Recruits
The magical buzz of the unicorn shield was suddenly heard as the camp became surrounded by it. Many of the other recruits were jabbering away and making friends, but not Duster. Silver with a dark blue mane and eyes, he was sitting quietly on his slender haunches, waiting for somepony to tell him what to do. He'd only been away from his momma mare for two days, but he already missed her and his siblings terribly. He'd initially been excited when Prince Shining Armor had lowered the age limit for ponies to join the EUP. He'd been ecstatic when he was accepted and passed his physical exam. When he heard that he'd be stationed in Ponyville, he'd been hopeful that he'd have a chance to see Sissy again. Now that he was here, all he wanted was to go home. Memories of the many fights he'd had with his oldest sister were foremost on his mind.
One of the first things that struck Duster was how different this training camp looked than what Sissy had described in her letters. Where she had been, it was pegasi only. In front of him was a mix of earth ponies and unicorns as well. More than a few were all the way from the Crystal Empire, far to the north. Duster had always been intrigued by the stories he'd heard when he was just a little colt. The day the Crystal Empire returned was a pivotal time. Even the farmers down in Apple Loosa could hardly talk about anything else. Captivated by these tales, Duster had always wanted to travel to see new lands. He would spend hours in his room while his brother and sisters were playing, and he'd draw pictures or use blocks to build the places he wanted to visit. Any chance that presented itself, he and Sissy would go exploring in the surrounding countryside.
After one particular incident where he'd used all of the furniture and curtains in the house to create a scale model of Cloudsdale, his parents sent him to a Fillies and Colts Art Summer Camp in Hollow Shades. Through those lessons, Duster discovered he had a love for sculpting. His cutie mark manifested as a carved crystal heart. Before the timberwolves came, he had planned to continue his art studies in Manehattan when he was old enough. Ever since his father had been killed and their home overrun, Duster had withdrawn into himself. The most vocal he became was when fighting with Sissy. He'd noticed a change in her as well. She'd become bossy, like she was in charge. This was rather annoying to the rest of the siblings, most especially to Duster.
Much like that week at art camp, his newest adventure had also begun with a terrible homesickness. Before either of them had gone, their mom did everything she could to hold the family together, but now two of them had left to fight the war. Food was short for everypony, but for a family that has lost their home, money was even shorter. Two fewer mouths to feed that were now able to send money back was a huge help for the rest of the family. All such notions of nobility had evaporated as the reality of his decision to become a soldier were beginning to take hold.
A donkey in a starched uniform began shouting loudly at every pony, killing the light mood that had been permeating the group. It was mostly startling, but it didn't take long for the drill sergeant to get all of them arranged into a large square. It took a little longer for him to make them quiet. The officers finally came out of their tent with the assignments roster. Duster had overheard that the first thing they would do was be sorted into squads. After this, the training would begin.
It was at this moment that Duster got his first look at Sissy in nearly seven months. He didn't recognize her for a moment and was dumbfounded when he did. She wasn't the skinny weakling he had remembered. She was always a talented flyer, but she hadn't been particularly fit otherwise. Her shoulders and flank muscles were much more well-defined now. When the officers found their position, she turned to face the recruits, and that's when he noticed her eye patch. Duster's stomach knotted up. They'd been writing letters to Sissy ever since she had left for basic training. He knew she'd been in combat several times already, but she hadn't mentioned anything about getting hurt.
The sergeants on the front row found their squad assignments and began yelling. Duster lost sight of his sister in the organized chaos that followed. Names were being shouted left and right as the entire group reorganized themselves. Duster was listening for his name, but he couldn't hear well over the sea of voices, so he stayed where his hooves were planted. As the ranks drew thinner and thinner, everypony moving to a new position with their squads, Duster found himself lost in thought amongst the cacophony. He was imagining what must have happened to Sissy's eye. Perhaps a knife-fight with a changeling, or maybe a timberwolf had tried to bite her head off. This led to other imaginings of how the injury had occurred, each more wild than the last. An orange sergeant with pink hair and a bandaged front right ankle called out something at him, but he couldn't hear. It was at this moment that Duster came back to the moment and realized that he was alone.
"Are you deaf?" she shouted, approaching him.
"What?" he replied in confusion.
Drill Sergeant J came out of nowhere, hitting Duster in the belly with a front hoof jab. Caught completely off guard, the wind was knocked out of him. Duster crumpled to the ground, unable to breathe.
"On your hooves!" Drill Sergeant J shouted at him.
His face buried in the short grass and earth, Duster tried to respond, but all he could get out was a pitiful croaking noise. He put his fore hooves down, forcing them back into position, but he was unable to stand.
"So you do know where your front hooves are? Now the others, we don't have all day!" the donkey continued yelling.
A sweet earthy gasp filled Duster's lungs as his air returned to him. His eyes were watering as he breathed deeply and regained a standing position. The other sergeant, the orange one was face to face with him. Her lavender eyes were sizing him up, and she didn't look pleased in the slightest.
"Are you Duster from Apple Loosa?"
"Yes," he replied, still catching his breath.
J slapped him and began shouting again, "You will address all officers as sir when you speak!"
Fumbling to not get hit again, Duster replied to each of them, "Yes sir. Yes sir."
Turning to the assembled and neatly aligned rows of recruits, J shouted to them, "That goes for every single one of you juicy pieces of timberwolf fodder. Whenever answering or addressing a superior officer, the first and last words out of your useless mouths will be 'sir'. Is that understood?"
After only a moment of hesitation, about half of the recruits weakly replied, "Sir, yes sir."
"Celestia's crown down an outhouse," the donkey swore. "I haven't heard such a pathetic response since I taught a group of yearling fillies to brush their own manes. Can you do better?"
This time they thundered a response, "Sir, yes sir!"
All but one of them, that is. Duster heard a single pony trying to stifle a laugh. He got quiet, but it was too late. Drill Sergeant J was already half-way to him.
"Did I say something funny?" he barked at him.
Doing his best to remain straight faced, the brown pony, a stethoscope for his cutie mark, only stared ahead.
"I'm talking to you, son!" the drill sergeant said, jabbing the recruit's shoulder hard. "Did I say something funny?"
"Sir, no sir," he replied.
"Why are you laughing?"
Completely serious now, the unicorn replied, "Sir, I am not laughing, sir."
"Are you calling me a liar?" Drill Sergeant J shouted.
"Sir, no-" he began to answer, but he was cut off when the donkey head-butted him.
The brown unicorn collapsed to his knees, blood gushing from his nose.
"Stand at attention when you are talking with an officer!" the drill sergeant shouted at him.
The brown unicorn staggered back up to his hooves, ignoring his nose bleed. He stood at perfect attention. Nopony was laughing now. Drill Sergeant J looked back at the orange sergeant with the pink mane, and he stood at attention as he faced her.
"Duster, I am Scootaloo, your squad sergeant. That is our squad," she said as she pointed at one of the groups. "Go stand in line with them."
"Sir, yes sir," Duster replied, terrified he was going to be hit again.
He quickly trotted over to the rest of the squad, most of whom looked as fearful as he felt. Duster was again able to see Sissy. She wore bandages on her wings in addition to her eye patch. She was looking in his general direction, but not at him. He knew she'd seen him; she couldn't have missed that outburst. She saw him and did nothing to help. A seed of resentment was growing stronger, but the pain in Duster's stomach from that blow reminded him to pay attention to what the drill sergeant was telling them.
They all stood at attention as the drill sergeant began going over the different pieces of equipment that they would be learning to use. There was a combat harness, which contained a medical kit, rations, a knife, and a quiver for crossbow bolts. Integrated on the left boot was a small crossbow that could be collapsed when not in use. Then there was the larger crossbow and spears that the earth ponies would use. For several hours after this, they practiced marching around in different formations. There was much yelling from Drill Sergeant J, not to mention several more ponies struck by his iron-shod hooves. Duster had only one desire now, and that was to make it the rest of the day without being hit again.
