Recruits

Sparklefly had read the proclamation twice since it had been issued, but she found herself again staring at a copy of the official scroll. 'Loyal subjects of Equestria, It is with the heaviest heart that I, Prince Shining Armor, Sovereign Ruler of all Equestria and Field Marshal of the Royal EUP Armies, do officially order an end to the search for any sign or remains of the princesses and Discord in the Everfree Forest Crater. Powerful beings as they were, surely some sign would have been discovered of them by now had they survived. We will all miss them in the days to come, but take comfort from the knowledge that their sacrifice was not in vain. My sister's plan to destroy the mirror pool, in which the timberwolves were multiplying, was a success. I know that each and every one of our princesses would have without hesitation given their lives to protect the rest of us. That does little to assuage my own feelings of loss, but it does harden my resolve to free our land of the timberwolf and changeling threat once and for all. For Cadence, for Twilight, for Celestia, Luna, and Hope's Glimmer, I will do everything within my power to bring a quick and decisive end to the war. If you are able, enlist in the EUP to join the fight. If not, find another way you can contribute. With all of our combined strength, we will prevail. Victorious, an Equestria free of the shadow of death is how I will honor their memory.'

The mare rubbed at her eye patch and then rolled up the scroll, tossing it on a table. Sparklefly took a deep breath as her mixed feelings took focus. It wasn't the prince's words that made her feel apprehensive. In fact, she wasn't even sure why she should be nervous. She'd faced down timberwolves and changelings. She had been captured by the enemy, wounded, and in peril of almost certain death. After all of that, was she actually skittish at meeting new recruits? They had set up a training field southwest of Ponyville. The mountains west of town were to their north, and a large portion of General Mane Crusher's corps had been stationed around the other sides to safeguard the recruits from attack. The entire new battalion was going to be staying in tents for the time being.

One of the larger of these had been named the Officer's Mess. Major Brax had summoned all of the command staff to have a meeting before they would be formally introduced to the new recruits. The group consisted of the one major, five captains, and ten lieutenants, including Sparklefly. Brax's officers had all been getting to know her better, as she was the newest member. The others had been promoted from the remnants of his original company that had been stationed at Ponyville, fewer than twenty of which had survived. Sparklefly had met them all during the siege, but most only in passing.

Brax and the captains were dividing up the new-recruit roster to assign them to their units. It had already been decided that Scootaloo, LD, Clyde, and Lightning Dasher would be assigned to Sparklefly's platoon, each of them having their own squad. This did make things a little easier, as she was already well aware of the abilities of each of them. Brax had decided to arrange his battalion's squads into groups of five pegasi, two unicorns, and two earth ponies. His theory behind this was to increase effectiveness of the smaller units. With this structure, they would all have flight mobility, a medium amount of hoof-to-hoof strength, and ranged magic capability. For this reason, he had specifically requested numbers of recruits that would allow this arrangement. The traditional way to organize was in companies of each specialty. Everypony was curious to see whether Brax's integrated way would be able to improve fighting effectiveness.

A gray donkey walked stiffly into the tent. With his starched uniform, hat, and no-nonsense disposition, he was instantly recognizable as a drill sergeant.

"Drill Sergeant J, reporting as ordered, sir!" the donkey spoke sharply.

He had a rhotic accent that Sparklefly couldn't place.

"At ease, sergeant," Major Brax replied.

Even when repositioning to this stance, the drill sergeant looked solid and purposeful.

"They tell me you're one of the best," Major Brax said as he approached.

Drill Sergeant J, stone-faced, stared forward without reply.

"What do you say to that?" Brax asked.

"Sir, I prepare ponies for combat. That is all, sir," he replied.

"Very good," Brax answered. "Form up the battalion. We'll be out to begin drills soon."

Drill Sergeant J saluted mechanically and exited the tent. Sparklefly was sure that only moments later she could hear him shouting rather loudly at the recruits. Captain Lightning Dust pinned up a list with the recruit names, which was swarmed moments later by lieutenants eager to know the names of those that had been assigned to their platoons. Their excitement dropped off when they realized this was not the assignments list, it was an alphabetical census. They began walking away, but before Sparklefly did so, one of the names caught her attention. She blinked her eye several times, but there was no mistake about what she saw. In the list of recruits, one name stood out to her: Duster - Apple Loosa. It was her brother.

"Are you alright?" one of the other lieutenants asked her.

She didn't answer initially, but finally nodded slowly. She had been caught completely off guard by this development and was trying to understand how this could have happened. While he was next oldest after her, Duster was still too young to join the EUP. Sparklefly had barely been old enough when she had signed up, and that couldn't have been more than seven months before. She decided that something must be done about this immediately.

She approached the table where all of the captains were huddled around their battalion clerk, a blue earth pony by the name of Rolodex. He was working on the assignments list with their input.

"Captain Radiant Pyre, sir," Sparklefly addressed her superior officer.

His blue eyes looked up from the incomplete assignments sheet and met her gaze, "Yes, Lieutenant?"

"Request permission for Duster of Apple Loosa to be assigned to my platoon," she replied with feigned calm.

"Any particular reason you make this request?" he asked, sizing her up.

"Yes sir," she replied cautiously. "I want to ensure he gets the best training. He's my brother, sir."

He stared at her for what seemed an eternal moment before looking to one of the other captains who nodded at him. Captain Radiant Pyre replied, "With your reputation, I'll trust you on this. Permission granted. Any squad preference?"

"Sergeant Scootaloo's squad, sir."

He nodded at her, and then looked back down at the roster. Rolodex marked through names, switching Duster in and another pony out to a different company.

Sparklefly let out a sigh of relief that he had consented. That soon gave way to renewed concern. Of the things for which her brother was known, strength and toughness were not among them.