CHAPTER 4
My first year in academy was essentially a primer in military etiquette, and consisted of drill in the morning, and classes until evening, leaving little time for anything else. Many of the cadets grumbled about this lack of down time. I couldn't have cared less. According to me, I was fitting in fine. I was doing well in my classes, and proving to be a natural born soldier. Because of my skill in sword-fighting, I was actually moved into a more advanced combat class, which meant the next year, I could take an extra elective of my own choice. Unfortunately, it also meant that not only did I have to see Shining Armor every evening in our dorm, but I also had three classes with him now. We had drill together in the mornings, and were in the same squad, which meant that on Tuesdays, he had the squad, and ergo was my commander, but on the bright side, when I was given the squad on Fridays, I could order him around, which sort of balanced out.
We also had military history together, and this became the only thing I had over Shining. I was the best student in class, and could often cite obscure battles and little-known commanders better than even the teacher himself. Shining, who hadn't spent every boring and alone moment of his early life reading, often had to get my help on assignments and reports. I savored every moment of his peacocking around, being the high-bred nobleman he loved to be, only to come crawling to me, asking for help writing an essay on General Corn Stallus.
There was advanced combat training, which was divided into three sections, one for each pony type. Ground based combatatives was the section I was placed in of course, and Shining dominated magical combatatives. There was also aerial combatatives for the pegasi in academy as well, though as you may guess, neither my rival nor myself bothered to attempt any of the tactics taught by those instructors. As a class, we all had to train with weaponry. Apparently Shining Armor's privileged upbringing meant that he had formal swordspony training too, so it came to be that not only were we the two best swordsponies in class, but we had yet something else to try to outdo each other at. The comical thing about combat training was that though Shining and I excelled with bladed weapons, we both barely passed archery, and were both of equal mediocre talent with lances. When it came to crossbows, Shining Armor did slightly better than I did. This shouldn't have angered, distressed, or even bothered me. I always disliked crossbows, and until class, had never bothered to pick one up. I should have been happy that I did as well as I had. But no, Shining had trumped me at crossbows, so in retaliation, I spent the next year practicing with them no matter how bad I disliked them, and not caring at all that in the cavalry, I'd never even have to use them.
The rest of my day, I had a class on cavalry tactics and strategies, geography class, and a class on basic officer decorum, which essentially meant a class on how a military officer was expected to act, speak, dress, treat the ponies under his command, and communicate with officers appointed over them. The word 'sir' was thrown around a lot, needless to say. I learned the material, but in my head, I always knew that I could never be as by-the-book and standoffish as the texts demanded a good officer to be. It didn't really make sense. Yes, discipline would have to be used to whip new soldiers into shape, and it was imperative that at the end of the day, your command knew who was in charge. But, as I surmised, wouldn't it make more sense to gain the respect of your command, and have them follow you out of loyalty and admiration than to force them to follow your every order for fear of punishment? How the heck to you coerce someone to fight and die at sword-point? Could I do that? Say 'Go fight because I said so?' No, it would have to be 'Because those are our orders, yours and mine, and I will lead you and stand there and fight with you as your leader.'
Geography was an interesting class for me. We learned of all the different nations bordering Equestria, as well as those across the sea. We learned their histories, their cultures, the racial makeup of their populations, and as can be imagined, their military history up to the present. All good military officers have to have a knowledge of other countries andr their martial ability, and should always keep up with the latest news coming from all parts of the world. You never know who you're going to be at war with next week, afterall.
Learning more about the Griffons and the Dragons, I did have to question how ponykind had managed to gain such dominance in the world. The answer came again and again as a simple, straightforward revelation. It was all about weaponry and strategy. The Griffons and the Dragons were much more fierce and powerful than any five ponies, but the fact was that we had better weaponry than the Griffons, and Dragons had no inclination to use either weapons or strategy in battle.
This leads to my other class my first year: cavalry strategy and tactics. If it sound complicated, it's only because they could have renamed the entire course "How to fight a battle when you're one of the few sentient things in the world that can't fly or use magic...101". Essentially, the chief duty of the Equestrian Cavalry to be a deterrent force. That is to say, cavalry is positioned in garrisons or outposts near the border, or in areas with hostile or potentially hostile populations. There, the cavalry acts as a sort of police force with the added purpose of keeping down trouble by their very presence.
During periods of war, the mostly independently-operating cavalry companies and squads are unified under their regimental, battalion, brigade and division command structures, and form large bodies of cavalry capable of impressive full-scale assaults in dramatic charges against an enemy, either head-on or against their flank or rear. Capable of operating as smaller units in battle as well, cavalry is used for scouting enemy positions and good ground, foraging, guarding camps, and daring raids into enemy territory. I was right. This is what I wanted to do with my life.