing lowly as he had obviously had a long day and wanted to take a break himself.
"This will be your room Crosby. You'll be sharing the room with two other stallions; John Miller and Rook. They will be back soon, but I'm assuming you will be passed out by then." Arrowhead explained as he could tell Crosby was exhausted from the combat he had been earlier today and from all the walking around plus the chariot ride he was on the verge of passing out right there and then.
"Shining Armor has ordered to make your personal belongings so you will have to stay in that gears for tonight. Wash up in the barrack's shower room and get a good night of sleep." Arrowhead explained as he gave Crosby one final nod before he walked off leaving the dirt covered man to stumble into his new room shedding his blood soaked gears as he dropped himself upon the remaining bed as he was too tired to move.
"Looks like I'm rookie again." Crosby muttered lowly as he took in a deep breath as he buried his face into pillows.
A/N: How did I uploaded so fast? I stayed up another night to write it. This is now day 3 without sleep. I really need sleep, damn I hope I am not making spelling mistakes.
So, now officially Crosby is a Royal Guard Ranger. In the earlier development, Crosby was planned to get his rank formatted to Private, but at the last moment I decided to keep his rank.
Now John Miller is actually an OC of PCgamer238. When I asked him if i could use him, he answered "Can't you think other soldier's name?" Yeah, I got plenty of names to put, but I decided to put John Miller as Crosby's closest teammate.
Seriously, I need to get back to study. Final term is on next week. Wish me luck and hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Frost Mantis out.